Time magazine recently published an article about the challenge of learning English in France. Students pay high fees to private schools for English lessons after failing to learn the language despite years of studying in public schools. (read Time article here)
But what's really interesting is the reaction of many French readers to any discussion of how to improve English learning.
Articles in Le Monde and CafeBabel about France's disastrous results in the international TOEFL provoked a hail of abusive comments.
So passionate was the discussion that a mediator was assigned to analyze the remarks for Le Monde. The result? About half the respondents protested against having to learn English at all.
The former president of the Association des Professeurs de Langues Vivantes (APLV) published a long and bitter letter denouncing, not France's poor results in English, but the media for publicizing them.
At Cafebabel the offense was even worse. A journalist who dared to poke fun at the French for their consistently poor results in every international comparison of English skills was pilloried. The curiously pro-French language Observatoire Européen du Plurilinguisme publicly denounced the journalist and called for him to be banned.
And yet, French parents want their children to learn English. They show this by investing massively in expensive and time-consuming private lessons and language study programs abroad.
How to improve English skills in France? A reasonable question, non?
Why, then, such an outpouring of intense emotion?
To be continued...
See related articles below:
APLV : http://www.aplv-languesmodernes.org/spip.php?article2613
Time : http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1932422,00.html
Cafebabel : http://www.cafebabel.fr/article/31291/irish-teacher-france-english-language-paris.html
Laurel's Paris Weblog : http://www.laurelzuckerman.com/2009/08/french-still-lousy-at-english-new-study-says.html
Mon dieu! Good Lord.
I am not French or even an native English speaker. I am a Italian/Brazilian. I have being studying English and French at school (Marista Brather's) since I was 12 years old. Today at 52, I am fluent in English as well as in French. Hover, I do feel much more confortable speaking English, as it was my mother tongue. I lived in UK for 15 years, and 8 years in France. Good Lord how they are rude, even stupid with you when you talk in English. They never reply to you. Why? British, Americans, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians and others English speakers, gave theirs life to liberate France from invaders since de First WW. Why are they so rude then?? I think that they envy English speakers people, and the English and Americans mainly.
I never saw a French person being bad treated in UK, or in US. I did the test myself, speaking French in UK and US. I was always well treated.
As a non French and non English speaker native, the only explanation is really that the French do feel envy.
I was capable of to learn two languages, without difficult. Besides, I can speak Portuguese and Spanish as my kids.
Maybe they are not mentally capable of to learn another language. I doubt it. But for sure they are always close to the Germans. Curious. They are a very envious people. arrogants and, as the English, did not realised yet, that they are no longer an empire. But I rather prefer the English people then the French. However, English culinary is as good as a Volkswagen in the mud!! Ugly!!
Posted by: Glauro Campello | 07 November 2009 at 20:56
Practice.
I'm learning French now, and I couldn't have done it despite being able to sort of read before even being able to speak it, without any practice.
People in France don't want to speak English to me, and that's all right with me.
I'd rather practice my French anyway.
But don't complain you don't know the language when you don't practice.
Also, English is the language accepted for business. That's just the way it is.
If you want to improve your career and chances for advancement, etc, and English is the way to do it, then you learn it.
E.g.: In many French-dominant areas like Quebec, they need to learn English to survive and sell to other parts of the province.
If you don't speak English and don't want to learn it, you can only work and stay in Quebec for example, or move to Europe.
But even then, they want you to know AT LEAST some passable English to be able to work in it.
Regardless of whether it's English or French, the bottom line is if it was ANY other language, like Swahili that was the business language, I'd be cracking open that book on how to speak it.
I heard Mandarin is the next major business language, so that's on my list to learn as well, after French.
Posted by: FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com | 05 November 2009 at 20:20