Maillot Yannick M2 Recherche Monde Anglophone

The Place of French In South Africa

Mme Fral

11/10/2011

French, along with English, is the only language spoken on the five continents. These are also the only two global languages recognized by the United Nations. Finally French is the second most taught language in the world, after English. Knowing that since 1994, South Africa has eleven official languages it can be interesting to look at the place and role of French in such a country. This is what Patricia Mathebula did in her article Le franais langue trangre en Afrique du Sud: sa place et son rle dans la nouvelle rpartition published in Alizs N 18. Patricia Mathebula was at that time teacher at the University of the North. She divided her work in two main parts: in the first one she presents an enquiry made in South Africa about the teaching of French and its results. In a second part, she deals with the issue raised by this enquiry and the place of French in South Africa at that time. Taking her paper as an example, this work will in a first part present Mathebulas paper and in a second part, it will look at the role of French in South Africa nowadays.

I/ Mathebula's Le Franais langue trangre en Afrique du Sud: sa place et son rle dans la nouvelle rpartition

After the democratic election of 1994 deep changes occurred in the Educational System also known as the transformation. The concept of transformation has a special meaning in South Africa it is related to the political transformation of society: higher education having a transformative role in moving from Apartheid to an inclusive society1. From time to time a debate emerges concerning the need for foreign languages in a country with eleven official languages. One of the main reasons for this debate to happen is of economic matter. So after a recommendation was made in 1995 to close the French Department of the University of the North, an enquiry was set up to assess the situation of French studies in South African Universities. All the French Departments or departments including French studies were addressed. Nine out of twenty-two universities answered; seven of them were former Whites-only Universities, and the other two were reserved to Blacks and Coloured during Apartheid time. Data from the University of the North was added to this enquiry. The oldest teaching of French in universities was mostly found in former Whites universities while it was imposed in former Blacks and Coloured universities possibly
1

Definition taken from: http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/transformation.htm

because of the lack of funding. This may explain the notable difference in French studies availability between former Whites and Blacks universities. Concerning the number of students, the first three ranked universities are all former Whites universities; in 1997 they were composed of respectively 522, 158 and 150 students in French. All the other universities had less than 100 students and the University of the North had only 8 students. Five of the universities with the most students were close to major cities such as: Johannesburg, Cape Town or Pretoria. This may be explained by the availability of French as part of the matriculation exam (the equivalent of the French baccalaurat). Concerning the French teaching reform, more and more universities are giving professional courses in French Studies, and in some case the professional courses are more important than the literary ones. It can be noticed that the universities that are the most innovative often are the former Whites-only ones. Mathebula also deplores the lack of contact between South African French Departments and Francophone universities. As she says: Pour un pays essentiellement anglophone comme lAfrique du Sud, il est ncessaire que les dpartements de franais tablissent des contacts de toutes sortes et des visites dchange avec dautres institutions dans les pays francophones, she uses the example of British universities in which students doing a degree in foreign language have to stay at least one year in a country speaking this language as a main one. She gives the lack of money as a main reason for this situation in South Africa. As a conclusion of the enquiry made, Mathebula acknowledges insufficient formal contact between French Departments in South Africa and francophone countries. She then goes on to look at future opportunities for students in French in South Africa. She sees roughly three fields of interest: geography, politics and diplomacy, and economics. Regarding geography, she explains that South Africa is part of the Organisation of African Unity (later replaced by the African Union). In this organisation, 21 out of the 51 countries speak French as their only official language (or as the main language); so it has a predominant place on the continent. In 1997, the Commission Franaise du Commerce en Afrique du Sud shows that there were more than a hundred French companies in South Africa, employing more than 16.000 people. Therefore those companies, using South Africa as launching ramps on the African continent, will needand employskilled people able to speak both English and French.

On political and diplomatic levels French is used for inter-governmental communications both written and oral. That is why South African diplomats will need translators and interprets able to speak fluently both French and English. In order to reach this aim, universities have to adapt their courses and provide with something else than just abstract literary courses. She also uses the example of the secret service that will need people able to understand perfectly French as well as other foreign languages. Concerning the economics, one obvious domain of use for French is the one of business and trading. The author draws the attention on the fact that it is more than ever important not only to assess the potential in trading of foreign languages, French included; but also to set up teaching centres of those languages. As an example she uses the increase of French investment in South Africa: it is four times more important than in 1994. Moreover there is a real demand for francophone employees that are too often left unanswered. Tourism is another source of revenue, one of the largest producers of income2. The Language Plan Task Group recommended in 1996 an increase in the teaching of both locals and tourists languages. Using those needs, Mathebula welcomes the changes that are occurring in different universities and tending towards a more specific teaching of French. These reforms tries to adapt the teaching to fit Political and Economic Sciences, Business Administration, Trading, Pharmacy and the training of interprets and translators. Another goal of this reform should be a better training of teachers in order to provide with a better learning of the basis of French in classes. All of these reasons made Mathebula believe in an increase rather than a diminution of the teaching of French in South Africa in the years to follow. The second part of this work will deal with the current situation of French in South Africa.

II/ The Place of French in nowadays South Africa

A quick look at cultural events in South Africa reveals the presence of French in South African society. One clear example is the Alliance Franaise. It was created for the first time in 1936 and is now present in 14 places throughout South Africa. Each centre provides

Language Plan task Group (LANGTANG). Towards a national plan for South Africa. Report to the Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, 1996. (retrieved from Mathebulas article)

with training courses of French, but also library and it often collaborates to cultural events such as the Cape Town Jazz Festival, the Awesome Jazz Festival in Durban, the International Arts Festival in Grahamstown and of course the Francophone Festival. On its webpage it presents French as the other African Language and teaches to 5.000 students a year in South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho. The Alliance Franaise is not the only organisation providing with French classes; there are also French schools in South Africa, also known as lyce franais, such as the Lyce Jules Verne covering from the petite section to terminale and leading to the baccalaurat. This lyce is teaching to 750 pupils. There are also other associations such as les Frenchies, les Froggies but also French is Fun, promoting French culture. It is interesting to notice that French people living in South Africa, who wanted to share both gastronomic and cultural experiences with francophone people, often create these associations. We can notice as well that the census of 2011 was issued in the eleven official languages but also in French and Portuguese. After the end of Apartheid and the official creation of a democratic state, the French Institute of South Africa was created in 1995, it is also known as the IFAS. It is composed of three branches: the IFASCulture, IFASResearch and the Dibuga. The IFASCultures aim is to promote French culture and French language through cultural events; it holds screenings in French, makes possible the staging of French artists in South Africa but it also gives the possibility for South African Artists to expose in foreign countries. The IFASResearch focuses on Human and Social science in partnership with the CNRS in France. Finally the Dibuga is based in the Alliance Franaise in Johannesburg and provides with books, newspaper, CDs and DVDs to promote French culture and language. Cultural events are not the only ones to take place in South Africa. On a political and economic level, we can find the French-South African Chamber of Commerce that was founded in 1979. It is now made up of 200 members with business interests in France and South Africa. One of its latest initiatives was the Jadore South Africa campaign, which was launched by Christine Lagarde in 2006 at the French Embassy in Pretoria. South Africa is Frances biggest trade partnership in sub-Saharan Africa; and its interests went from R6.6 billion in 1996 to R15 billion in 2006. Here are some figures: France is the seventh biggest supplier of imported goods to South Africa and the sixth largest foreign investor in the country. From 100 companies in 1998, there were 150 French companies in 2006 ranging

from aeronautics, energy and transports to information and communication technology, public works, pharmaceutical products and consumer goods. All of these are indirect proofs of the presence of French in the South African daily life but they are a real indicator of the place of this language in South Africa.

We can see that the place of French in South Africa is far from disappearing. Even if it was in decline in the late 90s after the end of Apartheid, it is now gaining more and more importance thanks to economic interests. By the mid-90s, South Africa was searching for a new definition of itself and education, and more generally the teaching of languages, was a way to achieve it. One had asked what would have been the place of a foreign language, French for instance, in a country enduring such deep transformations. More than ten years later we can see that South Africa is knowing a growth in the interests in foreign languages. These languages are enabling people to communicate and trade worldwide. Moreover French occupies a special role as it is spoken in most of the African Continent. Therefore Mathebula was right when she said that French would have a role to play in the construction of South Africa.

Bibliography: (websites were retrieved on the 8th of October 2011)

Alliance Franaises website: http://www.alliance.org.za/

Analytic Quality Glossary: http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/transformation.htm

French Embassy in Pretoria: http://www.ambafrance-rsa.org/

French Institute of South Africa: http://www.ifas.org.za/ Jadore South Africa French Business, South Africa Info website: http://www.southafrica.info/news/international/jadore-sa-060605.htm Les Frenchies website: http://www.lesfrenchies.co.za/ Les Froggies website: http://www.lesfroggies.net/Html/index.php Lyce Jules Vernes website: http://www.lyceejulesverne.co.za/

Mathebula, Patricia, Le franais langue trangre en Afrique du sud: sa place et son rle dans la nouvelle rpartition, Revue Alize N 18: http://laboratoires.univ-reunion.fr/oracle/documents/284.html South Africas Official Gateway: http://www.southafrica.info/

University of South Africas website: http://www.unisa.ac.za/Default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=7528

Debate:
With the always-bigger importance given to English and Chinese, is French still competitive on the international scene?

As people in France speak English in most of their foreign business trading, why is it so important for us that French plays an important role as a foreign language? Isnt it more an egocentric wish than a real necessity?