A French diplomat's refusal to speak English at a news conference in New York has highlighted France's fears over the decline of its language.
Gérard Araud, the French Ambassador to the United Nations, was addressing the press for the first time during France's presidency of the UN Security Council. When asked to speak English to the mostly English-speaking audience, he declared, "I don't speak English," describing the request as "unacceptable."
With translational headsets not working, however, Araud was eventually forced to speak English.
The episode comes amid increasing fretting over the role and status of French as an international language.
Since the beginning of the year, French President Sarkozy has sent former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin as a special envoy to the UN in New York, and the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, to promote the language.
Anxiety over the issue was exacerbated by the recent appointment of Lady Ashton as EU Foreign Minister and First Vice President of the European Commission. The British peer is noted for her inability to speak fluent French, despite its increasing dominance in the EU over the past decade.
France has traditionally been highly protective of its language. The Academie Francaise has existed since the 17th century to regulate the French language, and in 1994, the Toubon Law laid down strict guidelines for acceptable French usage in official publications, with stiff penalties for offenders.
The Guardian notes that French and English remain the world's only languages to have solid roots on all five continents. French is currently the world's 11th most spoken first language, however, with a relatively small 80m speakers.
14 February 2010
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