Siskin

Where to begin? I think we can all appreciate the pertinence of this article and have had firsthand experience with the ongoing and ever increasing competition for language students. It is admittedly hard for most American students, especially those in the southwest, to see the utility in learning any foreign language that is not Spanish. Generally speaking, this is tied to the instrumental role of language and we have all heard people say that they would like to learn a second language in order to make themselves better job prospects. In the southwestern United States, everyone from a gas station attendant to a doctor or lawyer can benefit from having basic language skills in Spanish, if only spoken. The ever increasing Hispanic population in this country allows American students free access to a wealth of resources, from store signs and billboards to television advertisements and opportunities to converse with native speakers. In terms of direct proximity to a second language, there can be sustainable argument that French is equally as important as Spanish. We like to cite the instances of francophone communities in Canada and the Antilles, but in terms of physical data, this pales in comparison to the size of hispanophone communities even within our country. I think the authors of this article are cognizant of this fact and insist upon moving away from an argumentation based on equal utility and pertinence to a case based on the intrinsic merits of French study. That being said, I must confess that my study of French began at that instrumental phase. As a political science student studying West African relations, I needed to have at least a basic ability to read, speak and understand French, both written and oral. I saw language study as little more than a means to making myself a more attractive candidate for jobs in the international arena. Yet in studying French, I discovered a new world and area of study and have chosen to follow that path. So perhaps we shouldn’t be too hasty in discounting arguments of utility and instrumentality.

I appreciate the solutions proposed in the article, but I do fear the regression to the mythical cultural creations of the past. While some students certainly and inevitably see French as a means of attaining sophistication and a more world knowledge, à la Sabrina, we should not shy away from dispelling certain myths and misnomers that have infiltrated the American popular imagination. In attracting students to the study of French, we should not rely on slogans like “Paris is for lovers” and other antiquated misconceptions. I think that by introducing these images and stereotypes, we can certainly use the student’s prior knowledge as a gateway to the incredible richness and diversity that is French civilization and culture.

Just as one must be wary of using inaccurate social constructs in order to show the allure of French, we must also strive to give students an accurate understanding of how and where French may be used in other arenas. By admitting that French is not necessarily an overwhelmingly useful language in terms of America’s proximity to true Francophone nations, we can broaden the horizons of many students and show the applicability of the language in a global setting. This would require an admission on our part that the traditional “Francophone world” is rapidly changing and evolving into a much more complex geopolitical and geocultural system, thus necessitating a more enlightened understanding of how and why second language skills are important and beneficial. This would require a rethinking of the “purist” approach to language that is always of concern, especially in French.