Francophonie Week is an opportunity to celebrate our linguistic heritage.
Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Secretary of State for Francophonie at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, explains the strategies put in place to develop the learning of French internationally, promote Francophonie, and discusses the next meetings you important for the influence of the language.
Among them, the opening of the Cité internationale de la langue française Villers-Cotterêts.
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LE FIGARO.
- To what extent does your Ministry support the Francophonie?
Chrysoula ZACHAROPOULOU.
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One of the priorities of the Ministry is to strengthen the learning and influence of the French language in the world.
This priority is included in the French language and multilingualism plan, launched in 2018 by the President of the Republic, and which we are promoting today with Minister Catherine Colonna and Minister of Culture Rima Abdul-Malak.
Since 2020, we have committed more than 350 million euros per year to support the education system of French-speaking countries, particularly in Africa.
We have also trained more than 56,000 French teachers in 2022. We support 567 French schools and 834 alliances françaises around the world.
All of these policies contribute to the influence of our language, and through it, of our country, its culture and its values.
This is important, because I see in my travels in Africa, the Pacific, but also in Latin America, a real desire for French.
French is a language of opportunities, whether for access to higher education, employment or integration - as I was able to experience by taking courses myself at the Alliance Française de Strasbourg when I arrived in the city as a doctor in 2007. In a world where interpersonal relations are very important, it is a chance to be able to bring to life these linguistic, cultural and human links that our language creates throughout the world.
English remains the most spoken and most studied language in the world.
How to deal with this predominance?
My role is not to oppose one language to another.
I would like French to have the most important place possible - it is today the 5th most spoken language and the 2nd most learned language, on all continents.
But I am also very attached to multilingualism because French is not my native language!
We act to strengthen the place of French in all spheres, particularly in the digital space but also in international institutions.
Under the French presidency of the European Union (EU), we supported multilingualism within the European institutions.
The EU has 24 spoken languages.
Isn't that part of our identity as European citizens?
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By making French an international language, aren't you afraid of seeing the birth of a kind of French-style "globish"?
Of course, you have to be demanding when teaching French, especially in France, and that's what our thousands of teachers do every day.
But we cannot on the one hand want our language to be spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, and at the same time criticize those who learn it but make mistakes.
French must be, in my opinion, a language for everyone, not just the language of the elites.
English also became spoken thanks to the tolerance of English speakers.
Each person who learns and speaks French becomes an ambassador of our language.
We cannot on the one hand want our language to be spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, and at the same time criticize those who learn it but make mistakes.
Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Secretary of State for Francophonie
In this sense, what will be the role of the future Cité internationale de la langue française of Villers-Cotterêts?
It is a symbolic place, in the city of Alexandre Dumas and the place of the ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts of 1539, the oldest legislative text still in force.
Villers-Cotterêts is a place where all the linguistic and cultural riches of the Francophonie will be valued, in order to make them known to Francophones and Francophiles.
In this context, partnerships with the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) and the network of Alliances Françaises and French research institutes abroad will be established.
The Cité will host an exhibition trail, shows and residencies for artists, but also scientists, specialists in technology, languages and education.
This will be the great legacy that the President of the Republic will leave to more than 300 million French-speakers, and I am very proud to contribute to it with the entire Quai d'Orsay, alongside the Minister of Culture.
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In 2024, the Francophonie summit will take place in Paris.
This will be an opportunity to define strategies aimed at ensuring the influence of French in the world.
How will you contribute to it?
The year 2024 will indeed be very important for France and the Francophonie, with the holding of this summit, but also the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
On this occasion, we will carry out numerous campaigns with cultural actors and local authorities, to promote the Francophonie throughout our territory, by highlighting the richness of our language and of the French-speaking world, but also the countless opportunities that it offers in terms of jobs, creation and entrepreneurship.
Because the Francophonie is a world language that reinvents itself every day, on all continents!
I would like French to have the most important place possible – today it is the 5th most spoken language and the 2nd most learned language, on all continents.
Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Secretary of State for Francophonie
During the summit, where we will welcome 88 representatives of French-speaking member states, we will bring the ambition to further strengthen our French-speaking cooperation in fields as varied as digital technology, education and the environment.
