More English at French universities? Debate begins

France’s lower house began debating a proposal yesterday to introduce more courses in English at universities, amid a storm of controversy in a nation fiercely protective of its identity. The measure, which would also introduce lessons in other languages as part of a wider bill on higher education reform, aims to increase the number of foreign students at universities from 12 percent of the total to 15 percent by 2020. Critics say it will harm decadeslong, zealous efforts to protect the French language, while supporters argue it will better young locals’ grasp of English as France slides into recession and many look to work abroad.

“Teaching in English - Let’s do it” read a frontpage headline in English in France’s leading leftwing daily Liberation yesterday, which argued the French must stop acting as “the last representatives of an under-siege Gaulish village”. Even foreign newspapers have waded into the debate, with a slight dash of irony. “If Anglais est allowe dans les rooms de classe, Francais will becomez une ‘dead language’, pensent les grandes fromages. Sacre bleu!” the Daily Telegraph said in an editorial yesterday.

Genevieve Fioraso, the higher education minister, has lashed out at the “astounding hypocrisy” of the debate, pointing out that English and other languages are already used widely in France’s elite “grandes ecoles”. She said that the so-called 1994 “Toubon Law” -which stipulates that the language of education in France must be French, bar some exceptions - had routinely been flouted in the “grandes ecoles” without any objections raised. Fioraso opened yesterday’s debate by saying the measure “will in no way compromise the primacy of French as a medium of instruction or the defence of francophonie. “Investing in knowledge and research, this is our best weapon to fight the economic crisis,” she said.

But several leading unions in the education sector have said the proposal is unacceptable. Hundreds of teachers took to the streets near parliament yesterday to show their opposition. “It is cultural heritage which is at stake,” Claudine Kahane, a senior official of Snesup-FSU, one of the main unions in the sector, said earlier this month. The influential Academie Francaise, set up in 1635 and the official authority on the language, has also joined the chorus of disapproval. And journalist Bernard Pivot, a respected figure in French cultural circles, has argued that the measure could sound the death knell for what locals fondly call “the language of Moliere”. “If we allow English to be introduced into our universities and for teaching science and the modern world, French will be vandalised and become poorer,” he said. “It will turn into a commonplace language, or worse, a dead language.”

France has for decades zealously propagated the use of French both at home and abroad through cultural institutions and the French-speaking Francophonie bloc of nations. But despite this, the use of English has made rapid inroads in France. Many youths now respond to telephone calls with an energetic “Yes?” in place of the traditional “allo” or “oui”. English is seen more and more in graffiti in Paris and “franglais” - the use of English words when speaking French - is also gaining ground. A survey released yesterday revealed that a large majority of French scientists currently conduct their research and teach in English. “The current debate does not take into account the reality at all,” said Francois Heran, who conducted the research between 2007 and 2009, questioning nearly 2,000 laboratory directors and almost 9,000 researchers. “The reality is that there are whole areas of international science where French is already marginalised.” — AFP