French is a Black Language

[phcitywarrior]

Breh I’ve already shared too much about myself on the internet
It’s one of those schools and it’s not Howard

Lol, it's all good breh. I was just curious as to which school it'd be. I aint coming to hunt you down.

Interesting choice he made but obviously the location of that school is prime.

That school has done a lot recently to boost it's image but for some reason I can't get past a feeling that the school is just an enclave for rich international students that want to live within DC.

That school has some international baddies tho . Remember when me and my boy from Howard would make moves out to Georgetown and Foggy Bottom bars.

College days man....so care free

 

[Red Shield]

" he sees as key to boosting France’s presence on the world stage."

Had a few french presidents who said that without Africa, france has no future.

so yea.... good for france, bad for africa

 

[phcitywarrior]

Had a few french presidents who said that without Africa, france has no future.

so yea.... good for france, bad for africa

French at one point in time was at par if not ahead of English as the world lingua franca. The USA's preeminence, especially in media and entertainment really put the nail in the coffin for French. If not for Africa, French as a language would be closer to Portuguese in terms of status.

 

[mbewane]

French at one point in time was at par if not ahead of English as the world lingua franca. The USA's preeminence, especially in media and entertainment really put the nail in the coffin for French. If not for Africa, French as a language would be closer to Portuguese in terms of status.

French was a diplomatic lingua franca until before the First World War if I remember correctly, and has had a long-standing influence in litterature, poetry, arts in general, as well as politics and philosophy. That's a huge difference with portuguese, that never has had that kind of influence. So the language has had huge influence for centuries in Europe, to this day it's either the first or second (to english) foreign language learned in most of Europe and in tons of countries worldwide. Indeed french had a higher status than english at the time, but the problem is that it was associated with those fields, so somewhat elitist. US soft power's genius move was to make english a lingua franca through pop culture, thus involving way more people.

On the other hand, Portuguese is interesting because the main portuguese-speaking power is not Portugal, but Brazil, a rare case of the former colony and southern country being more powerful than the former "mainland". No francophone country is even close to that situation.

 

[phcitywarrior]

French was a diplomatic lingua franca until before the First World War if I remember correctly, and has had a long-standing influence in litterature, poetry, arts in general, as well as politics and philosophy. That's a huge difference with portuguese, that never has had that kind of influence. So the language has had huge influence for centuries in Europe, to this day it's either the first or second (to english) foreign language learned in most of Europe and in tons of countries worldwide. Indeed french had a higher status than english at the time, but the problem is that it was associated with those fields, so somewhat elitist. US soft power's genius move was to make english a lingua franca through pop culture, thus involving way more people.

On the other hand, Portuguese is interesting because the main portuguese-speaking power is not Portugal, but Brazil, a rare case of the former colony and southern country being more powerful than the former "mainland". No francophone country is even close to that situation.

Portuguese is a very very interesting case as a language. If not for Brazil the language would be on par with Slovakian or Czech in terms of influence. Even still, the Lusosphere is very small once you remove Brazil.

French has been immensely helped by Africa. Both in language and economy.

 

[Red Shield]

French at one point in time was at par if not ahead of English as the world lingua franca. The USA's preeminence, especially in media and entertainment really put the nail in the coffin for French. If not for Africa, French as a language would be closer to Portuguese in terms of status.

I know... they use to speak it in all of the european royal courts back then. But the english ended up getting an empire and like you said.. the usa became top dog.

If it wasn't for Africa, french wouldn't even be portu status. Only place that would speak it outside of france is what.. quebec.

 

[BigMan]

French was a diplomatic lingua franca until before the First World War if I remember correctly, and has had a long-standing influence in litterature, poetry, arts in general, as well as politics and philosophy. That's a huge difference with portuguese, that never has had that kind of influence. So the language has had huge influence for centuries in Europe, to this day it's either the first or second (to english) foreign language learned in most of Europe and in tons of countries worldwide. Indeed french had a higher status than english at the time, but the problem is that it was associated with those fields, so somewhat elitist. US soft power's genius move was to make english a lingua franca through pop culture, thus involving way more people.

On the other hand, Portuguese is interesting because the main portuguese-speaking power is not Portugal, but Brazil, a rare case of the former colony and southern country being more powerful than the former "mainland". No francophone country is even close to that situation.

The uS is also similar in that it has the most English speakers and is more powerful than england

 

[phcitywarrior]

I know... they use to speak it in all of the european royal courts back then. But the english ended up getting an empire and like you said.. the usa became top dog.

If it wasn't for Africa, french wouldn't even be portu status. Only place that would speak it outside of france is what.. quebec.

Nah, they would have France, about 40% of Belgium, about 20% of Switzerland and a portion of Luxembourg that speak French. A small minority in Inodchina as well (Cambodia an Vietnam).

France is trying to re assert itself as one of the world's preeminent power. Issue is that its economic might isn't what it used to be. For France, and much of Europe tbh, it has to use the EU as it's main power block. It doesn't have the same power as before to stand on its own.

 

[AB Ziggy]

Nah, they would have France, about 40% of Belgium, about 20% of Switzerland and a portion of Luxembourg that speak French. A small minority in Inodchina as well (Cambodia an Vietnam).

France is trying to re assert itself as one of the world's preeminent power. Issue is that its economic might isn't what it used to be. For France, and much of Europe tbh, it has to use the EU as it's main power block. It doesn't have the same power as before to stand on its own.

I can see France following the UK Brexit route in trying to gain its might back. Remember they're not even the most dominant power(that belongs to Germany) within the EU states once you exclude the language.

 

[phcitywarrior]

I also find it interesting that no real French colony is a leader within it's respective region especially when compared to the UK.

For example, the US, Australia and New Zealand are both developed. Canada is a 50/50 between the UK and the French but even then, they lean more English than French.

Within Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana are ahead of Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon etc

Even in Asia, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong have stronger pull than Camboia, Laos and Vietnam.

Very interesting.

 

[BigMan]

I also find it interesting that no real French colony is a leader within it's respective region especially when compared to the UK.

For example, the US, Australia and New Zealand are both developed. Canada is a 50/50 between the UK and the French but even then, they lean more English than French.

Within Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana are ahead of Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon etc

Even in Asia, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong have stronger pull than Camboia, Laos and Vietnam.

Very interesting.

interesting but i wonder whether official language difference is truly the reason behind that

 

[phcitywarrior]

I can see France following the UK Brexit route in trying to gain its might back. Remember they're not even the most dominant power(that belongs to Germany) within the EU states once you exclude the language.

The one issue I see with that is that unlike the UK, whose former colonies are relatively strong in their own right (USA, Australia, Nigeria, Hong Kong, Canada, Kenya, South Afric etc) and whose relations with is former colonies is realtively cordial, France can't say the same about its former colonies.

Canada is arguably Frances strongest former colony and even then the Canadians are subject to the British crown. The Commonwealth is far greater in economic strength than the Francophonie.

France is at an interesting crosstoads concerning its world influence.

 

[Red Shield]

Nah, they would have France, about 40% of Belgium, about 20% of Switzerland and a portion of Luxembourg that speak French. A small minority in Inodchina as well (Cambodia an Vietnam).

France is trying to re assert itself as one of the world's preeminent power. Issue is that its economic might isn't what it used to be. For France, and much of Europe tbh, it has to use the EU as it's main power block. It doesn't have the same power as before to stand on its own.

I see your point. I wasn't really thinking about other places in europe that spoke french.




france can try to re assert itself as much as it wants. Once the time of empire is over, that's a wrap. All they can really do is manage their decline.

 

[Red Shield]

interesting but i wonder whether official language difference is truly the reason behind that

The brits bestowed different ethics/values/whatever onto their colonizes vs what the french or spanish or portuguese did. And something else.. but I'm having trouble remembering

 

[phcitywarrior]

The brits bestowed different ethics/values/whatever onto their colonizes vs what the french or spanish or portuguese did. And something else.. but I'm having trouble remembering

The Brits were also very hands off with their colonization as compared to the French. The French tried to convert their subjects into Frenchmen where as the Brits simply tried to gain economically.