As part of the celebrations of the French Language in the world or what is called La Francophoniedans le Monde, the Alliance françaiseMalte-Méditerranéeorganized an extremely interesting and stimulating conference about the possible future role of the French Language in Europe.
The talk was given by academic and French Senator Jacques Legendre, who has held ministerial positions in France. The title of his talk was “Le françaispeut-être la langue de l’Europe”? - Could French be the Language of Europe”? - I should state the use of the conditional is a must here.
The subject reflects the current debate in Europe regarding the future use of English following Brexit, which has now been officially set in motion. With Great Britain leaving the Union, there is going to be a legal issue about the use of English in the European Union. It is a fact that English was considered as one of the official languages of the Union.
Now, the only two other English speaking countries, which at least, have English as one of their official languages, are Ireland and Malta. But neither of the two opted for English. Instead they respectively chose Gaelic and Maltese.
Therefore, many may find this weird, but the official languages in Europe, at least in terms of legal status, are not dictated by practice but by the choice of individual member-states.
Thus, technically with Great Britain leaving the Union, no other member has English as its official language. This could lead to a legal crisis. In practice, it is extremely difficult for this scenario to come about, even if, there are already hints about the beginning of a war over language. It has been rumoured, that the EU wants to carry out Brexit talks in French!!
Legendre himself had to admit that English, today, is the working language of the Union and indeed even in the wider world beyond. It is without doubt a common linguistic element, a sort of a contemporary ‘lingua franca’, which individuals, attending meetings in Brussels, including head of states, resort to, in particular, if they want to speak directly to each other without the use of interpreters. Therefore, irrespective of Brexit and its aftermath, English is certainly the dominant language during the working sessions of the European Union. Irrespective of Brexit or not, without knowledge of English, one is destined to be excluded from debate in Brussels’ meetings. Legendre admitted that the reason why English is dominant is because of the United States’ influence on the economy and world.
But the legal difficulty that Brexit will create on the linguistic front cannot be ignored. At least, the impression that I got from this talk is that France has already subtly started lobbying to have French as the dominant language in Europe. The rumour that the EU wants to have Brexit talks conducted in French continues to affirm this new reality.
But this is easier said than done. From chatting with some of those who attended the conference, there emerged a consensus that such a move would require quite a substantial budget. While the French budget to support Francophonie is still large, it is not large enough to help France achieve such an aspiration. Besides the need for lobbying in Brussels, France, would need to convince member-states to give French a preferential place in their educational systems. Yet the fact remains that France’s budget in support of the French language in the world shrinks from year to year. One can only hope that such a dream will persuade the French administration to allocate more funds to again bring this language to the fore, as it once was.
In an informal discussion that I had with Legendre I realized that has come to terms with French history. As a professor of history, he agrees that French was indeed the language of Europe in the 18th Century. He also concurred with me that the French Revolution put an end to French grandeur in Europe. Until 1789, France had been Western Europe’s country par excellence since the fall of the Roman Empire.
If any proof is needed to back this, one needs only look at Medieval Arab documents. Arabs made a clear distinction between Franks and Rum. By Franks the Arabs meant Western Europe. The word Rum stood in the Arab world for the Byzantines or the European people of the East. Yet, I tend to agree with Legendre, this is not a question of nostalgia. France should not be nostalgic of her history. There is nothing worse than those supporters of the French revolution seeking to recreate a false history.
Legendre referred to the idea he once shared with Boutros BoutrosGhali, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations. Boutros Ghali had a correct concept that languages express a relationship with power. Therefore, dominant languages reflect the dominant powers. For instance, in the Middle Ages, it is erroneously thought that it was the Roman Catholic Church, which had a dominant power because Latin was the language of communication: in truth it was France. It was the Franks, who resorted to Latin as a source for common communication within their vast Empire. This is why, the term Lingua Franca and not Lingua Latina was coined to denominate the use of a common language.
In Early Modern times, modern French increased its power base in Europe and French became the language of Europe. After the Revolution, France ceased to be Europe’s foremost country. Even though the French are reluctant to admit it - preferring to recount Napoleon’s victories - Napoleon lost his wars. The victors were Russia, Prussia and Great Britain. It is no coincidence that these are the powers that today count in Europe.
One other reason given by Legendre to justify French becoming the future language of Europe, is that French is the language of Human Rights. This modern concept developed in France. But is this enough to make French the dominant language? The world is now moving away from the concept of Human Rights into the uncharted and dangerous waters of individual rights!
Though the French persist in representing themselves as the cradle of Human Rights, 19th-century France engaged in all types of wars against cultural differences within its own territory. Diversity was considered as a dangerous concept vis-à-vis unity. Even the Languedoc – the historical coastal region of southern France ranging from Provence to the Pyrenees and on the border with Spain - suffered persecution to favour of the dominance of the Parisian elite. The same element of persecution was used against Brittany.
In my view, there are no other people as elitist as the French. France is a nation that on the one hand boasts equality but then, on the other hand, acts in the most aristocratic manner and insists on class distinction towards the other. Therefore, I have difficulty to share Legendre’s concept that the French Language represents freedom. In my opinion this concept can be equally applied to other languages. Even English represents freedom. All languages represent cultures and all cultures have a history of oppression as well as of freedom and inclusion.
The audience made quite pungent remarks. While the EU is a continent of translations, whether one likes Brexit or not, English is destined to continue to grow.
An interesting observation came from a mother and son who came to live in Malta for educational reasons. Our educational system, she insisted is more advanced and our curriculum is by far better than the current one back home in France. I suspect that her son is getting his education in a private school, as our college system is quite similar in structure to the French one and therefore, if you happen to be living in zone which has excessive social problems, the state schools in the zone are also destined to suffer.
Irrespective of Brexit, the EU cannot ban the use of English. France was urged to continue defending the French Language, but the story of this mother goes to show that if Malta plays its cards well in education and abandons obsolete leftist theories that have led this country to nowhere, the island can have a future in education.
Unfortunately, we are not leading the way. Theresa May is on the right track with her idea to re-introduce grammar schools in the UK. But this is another issue, which I think Malta should explore, if it wants to regain her lost edge in education. But does it?