MERRY MONTH OF MAY
The national statistics institute INSEE estimates the cost
of the reduced production in May 2013 at 0.1% of GNP or 2 billion euros, which
raised the question: should we drop a holiday in May? In this time of economic
crisis and budget deficits that may seem a good idea, but neither the
government nor the main unions seem to be in favor. Union leaders defend the
"important work-life balance that is essential for family life" and should
outweigh economic gain. Labor Minister Michel
Sapin says: "Take back a holiday in May? Let's be reasonable. These
days off will allow people to work even harder afterwards." This same minister also turned down the
request of certain businesses to stay open on Sunday, such as home improvement,
furniture stores and garden centers/nurseries. As he explained on a popular
radio program: "This would mean that bit by bit the Sunday rest of French
employees would be sacrificed. I will not allow it."
Sapin is clearly taking his clue from President Hollande who,
in looking for ways to cut the deficit, has so far carefully avoided the subject
of leisure time. It is a complicated issue and not worth a fight at a time when
he needs backing on more pressing issues (retirement, school reform). Besides, the
same INSEE study indicates that the loss of productivity in May is partly offset
by an increase in revenues from the transportation and hospitality industries. A
few years ago, then-president Sarkozy's call to "work more to earn
more" fell on deaf ears, and today the French still choose time off over
increased earnings.
Surprisingly, with 11 national holidays per year France is
far from the leader in Europe, where Cyprus tops the list with 15 holidays a
year (followed by Greece), while Holland and Great Britain close the ranks with
only 8 holidays a year. Some business leaders suggest that the problem in
France is not so much the number of holidays, but the concentration of them in
May.
THE UNHAPPY FRENCH
 |
| Claudia Senik |
"In life you always compare your position in reference
to some benchmark, and in France that is the grandeur of the old francophone
empire and the influence France used to have in the world. That is gone for
good and people have a hard time accepting the decline but they don't really
appreciate the new world either. They dislike market-based globalization, and
they should learn more foreign languages if they want to fit into this globalized
new world. If they learned to speak English and got a closer look at the rest
of the world, they would be happier", she concludes.
My take? The French are habitual complainers, quick to take
to the streets to demonstrate against one thing or another, and with a
deep-seated fear of change. Their children grow up seeing and hearing this constant griping in the home and in the street and are affected by it. Like their
parents, they soon come to see the glass as half empty, and the wider world as
a threat against French superiority. [Click here for the chapter RALEURS in my book TAKING ROOT IN PROVENCE and a closer look at the French reflex to resist change.]
ENGLISH IN FRENCH UNIVERSITIES? QUELLE HORREUR!
This fear of change was evident again in the recent outcry
against the government's proposal to allow certain courses at French
universities to be taught in English, a subject that is still being hotly
debated on television and in the press.
In order to attract more foreign students to France,
Minister of Higher Education and Research Geneviève
Fioraso, introduced a Bill in the General Assembly whose Article 2 would
allow more subjects to be taught in English at French universities. The bill
was finally adopted by the Parliament on May 23rd, following a long and stormy debate and only after an Amendment was added that required foreign students to pass a French test at the end of their studies before receiving their diplomas. Objections ranged from "It is an attack on the French
language" to "Dangerous encroachment of Anglo-Saxon influence on our
society" and "It will mean the slow death of the French language". One outraged Socialist deputy even called it "la pire des humiliations pour les francophones".
 |
| Geneviève Fioraso |
It is generally acknowledged that today international business is conducted in English, and that compared to other nationalities the
French have a poor command of English and therefore do less well in finding jobs
abroad. Yet, they see the advent of English in their universities as a displacement
of French rather than an opening of doors to a wider world and its opportunities. Even French intellectual and former presidential advisor Jacques Attali as well as bookish journalist Bernard Pivot argued against the introduction of English, and the Académie Française thinks it would
undermine the position of French in higher education.
Minister Fioraso responded that only one percent of all
courses would be taught in English, mostly in science and business, and that research labs have been working in English for years. Moreover, a second language has never killed
a first one. "We need to adapt to the real world. Chinese, Indian and South Korean students flock to British and American universities, rather than come to French ones, because of the language. Courses taught in
English would increase the number of foreign students here, who in turn would absorb
the French language and culture and spread it in their home countries."
The French press varied widely in its opinion on the subject, with the extreme right and extreme left violently opposed to English and others being more nuanced in their positions, but one thing they shared was passion. Hardly ever has a subject roused such impassioned debate as the venerated French language. It was not a political issue (even among the Socialist majority 40 deputies voted against), nor one of age (young and old similarly divided), but one of a shared, inculcated passion for a precious possession: the French language.
French daily Le Monde, in tones less strident than its colleagues, defended the bill, stressing that the language of international exchange is English and that there are no borders to information and knowledge. Catholic newspaper La Croix was against, prominently quoting deputy Benoist Apparu: "A people that speaks more and more of a foreign language looses its identity bit by bit". And, of course, several teachers' unions have called for a strike before the final vote.
Curiously, no mention anywhere of the heavy infiltration of English words into the French language with results like relooker, benchmarker, booker, fooding, footing, manger avec feeling and worse, or words like cool, pressing, and people that take on surprising new meaning in France. All French universities offer Master's degrees (formerly Maîtrise), and courses in Engineering or in Management (formerly Gestion), while a course on Knowledge Management is listed as "Management des Connaissances". Where was the Académie Française when all this was happening?
French daily Le Monde, in tones less strident than its colleagues, defended the bill, stressing that the language of international exchange is English and that there are no borders to information and knowledge. Catholic newspaper La Croix was against, prominently quoting deputy Benoist Apparu: "A people that speaks more and more of a foreign language looses its identity bit by bit". And, of course, several teachers' unions have called for a strike before the final vote.
Curiously, no mention anywhere of the heavy infiltration of English words into the French language with results like relooker, benchmarker, booker, fooding, footing, manger avec feeling and worse, or words like cool, pressing, and people that take on surprising new meaning in France. All French universities offer Master's degrees (formerly Maîtrise), and courses in Engineering or in Management (formerly Gestion), while a course on Knowledge Management is listed as "Management des Connaissances". Where was the Académie Française when all this was happening?
HOLLANDE'S PRESS CONFERENCE
On May 16th, President Hollande held a press conference in
the Elysée Palace attended by 400 French and foreign journalists. It lasted two
and a half hours but contained little if anything new. Aware of his low approval rating and
of being called "indecisive" he took a more forceful tone than during
his first press conference six months ago, and repeatedly spoke of his
"offensive" to bring Europe out of its lethargy and of his support
for a single European economic government under one "true" president.
Somewhat self-congratulatory in his evaluation of his first year in office,
Hollande refused to be pinned down by aggressive journalists, showed good humor
throughout the exchange, but offered no new ideas or concrete measures,
maintaining his earlier positions and claiming that time will prove him right. In
the face of France's current recession and increasing unemployment, the message
received was long on déjà vu and short on hope.
WITTY WOODY
"I once took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in 30 minutes. It is about Russia." (Woody Allen)
