Oh, the Finesse of the French

[Harold F. Schiffman]

>>From Arab News, The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily

Monday, 27, March, 2006 (26, Safar, 1427)


Oh, the Finesse of the French
Iman Kurdi, Arab News


It is not every day that the sight of a head of state leaving a meeting
room has me in hysterics, but that is exactly what happened on Thursday
night. I was quietly watching the evening news on French television when
all of a sudden, interspersed between images of students rioting in the
streets of French cities and union leaders leaving Matignon grim-faced,
came the announcement that the president of the republic had stormed out
of the opening session of the latest EU summit because a Frenchman had had
the temerity to address the council in English.

The Frenchman in question is Ernest-Antoine Seillieres, the leader of
UNICE, the European Employers Federation. Seillieres had been invited to
address the EU leaders as they met to discuss European energy policy. He
started off in French but switched to English once he got past the formal
niceties of his introduction. Why? Because, as he pointed out, English is
the accepted language of business. Chirac, flanked by his two ministers,
promptly stood and walked out. It was such a wonderfully flamboyant
gesture executed with the panache of a drama queen, really I could not
help but laugh. It was a fantastic diversionary tactic. The French
president arrived at the summit in a difficult position. At home, the
crisis over the new youth employment law continues to gather momentum.
Whilst in Brussels, Chirac was under pressure over what is seen as the
return of industrial protectionism to the European arena. This was after
all a summit on European energy policy and France has recently seen a
government-orchestrated merger between GDF and Suez designed to block a
possible takeover bid by Italys Enel. All this at a time when Sylvio
Berlusconi, Italys prime minister, is facing parliamentary elections next
month. The stage was set for a showdown between Chirac and Berlusconi, but
it never happened.

Instead column inches have been devoted to Chirac's walkout. To say that
this gesture was met with derision is putting it mildly. The Anglo-Saxon
press in particular have had a field day. One British tabloid went so far
as to buy Chirac an English phrasebook as a gift which the French
president accepted with good grace and popped into his pocket. I may have
laughed but I think President Chirac has a point. The prominence of the
French language is gradually being eroded, a trend which matches the
erosion of Frances influence generally. The French language is very much
the pillar of the nations culture. It was once the language of
intellectual discourse, a symbol of the dominance of French culture in
setting the standard for everything from fashion to philosophy. More than
anything else, it was glamorous and classy. French was chic and provided
us with a whole lexicon of words to describe social mores, words like
savoir-faire and faux pas.

I remember when I was a child we used to spend holidays visiting my
maternal grandmother in Damascus. It was common for people to pepper their
speech with French words in order to appear more refined. French words
gave their speaker cachet. Just as the stars of those beautiful black and
white Egyptian films always threw in a couple of French words when they
wanted to appear sophisticated. It went hand in hand with the perfectly
tailored suits and the silver cigarette case. Quite simply French equated
class. French used to be the second language of choice, millions of
school children sat through French lessons and struggled to come to grips
with its complicated grammar.

It is still a very popular language; last year it was ranked 10th in the
world with 129 million people speaking French either as their mother
tongue or as a second language. But compare that to the 514 million who
now speak English and you can see why people like Chirac are piqued.
French was once the language of international diplomacy, but no longer. It
may still be one of the two working languages of the UN but English is
more prevalent. Closer to home, France has tried hard to keep French as
the dominant language at the EU. Back when there were only a dozen member
states, French was the predominant language of day-to-day work. But
enlargement has brought in countries that are more inclined to speak
English than French with the result that English has largely overtaken
French.

But it is in the business world that English has long been pre-eminent.
Seillieres was right when he described English as the language of
international business. Put a Saudi businessman in the same room with
French, Japanese and Chinese businessmen and they are likely to speak
English to each other. As if that wasn't hard enough on French pride,
English words are seeping into the French language. At first it was
innocuous words like weekend and star, but this has been followed by a
torrent of words related to modern life and advances in technology. The
Academie Francaise, the pre-eminent French body on matters pertaining to
the French language, is not amused. It now regularly devises new French
words to fill those gaps and aggressively promotes their use.

The president of the French Republic is also the protector of the Academie
Francaise, officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief
minister to King Louis XIII. It is part of President Chirac's role to
safeguard and promote the French language. He was right to be offended
that a Frenchman chose to speak in English at an EU meeting, but surely
the president of France might have had more pressing concerns?

(ikurdi at bridgethegulf.com)