Uproar over English for French toddlers
Linguistic purists blast Sarkozy's plan, say he's dumbing down mother tongue
PARIS: President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to teach English to three-year-olds have sparked howls of protest among linguistic purists in France, who say he should focus instead on helping the young master their own language.
In 2009, Mr Sarkozy, a self-confessed Anglophile, declared that all French secondary schoolchildren should be at least bilingual - leading to English and other foreign languages being introduced from the age of seven.
The latest debate was sparked when Education and Youth Minister Luc Chatel said last week that the immersion should start even earlier, as it made no sense to resist the rise of English.
Announcing plans to teach English to three-year-old nursery kids using computers, he said: 'Not mastering English in France these days is a handicap.'
He told the local Europe 1 Radio that a committee would be set up to handle this.
Experts are divided over the merit of learning English at an age when toddlers are still grappling with the basics of their mother tongue.
In Britain, students tend to take on a foreign language at the age of 11, though some start earlier, a report in the Telegraph said yesterday.
In Singapore, students who are ranked among the top 10 per cent of the Primary School Leaving Examination and have a special ability in languages can apply for approval to study a foreign language - either French, German or Japanese - from Secondary 1, that is when they are about 12 or 13 years old.
'Three years old seems much too young to me,' said teacher and French linguist Claude Hagege. A better age would be five or six, he told the Daily Mail.
Others said the announcement was a fig leaf hiding the fact that Mr Sarkozy's reforms will see an estimated 1,000 language teachers lose their jobs this year, the Telegraph reported.
Before taking on foreign languages, the education system should improve standards in French, they added.
The French see the spread of English as synonymous with tough capitalist values, as opposed to the more socialist-leaning ones favoured in modern France.
One major proponent of the 'dumbing-down' of French, say critics, is the President himself.
Mr Sarkozy, who is from a Hungarian background with Greek blood on his maternal side, is regularly accused of not being French enough.
In a recent written parliamentary question, a member of the opposition Socialist Party said Mr Sarkozy 'mistreated' the French language.
His lax grammar and 'vulgar expressions', said Mr Francois Loncle, amounted to 'attacks on the culture of our country and its reputation in the world'.
France has traditionally taken the defence of its language deadly seriously.
The Academie Francaise, set up in 1635 to preserve the purity of the French language, is tasked with warding off the invasion of 'anglicisms' into the language. It has hit out at the increasing usage of 'Franglais' words such as 'le weekend' and 'le parking', as well as the unhealthy influence of Hollywood films on Gallic culture.
Mr Sarkozy's position is the complete opposite of the approach taken by one of France's most famous leaders, Charles de Gaulle, who refused to speak English in public as a matter of principle.
In 2006, then-President Jacques Chirac famously walked out of a meeting in Brussels when the French head of a boss' union started his address in English.
Linguistic purists blast Sarkozy's plan, say he's dumbing down mother tongue
PARIS: President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to teach English to three-year-olds have sparked howls of protest among linguistic purists in France, who say he should focus instead on helping the young master their own language.
In 2009, Mr Sarkozy, a self-confessed Anglophile, declared that all French secondary schoolchildren should be at least bilingual - leading to English and other foreign languages being introduced from the age of seven.
The latest debate was sparked when Education and Youth Minister Luc Chatel said last week that the immersion should start even earlier, as it made no sense to resist the rise of English.
Announcing plans to teach English to three-year-old nursery kids using computers, he said: 'Not mastering English in France these days is a handicap.'
He told the local Europe 1 Radio that a committee would be set up to handle this.
Experts are divided over the merit of learning English at an age when toddlers are still grappling with the basics of their mother tongue.
In Britain, students tend to take on a foreign language at the age of 11, though some start earlier, a report in the Telegraph said yesterday.
In Singapore, students who are ranked among the top 10 per cent of the Primary School Leaving Examination and have a special ability in languages can apply for approval to study a foreign language - either French, German or Japanese - from Secondary 1, that is when they are about 12 or 13 years old.
'Three years old seems much too young to me,' said teacher and French linguist Claude Hagege. A better age would be five or six, he told the Daily Mail.
Others said the announcement was a fig leaf hiding the fact that Mr Sarkozy's reforms will see an estimated 1,000 language teachers lose their jobs this year, the Telegraph reported.
Before taking on foreign languages, the education system should improve standards in French, they added.
The French see the spread of English as synonymous with tough capitalist values, as opposed to the more socialist-leaning ones favoured in modern France.
One major proponent of the 'dumbing-down' of French, say critics, is the President himself.
Mr Sarkozy, who is from a Hungarian background with Greek blood on his maternal side, is regularly accused of not being French enough.
In a recent written parliamentary question, a member of the opposition Socialist Party said Mr Sarkozy 'mistreated' the French language.
His lax grammar and 'vulgar expressions', said Mr Francois Loncle, amounted to 'attacks on the culture of our country and its reputation in the world'.
France has traditionally taken the defence of its language deadly seriously.
The Academie Francaise, set up in 1635 to preserve the purity of the French language, is tasked with warding off the invasion of 'anglicisms' into the language. It has hit out at the increasing usage of 'Franglais' words such as 'le weekend' and 'le parking', as well as the unhealthy influence of Hollywood films on Gallic culture.
Mr Sarkozy's position is the complete opposite of the approach taken by one of France's most famous leaders, Charles de Gaulle, who refused to speak English in public as a matter of principle.
In 2006, then-President Jacques Chirac famously walked out of a meeting in Brussels when the French head of a boss' union started his address in English.
