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| Europe |
| Chirac borrows a bit of Britain to lift French prestige |
| 2006-05-16 |
| France yesterday revealed a plan to halt its declining influence abroad with a programme for cultural diplomacy described as a "British Council à la française". President Jacques Chirac sees the project as a way of countering a series of crises that has tarnished the country's reputation and dealt another blow to his hopes of leaving office next year on a positive note. A key feature of the offensive will be the building or refurbishing of French lycées in several capitals, including London. The foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, has appointed actress Fanny Ardant as France's ambassador for the campaign to trumpet its cultural identity. "We have incomparable tools at our disposal," he said. "But the effects of our work are not always clear. What our overseas cultural strategy lacks is a label, a signature, a product brand." An agency, Cultures France, is being created with a £20 million annual budget to breathe new life into the work of two established bodies, the French Association for Artistic Action and the Association for the Dissemination of French Thought. Another organisation, Campus France, will seek to overcome one legacy of the recent job law protests: the trail of damage left by students in the country's universities. Its role will be to promote higher education opportunities for overseas students, especially those from China and India. The government will also devote £35 million to boosting French language teaching around the world. Ministers will be hoping the plans prove a greater success than Mr Chirac's famous "CNN à la française", which will broadcast predominantly in English when launched later this year. Much attention will focus on the proposal to build new lycées abroad or extend current premises. The Charles de Gaulle lycée in South Kensington, one of the three largest in the world, produces outstanding exam results but is in dire need of a sister establishment. Under the new plans, the existing school will be renovated while new accommodation is sought. Although Mr Chirac recently walked out of a Brussels summit when a French industrialist began a speech in English, not all French academics accept the language of Molière is in decline. Henriette Walter, a professor of linguistics at the University of Haute-Bretagne, said the essential difference between French and English was that "people learn French for pleasure and English because they have to". |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #14 Forgot a very good reason for learning French, the Marseillaise scene in "Casablanca" is much more moving when you understand the words. I ever have tears when I watch it. It is quite moving. It is also rather sad and poignant when one considers what their legacy has become. |
| Posted by: Fordesque 2006-05-16 20:09 |
| #13 Another take: The Charles de Gaulle lycée in South Kensington, one of the three largest in the world, produces outstanding exam results but is in dire need of a sister establishment. A sister establishment, like a French Maid lycee. In Kensington, or in Kettering, Ohio. Not that the students would have to actually learn French (the language), but good foundations in slap-and-tickle and couture servitude' would do wonders in re-establishing the reputation of the French male, especially after the debacle of the hair of Villepin on Anglo-American televisions. |
| Posted by: mrp 2006-05-16 14:30 |
| #12 GOD I hope you're a girl, JFM. Nope it just that this scene goes straight in my patriotic soft spot. No other movie, wahatever the subject moves me to that point |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-05-16 14:06 |
| #11 Henriette Walter, a professor of linguistics at the University of Haute-Bretagne, said the essential difference between French and English was that "people learn French for pleasure and English because they have to". Which explains why nobody is learning French and many people learn English. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2006-05-16 13:31 |
| #10 Will Mr Chirac be pleased or appalled when American troops start studying French, as now so many are studying Arabic and Farsi? ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-05-16 12:49 |
| #9 GOD I hope you're a girl, JFM. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-05-16 12:46 |
| #8 Forgot a very good reason for learning French, the Marseillaise scene in "Casablanca" is much more moving when you understand the words. I ever have tears when I watch it. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-05-16 10:08 |
| #7 Corrected version Henriette Walter, a professor of linguistics at the University of Haute-Bretagne, said the essential difference between French and English was that "people learn French for pleasure and English because they have to". That is true. Given that the wealth of untranslated technical litterature in French not even touches what is available in English (a lot of French technical or scientific authors write directly in English and their books are not translated to French) you never or near never have to learn French while a lot of people need to know English from pilots to computerr scientists. But the dirty b..ch implies that there is no people who learns English for cultural reasons. In fact Frenech litterature has produced little of value since Proust's "La recherche du temps perdu" (ie nearly acentury ago). Only pretentious, pseudo-philosophical crap while the US alone produced Faulkner, Capote, Fitzgerald, Hemingway. And Shakespeare in English has a musicality who is absent from Racine or Corneille in French. BTW I have read Shakespeare's plays and the Morte d'Arthur in their original elyzabethan and medieval english and I did it from pleasure not because I had to. I will not mention the colossal gaps in the number of movies who deserve to be watched in the two languages. In fact many of the better French movies from the thirties to the fifties should not be watched in French because the actor's play sounds very artificial (more exactly theatrical) and affete to modern ears. Arletty in particular sounds as a duchess trying to talk like populace and every time I hear her I hesitate between willing to strangle all of its descendance or "me l'attraper et me la mordre" (catch my d.. and bite it). Compare her even to a secondary actress in an American movie from the thirties or fourties and the difference is abysmal. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-05-16 09:54 |
| #6 Henriette Walter, a professor of linguistics at the University of Haute-Bretagne, said the essential difference between French and English was that "people learn French for pleasure and English because they have to". That is true. Given that the wealth of untranslated technical litterature in French not even touches what is available in French (a lot of French technical or scientific authors write directly in English and their books are not translated) you never have to learn French while a lot of people need to know English from pilots to. But the dirty b..ch implies that there is no people who learns English fior cultural reasons. In fact Frenech litterature has produced little of value since Proust's "La recherche du temps perdu" (ie nearly acentury ago). Only pretentious, pseudo-philosophical crap while the US alone produced Faulkner, Capote, Fitzgerald, Hemingway. And Shakespeare in English has a musicality who is absent from Racine or Corneille in French BTW I have read Shakespeare's plays and the Morte d'Arthur in their original elyzabethan and medieval english and I did it from pleasure not because I had to. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-05-16 09:35 |
| #5 The french culture: Uppity Muslims Overpriced Wine High Unemployment Freely distributed Welfare It wasn't always like this though. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-05-16 09:29 |
| #4 The Charles de Gaulle lycée in South Kensington, one of the three largest in the world, produces outstanding exam results but is in dire need of a sister establishment. Brightest pupils will be awarded with a cruise on the Charles de Gaulle airrcaft carrier |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-05-16 09:15 |
| #3 Chirac borrows a bit of Britain to |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2006-05-16 09:02 |
| #2 And bad teeth. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-05-16 06:26 |
| #1 D *** it, I was hoping for Brit babes wid Big Bosoms. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-05-16 03:26 |