Sunday morning. Huge queue in the boulangerie. I
arrived just as mass finished and there was a huge exodus from the
church to the boulangerie.
The hot topic of conversation was not at all religious.. surprisingly it was the French language.
This week, the French government have been debating whether in order to encourage more foreign students they should offer some university courses taught in English.
This kind of debate is bound to spark a reaction, the French place so much importance on their linguistic heritage. The Academie Francaise, which offers grammatical advise and offers new alternatives to foreign words is now seriously under threat as the younger generations happily accept and mix of French and English into their daily lives.
The elderly woman in front of me, ‘Thin edge of the wedge, if we all start speaking English we will start seeing the world through the eyes of America.’
A younger woman further up the queue, ‘ Non ce n’est pas vrai, we must embrace the English language or we will left as some small backwater. Our attitudes won’t change just because some universities offer courses taught in English.’
‘Pah, we don’t need to teach in English, France has so much to offer.. imagine teaching Proust in English?..’ came the heated reply.
This debate will rumble on.. and I very much doubt we will be seeing French universities advertising English taught courses any time soon, but I think more and more French universities will, (as is the French way!), without permission quietly teach student in English anyway.
The hot topic of conversation was not at all religious.. surprisingly it was the French language.
This week, the French government have been debating whether in order to encourage more foreign students they should offer some university courses taught in English.
This kind of debate is bound to spark a reaction, the French place so much importance on their linguistic heritage. The Academie Francaise, which offers grammatical advise and offers new alternatives to foreign words is now seriously under threat as the younger generations happily accept and mix of French and English into their daily lives.
The elderly woman in front of me, ‘Thin edge of the wedge, if we all start speaking English we will start seeing the world through the eyes of America.’
A younger woman further up the queue, ‘ Non ce n’est pas vrai, we must embrace the English language or we will left as some small backwater. Our attitudes won’t change just because some universities offer courses taught in English.’
‘Pah, we don’t need to teach in English, France has so much to offer.. imagine teaching Proust in English?..’ came the heated reply.
This debate will rumble on.. and I very much doubt we will be seeing French universities advertising English taught courses any time soon, but I think more and more French universities will, (as is the French way!), without permission quietly teach student in English anyway.
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