Meeting in French poses question of clarity

In the dailyworld.com, NOVEMBER 20, 2008:

We are all for preserving the language and traditions of south Louisiana, but we wonder whether a public meeting is the place to do it.

The Evangeline Parish Police Jury has voted to hold its entire meeting on December 8 in French. It has been the jury's custom to do that for the past several years, and we understand and applaud the motive behind it.

But, given that so many of the people today no longer speak or understand French, there is a legitimate question of whether a meeting held in a language that is unfamiliar to most of the population does not run afoul of the intent, if not the letter, of the state's Sunshine laws.

Those laws were passed - and have recently been strengthened - to make sure that public business is done in a forum in which the public understands what is going on and can participate in the proceedings.

There was a day when a meeting in French in Evangeline Parish would have met that standard, but we think, sadly, that the times have changed too much for that to be the case today.

There is a bit of legal history here, that seems to indicate that legal matters can proceed in French, but only in addition to English.

Louisiana has never declared an "official language" as such. In 1812, when we entered the Union, more people spoke French than English. Because of that Congress insisted that the state's first constitution to require that all laws and official documents be published in the language "in which the Constitution of the United States is written" - that is, in English, but not only in English.

Until the Civil War, Louisiana continued to publish documents in French and the legislature continued to operate bilingually as a practical necessity and the current state constitution provides:

"The right of the people to preserve, foster, and promote their respective historic linguistic and cultural origins is recognized."

Under state law, all legal advertising "shall be made in the English language and may in addition be duplicated in the French language."

We would love to see both languages used, regularly rather than once a year, but only in forums and in a way that it is certain that the full public understands the public issues being presented.

St. Louis Park schools are considering eliminating French

St. Louis Park schools soon could bid adieu to French classes taught by district teachers at the junior high level.

St. Louis Park Junior High Principal Les Bork told school board members last week that eliminating French could help the district put more resources into remedial math instruction to meet "Adequate Yearly Progress" goals on statewide standardized tests - the tests that measure compliance with federal "No Child Left Behind" rules.

The move comes at a time when experts say French is waning as an international language while the popularity of English and Asian languages is on the rise and German still thrives in...
More here

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), April 4, 2007, Patrice Relerford

Children Of French Immigrants To The US End Up Unilingual

French immigrants to the US despair: their children almost invariably end up unilingual. In walisabeth.blogspot.com:

I have been feeling very guilty for the past 17 years or so about the fact that my daughter is not bilingual - which has been known to scandalize some of my relatives, friends, and acquaintances.

For many, it is a given that, if a couple of which one of the two spouses is not a native speaker of English has a child or children, those kids must and should be 100% bilingual - i.e. they should have acquired both of their parents' languages (English and, let's say, French, or Spanish, or Chinese, etc.) simultaneously.

I am no linguist, and no specialist of first and second language acquisition, although I teach French at the university level for a living. My not-so-ex-husband, Rick, is an applied linguist who, very early in his graduate school career, conducted a qualitative study on kids' acquisition of the language other than English spoken by one or both of their parents, as well as on those parents' strategies (or lack thereof) to ensure that their children would grow up bilingual. From what I recall from that study that Rick conducted, raising bilingual kids is much easier said than done - especially when only one of the two parents speaks a foreign language.

In our case, even though Rick speaks close to flawless French (he taught French at the high school level for nine years, and then for about six more years at the college level), we never really spoke French to each other. Our main language of communication has always been English. When our daughter was born, we made the decision that I would speak French to her. I found doing this a bit onerous - I cannot really put my finger on the reason why such was the case but, nevertheless, I stuck to French when addressing Claire until she was about three or four. Actually, probably until she started attending pre-school. I am still not sure why I kind of quit entirely speaking French to her. I just think that it was just too difficult. By the time I quit speaking French to her, though, her language output was mostly in English. Perhaps, one rule that we should have enforced with her was to have her talk to me exclusively in French.
(...)
I have seen, in my teaching career, a handful of kids of French expats or of Franco-American couples who were perfectly proficient in spoken French (i.e. they spoke French like natives.) However, they were practically illiterate in French - they could not write the language, could hardly read it, and did not know any of its grammar.

Another mother on that same blog:

Thanks Elisabeth, I am honored to know that my note inspired you this interesting post about our guilt feeling, and I liked what it allowed to discuss as the many issues of raising our children in a unilingual environment.

Because this is what it ends up being for me. I spoke French to my babies for something like three or four years. (...) Unfortunately their father left several months later, locking us in the US by the same token, and after 2001 I was unable to travel to France as I used to do.

My second son was 4 at the time, and he progressively stopped speaking French with me, he was already not very verbal, and I guess he had heard French being the language his father was abusing me with...

Anyway, he started to tell me he didn't understand when I was speaking French to him. His brother was not speaking, but coult understand or at least was understanding some of what was told to him. Today, his language is very limited (he is nearly 12) and he can use French or English with a perfect pronunciation because he has a perfect "pitch" and imitates pretty well.

But his brother (...) speaks with a very nice American accent (twooa for 3) and cannot understand a conversation. I am very sad about it, and I guess my guilt feeling is there in order to make up for my sadness.

Because we have so many French teachers

Ron Matus, St Petersburg Times, Wed, 10/15/2008:

When education guru Willard Daggett gives speeches, he often cracks this joke: Why are 1.4-million American kids learning French when India and China are reshaping the world? The punch line: Because we have so many French teachers.

Mandarin Chinese is spoken by more than 1-billion people. Yet just a few years ago, it wasn't even an afterthought in U.S. schools.

A national survey in 2000 by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages estimated that 5,000 students were learning Chinese -- barely a blip compared to the 4.8-million learning Spanish, and barely more than the 3,300 learning an American Indian tongue.

Today, an informed guess pegs the figure at 50,000, making Chinese far and away the fastest-growing language taught.

"The growth has been substantial," said Steve Ackley, spokesman for the foreign languages council. "Everyone realizes this is a country with whom we are going to have to deal on a business and social and cultural level in the future."

The demand has been so great that it's outstripping the ability of schools to find good teachers.

"Of all the foreign languages in the American curriculum, the decline of French has been the most dramatic."

An excerpt from The Model Teacher-Scholar, by RENEE WALDINGER:

Of all the foreign languages in the American curriculum, the decline of French has been the most dramatic. Thirty years ago, it was the premier foreign language studied in American schools. Today its enrollments have decreased on every level of instruction all over the country. In many urban centers, French is no longer offered in middle schools, which practically guarantees a further decline at the next step, high schools, and beyond. French does not benefit from expanded development of foreign languages in elementary school (FLES); most schools can only afford to offer one language and Spanish is the choice of both parents and administrators. Political, economic, and social trends play a crucial role in these changes and there is very little the profession can do to limit their effect. But in addition French literature has lost the luster it had (...). The post-World War II generation of French writers generated much excitement in the United States. André Malraux, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Albert Camus, as well as many others, were familiar names to a wide public. Their works were translated and much discussed. The reality is that French thinkers and writers have not lost their influence in the intervening years; on the contrary, their views have had an enormous impact on criticism and philosophy, but they reach a greatly limited audience. There is also no doubt that the revelations about France's conduct during World War II have played a part in turning parents, and our prospective students, away from the study of French.

© 2000 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.

The Decline of a Cultural icon

In The Decline of a Cultural Icon: France in American Perspective, by Bertram M. Gordon, Copyright © 1999:

Recent reports from both Britain and the United States show a decline in French language classes. Richard Needham, trade minister of Britain, in May 1995 stated that schools in the United Kingdom did a disservice to Britain’s students by teaching French instead of Spanish, when growing business opportunities in Latin America called for training in the latter language. According to Needham, “French is a difficult language and it’s not a language of world business. Spanish is easier and it’s a gateway into French anyway.”¹ A BBC study published three years later showed French language classes with a 5 percent lead over Spanish for adult education students, a decrease from the 18 percent lead a year earlier. The reason given for this was the jump in British tourism to Spain.² Twenty-five years ago Spanish overtook French as the most popular second language taught in U.S. schools; university enrollment in French courses dropped about 38 percent between 1968 and 1990, while Spanish rose 46 percent. By 1990, according to the Modern Language Association, 534,000 U.S. college students were studying Spanish, twice the number of those studying French. Gladys Lipton, president of the American Association of Teachers of French, reported a 25 percent decline in French studies at the U.S. university level between 1993 and 1998.³
(...)
Symbolically, de Gaulle’s death in 1970 marked the closing of an era of French iconicity in America. The last wave appears to have corresponded to the gastronomy peak in the 1970s. Since then, study of the French language in the United States has declined. An Alta Vista search on the Internet in 1998 showed English with about 77 percent of the listings by language. Japanese was about 7 percent. German, followed by French and Spanish, were all pegged at between 2 and 3 percent. Adding the French minitel to these figures, it might not be unreasonable to estimate the French proportion at roughly 5 or 6 percent—in other words, similar in proportion to the Japanese.⁸⁸

(...)

1. Paul Marston, “Minister Urges Schools to Teach Spanish Not French,” Electronic Telegraph, 18 May 1995, Home News, http://www.telegraph.co.uk.

2. David Millward, “Spanish to Overtake French in Classroom,” Electronic Telegraph, 21 Sept. 1998.

3. James Brooke, “North Dakota, with German Roots, Adopts Spanish as Second Language,” New York Times, 2 Mar. 1996, 6. See also Merri Rosenberg, “Teachers Try to Renew Interest in French,” New York Times, “Westchester,” 25 Oct. 1998, sec. 14, 14.

(...)

88. Internet search on “language/nationality” retrieved on 2 Oct. 1998 using the Alta Vista search engine.

Cultural Studies and the Crisis in French

Rethinking Cultural Studies By David Lee Rubin, Julia V. Douthwaite, Katharine Ann Jensen, Anne C. Vila:

Rethinking Cultural Studies

By David Lee Rubin, Julia V. Douthwaite, Katharine Ann Jensen, Anne C. Vila

Published by Rookwood Press, 2000

ISBN 1886365172, 9781886365179

Decline of French Teaching in the United States

It seems that many schools have slashed French teaching positions throughout the United Stated or at least are considering doing it. If you know of such cases, please feel free to share it with us.

Back in 2003:

Backlash against the French Language?

TFLI Experiences Dramatically Lower FrenchLanguage Class Enrollment for Spring Term

More than 50% Decline from Winter Term; More than 75% Decline from Fall Term

Nashville, April 09, 2003: Although the cause is difficult to determine, the enrollment statistics indicate a trend which may demonstrate a backlash toward the French language. The TN Foreign Language Institute, a state agency offering classes in over 100 languages and other language services, has noted a decline in enrollment in French language classes compared with the previous two terms. Spring term, which begins this week and next, has only 27 students in French classes, compared with 66 in the Winter term, and 87 in the Fall.

Hasta la vista, French. Bienvenido, … Farsi?

2006/03/15, www.computernewbie.info:

Sometimes you can actually learn things at meetings. Today our curriculum committee here learned that French and German may be on the way out of US schools, to be replaced by more exotic languages like Farsi, Chinese and Arabic. Sin embargo, el español está seguro.

Much to my surprise (or maybe not), the catalyst for this move comes from the Bush Administration, which seeks to increase the number of US speakers of national- security-related languages, that is, Chinese, Farsi (or Persian — that’s Iran-speak, BTW), Arabic, Korean and Hindi (spoken in northern India and Pakistan), among others. In other words, we want to know what the “Axis of Evil” is saying, to quote a colleague.

It seems that Dubya launched a National Security Language Initiative on Jan. 5, “a plan to further strengthen national security and prosperity in the 21st century through education, especially in developing foreign language skills.” He is asking for $114 million in fiscal year 2007 to fund the program, which is supposed to reach down to the elementary grades and train 2,000 new foreign language teachers by 2009.

Now, from a strategic standpoint, this idea makes some sense. Intelligence and diplomatic agencies need speakers of foreign languages to, well, spy on other countries, monitor their broadcasts, negotiate trade deals, write propaganda, etc. While there are plenty of foreign nationals living in the US who already speak those languages fluently, I guess it’s more reassuring to have US-born citizens in those critical positions than not.

Meanwhile, the demographics of pre-college foreign language learners have been changing gradually over the last 20-30 years. Fewer students want to take and fewer schools offer old standbys like Latin and German. Even interest in la belle langue, French, is waning, while enrollments in Spanish are increasing.

Chinese is gaining in popularity, even without Dubya’s help, because of China’s growing economic and cultural influence. Japanese instruction is growing in areas close to Honda, Toyota and Mazda automobile plants. The College Board Advanced Placement program will offer exams in these languages and cultures in May 2007.
So, let’s suppose you are a school administrator, with a school that offers French, Spanish and German, all fairly common languages in high schools. Suppose you have 200 students who wish to take foreign language classes: 10 want German, 60 want French, and the rest Spanish.

Meanwhile, the feds are dangling money around, and even offer a teacher, for your school to add Farsi or Chinese to the curriculum. Or a rival school opens up two new classes in Arabic. What would you, as this school administrator, do?

http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2006/03/15/hasta-la-vista-french-bienvenido-farsi/