Members of the Constitutional Council and the Council of State subject to heart failure should definitely not read this article: they would risk feeling unwell. And yet, what follows is the exact truth. In the United States, on November 5, when choosing between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, voters will of course have ballots in English, but they will find others in Spanish and still others in Mandarin or in Arabic. For what ? Quite simply because, across the Atlantic, voting is considered a pillar of democracy. Electoral materials are therefore translated into several languages so that citizens uncomfortable with the national language can choose their leaders with full knowledge of the facts.
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And don’t think that only the “big languages” are privileged. In Californiain 2020, bulletins and professions of faith were available in Armenian, Korean, Hmong (China), Persian, Syriac and even Tagalog, the main language of the Philippines. Among others! As for the Cook Countyin Illinois, where 35% of the population is of foreign origin, one could vote in Arabic, Polish or Urdu (practiced in India and Pakistan)… Amerindian languages are also authorized in certain states. Don’t think either that the “great” presidential candidate is entitled to preferential treatment. The rule also applies to primaries, referendums and even the appointment of representatives to the board of directors of school districts!
It was in 1975 that Congress included this type of provision through thearticle 203 of Voting Rights Act. Since then, public authorities have been required to provide this service if more than 10,000 citizens or 5% of the voting age population belong to a minority language group. “The more we help people understand the mechanics of voting, the easier it is for them to become a full member of our society,” said Whitney Quesenbery, director of the Center for Civic Design. “This is an excellent way of ensuring equal access to participation for citizens whose first language is not English. Imposing a single language would, on the contrary, constitute a discriminatory practice,” comments for L’Express. Fernand de Varennes, former special rapporteur on minority issues.
Some will still think that journalists are impossible people (in which they will not necessarily be wrong…), but let’s transpose this situation to France and suppose that, in a polling station in Vénissieux, the ballots are now available in French and in Arabic; that in Montreuil, where there is a large Malian community, we do the same with the Bambara; that Turkish is in use in Alsace; that Marseille provides bulletins in Shimaore and Kibutchi, the two traditional languages of Mayotte, for the Mahorais. Let us continue this transposition with the so-called regional languages and imagine that we find electoral material written in Basque in Espelette and Biarritz; in Breton in Quimper and Morlaix; in Occitan in Toulouse and Montpellier; in Corsica in Bastia and Ajaccio; in Catalan in Perpignan, in Martinican Creole in Fort-de-France…
And let’s think. Would our democracy be weakened because French had lost its monopoly or would it be strengthened because the values of our Republic would be understandable by all and respectful of cultural diversity?
I ask the question but I have not (yet?) completely stopped. I know perfectly well that today such an idea would undoubtedly be rejected by part of the population. And that makes sense. Aren’t we bottle-fed since childhood in a monolingual culture? And are we not told over and over again that “the language of the Republic is French”, since a paragraph added to the Basic Law in 1992 and which the Constitutional Council systematically uses to oppose the other languages spoken on the territory ?
So, let us first remember that this article does not say that French is the “only” language of the Republic. Let us then remember that it was introduced by parliamentarians with the sole objective of fighting against English and never to be used against regional languages. Finally, let us recall an episode that was a little too quickly forgotten in the history of France. In the first years of the Revolution, laws and texts were translated into the different languages of the territory in the name of a simple objective: to ensure that all citizens could have access to the new texts. The government was then tolerant and multilingualism considered an excellent way to propagate revolutionary ideas and break with the language of kings.
This state of mind, unfortunately, quickly disappeared. As early as 2 Thermidor year II (July 20, 1794), Robespierre wrote a decree stipulating that any official using a language other than French would be “sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and dismissed.” And for good measure, the Convention decided to elevate adherence to French alone to the rank of a sign allowing it to “recognize its friends and its enemies”. Which, in those times when the executioners did not know unemployment, was not exactly an empty threat…
The first period was called the First Republic. The second, Terror. This famous decree of 2 Thermidor is still in force today and was recently used to prevent a family from Finistère from naming their child Fañch, with a tilde on the n, in accordance with Breton spelling. The judge considered that “the unity of the country” was at stake.
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Read elsewhere
A “special military operation” intended for the “denazification of Ukraine”. Thus Vladimir Putin justified the invasion of his neighbor. In the Middle East, Israel is accused by some countries of “genocide”. In this intelligent essay, Amélie Férey, who works in particular for the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), looks at the role of words in the stories that accompany wars. Words which allow us to orient reality and which, in their own way, also constitute weapons.
Words, weapons of a new war? by Amélie Férey, Le Robert editions.
She completed her thesis in sign language
Camille Ollier has been deaf since she was 13 months old. Extremely rare, she managed to obtain a doctorate in science at the University of La Rochelle, after a journey strewn with pitfalls. A model of perseverance.
The number of adults learning Breton has exploded in recent months
This success is largely explained by the creation of the Desketa platform, a free website dedicated to learning this Celtic language. While 3,000 adults previously participated in courses or evening classes, 5,000 people have already created their accounts.
The colonized people of France
Many works have been devoted to the First World War, but few, like this one, focus on a major phenomenon: the way in which this conflict favored the use of French. A paradox, according to the author, to the extent that, according to this Catalanist activist, hundreds of thousands of Bretons, Occitans, Corsicans and Basques died for a State which, since then, has worked to destroy their languages and their historical cultures.
The Colonized People of Franceby Joan-Père Pujol, Yoran Embanner editions.
For teaching the languages of Mayotte at school
“The law says that regional languages must be taught, but here we refuse to apply it,” denounces writer Rastami Spelo, president of the Shime association, dedicated to the defense and teaching of Mahorese languages. Passed in 2021, the Molac law notably integrates into the Education Code the generalization of the teaching of regional languages as an optional subject. However, according to him, “the new [recteur] clearly displays its opposition to the learning of our languages.
To watch
Will AI end the monopoly of English in science?
Machine translation tools now allow scientists to express themselves in their native languages. At the invitation of the Academy of Sciences, a conference entitled “A Babel of sciences?” studied this question and attempted to define future paths for maintaining science in French. It is available for replay.
The imperative is a puzzle, by Aurore Ponsonnet
“Given” ? “Give”? “Give some… to me”? It is not always easy to conjugate the imperative. Comedian Aurore Ponsonnet offers in a video to clarify everything… or almost.
“Words over”, by Catherine Malaval
“Charcuterie”, “jaille”, “canvas”, “metil”… This series of 15 short, beautifully illustrated videos allows you to discover words whose origins have been forgotten or whose meaning is being renewed today. A success – except for the unfortunate use of the derogatory term “patois”.
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