Proud France also Seeks Bilingualism in French and English
Found in French dictionaries is "impossibility," but not "computer." The French word for computer is "ordinateur," coined in 1951. When the computer emerged in the United States, the French government and academy of sciences, in search of a French word to substitute for computer, decided to use ordinateur, originating from "ordo," a Latin word meaning order. Defying the US-led world order, France under de Gaulle, took an independent line and was poised to wage a language war against English. This is a story of the past, however. The internet and e-mail are now used intact in French. The French people today are seeking the bilingual use of French and English as English has firmly occupied the international business, science and internet sectors.
At Renault, the top French car maker, executive meeting reports have all been written in English since September last year, while its internet homepage was in English from the beginning. "The common language in the company is French, but English is used on the internet," says a group spokesperson. For a decade now, good TOEIC marks are requirements for promotion to executives and senior engineers in the group.
Timothy Smith, an American residing in Paris, works 30 hours a week at French firms as a language consultant, teaching English and editing copy. "Air France and the Paris National Bank often write contracts in English," he says. "In border-less corporate acquisition and merger negotiations, French firms are defeated by their German and Dutch counterparts, whose negotiators outpace theirs in the use of the international language, English. The French are doing their best to catch up with their rivals." Zeal for learning English has risen remarkably in France in recent years, he adds.
The English education boom is expanding institutionally as well. France's Education Ministry has been reinforcing foreign language education since 1995, resulting in stress on English education. A natural trend is an early language education for pre-schoolers and 80% percent of primary school kids choosing English as primary foreign language, 1.3 million of them count numbers and sing songs in English. Though English is not available as regular subject in primary school, 20% of elementary school pupils learn English in special activities. More than 90% of secondary school students learn English as a primary foreign language. The number of French kindergarteners and primary school students studying English in England has also skyrocketed in recent years.
A decisive factor contributing to such spouting of English language zeal in France is the opening of the Internet age. New English words are now used openly. Stock-option and start-up regularly appear in the economic pages of newspapers, and the film title of "Star Wars" is used intact. Airbag is found in dictionaries without modification.
Taking charge of the administration and supervision of the mother tongue in France is the academy of sciences. The academy, reputed for its conservatism in regulating language life, laments about the flooding of English, but is helpless, nonetheless. Allen Deco, a member of the academy, has recently contributed an article to "Le Figaro," expressing his view of the use of English as the international language as follows:
"The glory of the French language, that dazzled in the 18th and 19th centuries, has declined since the 1940 defeat of France by Germany. Along with English, French was adopted as an official language of the United Nations in 1945. But less than a decade was needed for Franco-countries to include using English. Our civil servants, businessmen and entrepreneurs working overseas today prefer using English under the name of efficiency. English will be used commonly among global citizens in the 21st century."
