It is not that it is going down hill. It just that France has no more colonies or slaves in Lebanon,Syria,Vietnam,Carribbean.

The countries of Lebanon and Syria were whipped into shape by the French and made inferior through colonialmism. Even after the outright abuse and disrespect the Lebanese have received historically , I still find it baffling that the Lebanese are so eager to keep French alive. I mean when was the last time you saw France even encouraging people to learn languages like Arabic? The French were in Lebanon for a mere 25 years, not long enough to implement a complete culture change. One shouldn’t put so much value on the people who were once their masters.

It is not that i ll stop, i ll go on.

But sometimes we are feeling to be useless to repeat the same things.

English is certainly practical, but it is also the language of the heart. If the English can be proud of anything, it is their poetry and literature.

But French is a beautiful language and it would be best if possible to know both. Perhaps it is not as practical as English, but the French too can be proud of their poetry and literature. And they had better painters.

I don’t know any Arabic but I wish I did.

cheers

I am shocked (but perhaps shouldn’t be surprised) by my old buddy Kheir’s adamant refusal of some balance of perspective. But I am also heartened by the depth and discernment of some of the commentators defending Lebanon’s distinctness.

Mustapha, perhaps you’ll care to know that after a short visit to Lebanon this past summer, I had decided to zone out on Lebanon and on blogging. Your always provocative commentary and sourcing have perhaps tempered that decision; at least for the time being…

I refuse to acknowledge that speaking english in Lebanon is a sign of status. Au Contraire!
Beyrouth’s social elite have always spoken in French, and regardless of the American media, I doubt very much how the Lebanese perceive english.

As a blogger myself, I do write in English, and ashamed of it.
Mustapha I fully agree with you!! I refuse to let my Children have a broken english accent when they speak french.

Frenchy, you set the example for Lebanese bloggers. Please do not stop, we loose sort of half of ourselves and “part” of Lebanon’s identity.

sorry for the delay in commenting back ;)
i was a little bit out from blogging lately.

It is true that french is having a huge retreat in term of audience. However, I believe that this decrease is compensated by the quality of the readers and of the few blogs Kheireddine gave as links.

This decrease is not only concerning the blogs but as well the governemental’s websites.
We look to Egypt that is belonging as well to the francophonie organisation. They have governemental versions web sites in french. This is not the case in lebanon and when it is the case like for the tourism ministry, it is really a shame with all the mistake they do when they write.

In the beginning of my blog, I was both using english and french. However, I choosed to continue in french only as I was feeling with my english university education to loose my french. I was trying then to make an english version of frencheagle, but i cancelled it as I did not find the time and moreover, the pleasure to write. french has a sort of poetry we do not find in another langage.

Now I ll write something on my blog, it is time to go on after on week of interruption:)

Best regards and see you on the blogsphere :)

What do you think about Tokio Hotel? >:)

Shoelaces in Arabic:
In the North we say: “Shuwwayytaat”
In the rest of Lebanon: “Shreet Sibbaat”

I hope that was useful ;)