[EDLING:297] France to train 2000 in fight to promote language

[Francis M Hult]

By way of the Language Policy List...

>
> >From the EUobserver.com 2004
>
> France to train 2000 in fight to promote language
> 10.09.2004 - 09:33 CET | By Andrew Beatty
>
> EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Paris is to train 2000 teachers over the next
> three years in a bid to promote the French language in the enlarged EU.
> The French Foreign Ministry yesterday announced the three-year plan,
> designed, they say, to promote the language in the 10 new EU member states
> as well as Bulgaria and Romania.
>
> Each wave of enlargement in the European Union in recent decades has
> resulted in an increase in the prominence of English in Europe, often to
> the detriment of French. Indeed the number of European Commissioners from
> the new member states who speak Russian is said to be more than those who
> speak French. According to the Foreign Ministry, which is also responsible
> for Francophonie overseas, the operation will come in two stages.
>
> The initial phase of the operation has been dubbed "100 Teachers for a
> Multilingual Europe" by the French authorities. This phase will see 100
> young French teachers meet with Foreign Minister and former Commissioner
> Michel Barnier to discuss "new prospects for promoting French in a
> multilingual Europe". The later phase is expected to see the training of
> some 2000 teachers to be deployed after 2006.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  EUobserver.com 2004
>
> This article and related links can be found at:
> http://euobserver.com/?aid=17247&sid=9

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