Macron is not a “defender ” grumpy” of the French language

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The president of France, Emmanuel Macron

Charles Lecavalier

Monday, 5 march 2018, 12:27

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Monday, 5 march 2018, 12:27

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PARIS | French president Emmanuel Macron is not a “defender ” grumpy” of the French: he does not hesitate to speak English on the international stage to show that the language of Molière “is not locked”.

“Drawing inspiration from the example of north-american, I have always considered that to defend the French, this was not refuse to speak other languages,” said Mr. Macron on Monday during a joint press briefing with the prime minister Philippe Couillard at the Élysée palace.

Mr. Macron isn’t afraid on the international scene to express themselves in French, but also in the language of the host country and also in English. “I think it reinforces the francophonie, to show that this is not a language enclave, but a language that is part of the multilingualism and exchange with other languages,” said Mr Macron.

The French “need to speak other languages”

Mr. Macron, the French has an advantage over the English, this language “anglo-saxon” who wants to be digesting the other languages”. Its force is that “most francophones need to speak other languages and they are built in the translation and multilingualism”.

The president puts in opposition the “defenders grumpy and the “defenders conqueror and ambitious”, of which it is part. He promises to announce in the near future, for on the day of the francophonie, a French policy for the promotion of the French “with a will on the international scene in the field of education and geographical ambitions, especially on the african continent, with the desire to recover a true ambition for this language”.

The prime minister Philippe Couillard said a little later in the day “that the majority of Quebecers think” as Mr. Macron.

“We all want our language to be the official language in practice, and that we have a true francophone society in Quebec. Now that is no reason not to learn another language,” he said.

Mr. Couillard was criticized for making a speech only in English at the conference of the Artic Circle in 2014 in Iceland. “It is all very well to speak his language, but it should be understood that in the world today, it is often necessary to speak at least another language,” he said.