Linguae Europaeae

Image by Ted Eytan/Creative Commons  ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/taedc/27937114851 )  by Amy John Amy John (she/her) is a recent University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign graduate with a double major in French Studies and Psychology. She plans to continue using French and to pursue a career in social work or a social work adjacent field. She wrote this blog post for 418 “Languages and Minorities in Europe” in Spring 2023. So, what is “iel” and why is it important? “Iel” is the French version of the English singular gender-neutral pronoun “they.” It is a combination of “il” (he) and “elle” (she) (Wagener, 2021). “Iel” and “they” are important for similar reasons. It helps us refer to people when we don’t know their gender without assuming their gender. Often, “he” or “il” are the automatic pronouns used to refer to an unknown person. For example, board game instructions often explain the game in terms of “he” as opposed to “they.” Doing this excludes everyone who doesn’t ...

by Emily Swisher  Emily Swisher is a third-year doctoral student in French Studies at the University of Illinois. Emily hopes to become a professor of French and incorporate research from her subfields of Translation/Interpretation and European Union Studies into her professional work. She wrote this blog post in 418 'Language and Minorities in Europe' in Fall 2021. The Arabic language has an undeniably strong hold in France. It is currently the second-most spoken language in the country with approximately four million locutors, far surpassing the combined number of speakers of France’s 25+ regional languages. Historically opposed to education initiatives in any language aside from the recognized national standard, France is now starting to reevaluate its policies toward the instruction of minority languages, and Arabic in particular. With a growing population of Arabic speakers on the mainland, the impetus for change seems to follow the adage, if you can’t beat them, join...

 by  Maithreyi Parthasarathy Maithreyi Parthasarathy is a junior in Linguistics at the University of Illinois. Maithreyi's future plans include working as an English as a Second Language instructor and pursuing a career in diplomacy. She wrote this blog post in 418 'Language and Minorities in Europe' in Fall 2021 . At the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, a mini France found a home called Pondicherry. Located in Tamil Nadu, this territory seems out of place in the region with its cobblestone boulevards and French edifices. In this territory, the French language thrives, spoken by over half of the local population and established as an official language. The former French colony hosts a population of local French speakers, both native and second language learners, keeping the language and culture alive. Throughout its centuries long presence, the French language has interacted with and been shaped by various languages in the region, its most extensive contact is with ...

By Gwyneth Dixon Gwyneth Dixon is a junior in Global Studies and Political Science at The University of Illinois. Gwyneth’s future plans include pursuing a JD. Gwyneth wrote this blog post in the 418 ‘Language and Minorities in Europe’ course in spring 2019. Source: Pxhere With 300 million speakers worldwide (BENCHMARKS), French owes most of its popularity to France’s history. In the seventeenth century, the nation-state benefitted from an influential role in the arts, a strong economy, and a powerful, successful military (“Studies on translation,” 2010, p. 13). Combined, these factors ultimately resulted in the nation’s prominent role as one of “the main political powers” of the world (“Studies on translation”, 2010, p 13). With this influence and power, French soon became the language of commerce, arts, and academics, and as more and more people recognized the benefits of learning French, the language became a global lingua franca (Wright, 2016). With France’s continued domi...

By Tanairy Delgado Flags of francophone countries ( Wikimedia Source ) ( Organisation internationale de la francophonie ) Ask a random pedestrian on the street what comes to mind when you say the word France. Most likely they will come up with the Eiffel Tower in Paris and that answer would not be surprising. Although the newest statistics by the World Tourism Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, have not yet been published for 2017, the first regional results released in January indicate strong growth in Europe. France again is expected to be the most visited country in the world, with more than 80 million tourists last year. With so many people flocking to France from all parts of the world, it is worth remembering that speaking French can provide more than one enjoyable and eye-opening trip around the world. French can be used in France, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco and various countries in and many other parts of the world. Speakin...

By Victoria Bauer and Zsuzsanna Fagyal-Le Mentec At first glance, the European Union has the most liberal language regime in the world: all twenty-four of its official languages are considered equal and can be used by EU citizens to communicate with their institutions. The EU’s strong commitment to multilingualism holds despite the formidable costs associated with the enormous translation flow. Consider, for instance, that the European Commission's Directorate General reportedly spends over 330 million euros per year on translation ( Translation in the EU ) and the total costs of language services within the Union are estimated to be close to a billion euros. However, EU language regimes are much more constrained than they might appear. Source: Wikipedia In principle, the Council of Europe determines the rules governing language use (Article 342, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ), but EU institutions “may stipulate in their rules of procedure which of the la...

Image Link Hypocrisie: La Nouvelle Belle Langue? By Kevin O’Keefe Kevin O’Keefe is a senior at the University of Illinois majoring in French Studies, with a double minor in Political Science and Global Studies. He took French 418 in the spring of his junior year in 2016, after returning home from a semester abroad in Paris, France in the Fall of 2015, where he studies French politics and the European Union at Sciences Po. For centuries, people across the globe have spent years of dedication working to master of the French language and reach its “refined nature”. To these people, there is a simple je ne sais quoi that makes French seemingly drip with culture and sophistication. The efforts of the French to maintain this level of linguistic refinement have been unparalleled through the ages, as French became the single and only official language of the French state through numerous processes and pushes for monlinugality and purification of the French language. (Radford, 1). ...

Image Link Understanding the French Who Refuse to Speak English By Raphaela Berding Raphaela Berding is a second year graduate student in European Union Studies. Her interests are in sociology, and she plans to complete a PhD in this field. Her research focuses on European culture and identity. She is from Germany and received her Bachelor’s degree in Multilingual Communication and Translational Studies. Berding has made her entry available in English and German as well. Most non-French speaking travelers who have visited France might have experienced that some French do not answer in English when tourists ask them for directions. Since the overall attitude in France towards English is that it is “the most desirable language to possess in one’s linguistic repertoire” (Costa and Lambert 2009, 19), one can assume that these French might not have sufficient knowledge of English, and that it is not part of the French curriculum. However, this is not the case. In the French educati...