What is the only language beside English that is taught in every country` of the world? The first language
of diplomacy in Europe until the early 20th century? The first European language to be defined and standardized by government order?
Why, French, of course.
As English is becoming the global language of commerce and technology, we might assume that all other second languages must eventually be crushed by this linguistic juggernaut. But strangely, French is still holding its own as the second most influential language in the world. It has achieved official status in more countries than any other language besides English and is the second choice of people looking to learn a second language, making French the other global language in an English dominated world.
Since French has nothing like the population base of Mandarin, Hindi, or even Spanish, two questions are obvious: “How did it gain such prominence?” and “How has it maintained it?” The Story of French attempts to answer those questions with a thorough exploration of the history of the language
Looking at history through the lens of language is a fascinating angle. Nadeau and Barlow go back to roots of French, even before it was a language, to trace its ascent to become the global language in the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. They tackle the major events of French political and cultural history, including the Enlightenment, the Revolution, and two colonial periods, and the era of cultural diplomacy, describing how these events both shaped and were shaped by the French language.
The amount of exploration that went into this book is impressive. In addition to conducting academic research, the authors also lived in or visited many of regions they write about: Paris, Algeria, the tiny southern African nation of Lesotho, Senegal, Israel, Louisiana, Sudbury, and, of interest to us in this region, New Brunswick. They spent some time in Moncton as well as on the Acadian Peninsula, which led them to comment on the health of French culture in Moncton on the one hand and the devastating effect that urbanization is having on the Acadian Peninsula on the other. They also make note of Louis Robichaud and his educational and language reforms, remarking that New Brunswick became the first jurisdiction in the world to translate common law into French.
The book is quite engaging, which is remarkable considering the possible dryness of linguistics and history combined. The authors keep much of their historical focus contemporary with first-hand accounts of the regions they have visited and interviews with influential francophones from around the world. They also frequently challenge conventional wisdom, such as the belief in the inevitability of the rise of English, and they draw aside the curtain on such mysteries as what is the French Academy and what does it do, anyway?
Nadeau and Barlow are Montreal-based journalists who have written for national magazines in both official languages. They are not linguists, but they have mastered enough of the subject to explain the workings of language to a lay person. This is the second book inspired by their two-year fellowship in Paris to study French culture. They opened a door to the rest of the world and tried to explain the French to us in the alluringly titled 60 Million Frenchmen Can’t be Wrong, which focused on French history and culture. Apparently, the French language required an entire book, and even then it’s difficult to entirely explain the phenomenal hold that French still has on the rest of the world.