French matters, whether the FT likes it or not

Paxman’s contribution appeared under the headline “Voilà, English wins in the battle of global tongues”. Its basic message is that French is no longer a language worth studying. “English is the language of science, technology, travel, entertainment and sport,” Paxman states. “To be a citizen of the world it is the one language that you must have.”

The point Paxman misses is that many developing countries are not monoglot as most, though not all, European countries are. To be a citizen of multi-language countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon or Burkina Faso, French is the language you must have. English, on the other hand, is useless if you want to cope with daily life in Francophone Africa.

Developing countries typically do not have one single national language they could opt for. Their peoples are composed of many different ethnic groups speaking many different tongues. In Africa, most of these languages have no history of being written. For this reason, the language of the former colonial power still tends to be the lingua franca in politics, business, government, law, education and much of the media.

Switching to English would be a tremendous effort for a country like Senegal. It would also be a bad investment. A good grasp of French provides Senegalese people with business opportunities in rich parts of the Francophone world. In English, this kind of opportunities are grasped by Indians and Filipinos, including on the internet. In French, the Senegalese have an edge, in English, they wouldn’t be able to compete.

Oh, and speaking of India, the main reason that English has prevailed there is not its global usefulness. It is that only some 40 % of the people speak Hindi as their native tongue, and the members of other linguistic groups tend to feel more comfortable dealing with them in English. Especially south Indians prefer English in the national context. The use of Hindi would put them at a disadvantage. 

Paxman argues that, “promotion of the French language (…) is just another form of imperialism”.  This is nonsense. In much of Francophone Africa, it serves nation building – and cooperation with other Francophone countries. 

French, moreover, is also an essential language for Canadians, Belgians and Swiss who grew up with English, Flemish, German or Italian respectively and want to have a full understanding of their nation. In multi-lingual nations, one language is never enough.

Given the centuries of mutual Anglo-French resentments, Paxman’s comment feels smug. To his credit, however, he does admit that there is nothing inherently superior about the English language: “There is really no reason for the British to gloat about this victory, for it is much more to do with the legacy of an empire built generations ago, and with the dominance of the US in the modern world.”