Parlez-Vous Français? — Do You Speak French?
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 13 Apr 2020
Dr Ravi P Bhatia – TRANSCEND Media Service
8 Apr 2020 – There are thousands of spoken languages in the world of which hundreds are dying every ten years or so. But the principal languages of the world apart from English are Chinese, Spanish, French, Hindi and Arabic. These are well established and spoken by millions of people.
Français – French is probably the fifth most spoken language in the world. The language is spoken widely not only in France itself, but also in Belgium, Switzerland, eastern part of Canada and many countries of North West Africa. French is an important language in the European Union, the United Nations and other world bodies. Even some sports bodies such as FIFA are named in French.
It used to be widely used in some countries of East Asia — Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos but political events have resulted in its decreasing importance in these countries. It may come as a surprise to read that India also had pockets of French speakers in Pondichery (South India) and parts of Bengal on the eastern side.
Languages travel along with the spread of colonialism and French, Spanish, Portuguese are no exceptions. Of course English is the most widely spoken language due to the British Empire. It used to be said that the Sun never sets on the British Empire.
Spanish is spoken in most countries (except Brazil) of South America or Latin America as it is called due to colonial expansion of Spain. Brazil is Portuguese speaking due obviously to the colonialism of Portugal.
The French language evolved from Latin and Celtic tongues of Northern Gaul. The written form became popular from about the tenth century and has been evolving since then.
It had influenced many world languages — English, Spanish, Italian. There are thousands of words of the English language that originated from French although they have undergone several modifications in terms of pronunciation. Words like Premier, Minister, Parliament, Prince, Province, Royal, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Hospital, Avenue, Restaurant, Bon Appétit, Cul De Sac, Journal and so many more are all derived from French.
Surprisingly many words in the modern Persian language owe their origins from this language. The words department, merci to denote thank you are used even today in Persian.
Canada as referred to above is also French speaking on its eastern side — New Brunswick, parts of Ontario. In the province Quebec, French is the first language with English as the second. The French President Charles de Gaulle had visited Quebec in July 1967 and proclaimed Vive le Quebec Libre promoting the province as an independent country outside of Canada. However in a referendum held later, this idea was not accepted.
Many personalities of the British royalty including the present Queen Elizabeth speak French. An interesting dialogue of the British Queen Elizabeth and de Gaulle was reported several decades earlier. In a meeting with de Gaulle, the Queen is reported to have said, I speak French. The French President quietly replied So do I.
Apart from the language being spoken in many parts of the world, many Nobel prizes in Literature were awarded to writers of French. The first prize in 1901 was awarded to Sully Proudhomme. Andre Gide, Romain Rolland, Anatole France, Henri Bergson, Francois Mauriac, Albert Camus and others were awarded the Nobel prizes. The well known writer Jean Paul Sartre was awarded the Nobel in 1964 but he refused to accept it for personal reasons. The Irish writer Samuel Beckett was also awarded the Nobel in 1969 for his French writings especially the famous drama En attendant Godot, which has been written in an existential form.
Incidentally one Indian, Rabindranath Tagore, was awarded the Literature Nobel in 1913 for his Bengali writings. He was also knighted by the British King George V in 1915 but he renounced it four years later for the British brutalities in India.
From what I have written above it is probably clear that I like French literature. I have read in French some novels and poems and others in translation. Writings of Camus, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Gide are inspiring.
A young lady Francoise Sagan became famous for her first novel entitled Bonjour Tristesse (Good morning Sadness) on the emotional travails of a young woman. Perhaps it was semi autobiographical. Romain Rolland is well known in India for his association with and his meaningful biography of Mahatma Gandhi.
Of course the world also believes in the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.
Vive la langue Française.
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This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 13 Apr 2020.
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