Why English is de Rigueur in Many French Boardrooms

Ft,com ^ | 3/25/2006 | Tom Braithwaite in Paris & Chris Smyth in Brussels

[Pelham]

Pity the poor French- they haven't figured out we're switching to Espanol.

[GretchenM]

Given the long-standing attitudes between the French and the British, this has to go down sour for many French people.

[Bob]

English is also the lingua franca at Thales and EADS

Oh, the irony of that statement is astounding.

[Fatuncle]

Considering that if something isn't done, Arabic may soon be the language of England, yes, it is.

[Notwithstanding]

I worked for a global French company for 4 years and even the meetings at the Paris headquarters were in English.

Everyone knew that the real lingua franca is now English.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

The number of speakers explain things.

English: 340 million first language; 515 million total speakers

French: 67 million first language; 130 million total

Source: Wikipedia

[truthpls]

Also, in France, I believe.

[truthpls]

"We are so blessed we have English as our native tongue, many Americans probably have no idea how much so!"
Why? I don't know, maybe English has more words and more precise words. I can't help loving to hear a French person or an Italian person speaking. In the future there probably will be some globilization of language, but I hope we don't lose the beauty and the lovingness along with it.

[Seaplaner]

Hmmm, I wonder what the French word for "hubris" might be?

[truthpls]

I wish I knew what you are talking about. But maybe you don't want people like me to know.

[Bob]

I wish I knew what you are talking about. But maybe you don't want people like me to know.

The term lingua franca (derived from 'French language') is used to describe a universal language, one that educated people are all expected to speak. I found it amusing that English is now being described as a 'lingua franca' and by the French, no less.

[Northern Alliance]

Chirac would be happier in Quebec, where English is banned from the boardroom. Meetings, memos, internal correspondence, etc., all have to be in French.

[ccmay]

English: 340 million first language; 515 million total speakers

I don't think so. There are 300 million people in the US alone, of whom 90%+ speak English at home. Britain has over 50 million, and the rest of the Anglosphere must have at least another 50-100 million primary English speakers.

And the 515 million total speakers is way too low also. 515-300=215. There are more than 215 million people in India alone who speak English as their second language. A billion total speakers of English is more like it.

-ccm

[ccmay]

Turnabout is fair play. Much of English is actually Norman French, especially in the legal domain. The Kings of England and their courts spoke primarily French until about 1400.

-ccm

[Brit_Guy]

"The term lingua franca (derived from 'French language')"

It's not French it's Latin. (sorry to point that out - it's the petty pendant in me!)

That said, "Franca" does kind of sound like it could come from a root that is a homonymn with the word "French". So I guess it still read as ironic!

[Brit_Guy]

The other weird thing about the French Language is that they actually have a global supreme arbitor of the language - I think it is called something like the 'Acadamie Francais". I meets once a week to argue the toss over words, and find french sounding words for new things being invented and named by English speakers!

Even in this there is a cultural difference.... the English speakers leave words to the 'free market' to decide if they enter the language (a word gets in our dictionaries only if it survives common useage for a length of time). The French government have socialised this process and state control it! Tells a story in itself....

[Malesherbes]

English is my native language, but I have lived abroad a great deal, and I have seen that there are many impediments for foreigners to learn English well. Spelling is chaotic in its irregularity, and even then words are often not pronounced as they are spelled. The compound tenses of verbs can be very subtle, and for Slavic language speakers the definite and indefinite articles are a problem. Since inflected endings have virtually disappeared (e.g. who for whom), English depends for its logic almost entirely on word order.

[Northern Alliance]

Wikipedia puts the native English speaker figure at 380 million.

This is an interesting site listing languages used on the Internet. It puts the total English speakers worldwide (not just on the 'net) at 1,125,664,397. Now some of those will have French, etc., as a first, second, or third language as well.

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm

[Northern Alliance]

he other weird thing about the French Language is that they actually have a global supreme arbitor of the language - I think it is called something like the 'Acadamie Francais". I meets once a week to argue the toss over words, and find french sounding words for new things being invented and named by English speakers!

I think that is the Alliance Francaise, and yes they actually think they are relevant. Probably the word 'Internet' is banned in Quebec. It would all be quite 'drole' except if one had to live under those language Nazis - one reason I left Quebec a long time ago.