Zut! Lebanon Is Dropping French For English

An article in the Toronto Star notes what most of us already know: In Lebanon, French is taking the backseat to English as the “language of status”. But are the Lebanese ready to let go of the Language of Hugo?

French billboard for Fracophonie summit..

French is the first language I ever studied. As a Lebanese living abroad, my parents made sure I studied in a Lycée. In fact, until I went to college, French was the language of my entire education. Yet, like many other Lebanese bloggers, I choose today to write in English and I can only think of one brave francophone Blogger who chose to ignore Shakespear’s assault.

Things have to be seen in perspective. In Lebanon, the concept of “foreign language” is not the same as in the rest of the world. As the article notes, many billboard, TV and Radio ads are made only in English in a country where the official language is Arabic. I often found it difficult to explain to foreign reporters why I wrote in English instead of Arabic, and why I don’t think that my blog is only for “elites”.

But is French really heading down? is Rambo really replacing Rimbauld as Mr. Christian Merville, an editorial writer at L’Orient Le Jour puts it? 

Not if I have anything to do about it.

When I have kids, I know that I’m going to put them in a Lycée despite all what is being said about French losing its worldwide influence. I guess I’m not quite ready to let my kids miss out on Tintin and conjugaison. 

I try to rationalize this seemingly sentimental behavior by saying that it’s always easier to learn English after Learning French than the other way around. Besides, have you ever heard Carrie Bradshaw try to speak French? That’s not what I want my kids to sound like!