By Herschelle S. Challenor
I was shocked and saddened by the content of guest columnist Jim Motter's article, "No more French classes, S'il vous plait, (Opinion, July 5,)" since it revealed a complete ignorance of the importance of the French language for a variety of professions that should be of interest to Georgia youth.
While German has historically been a pivotal language for science and perhaps philosophy and sociology and while Germany has emerged as the economic powerhouse in the European community, many of the scientific and technological breakthroughs are now coming from China, Japan, India, Malaysia and Taiwan.
German is the official language of only one of the around 200 sovereign states in the international community, while French is either the language or one of the official languages of four European countries — France, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg — as well as Canada, 23 of the 53 Sub-Saharan African countries, and five Caribbean countries and territories.
I can assure Mr. Motter that knowledge of the French language has great utility beyond as he suggests ''... young musicians who want to sing the art songs of Gabriel Fauré" or who might "aspire to work with the International Olympic Committee."
English and French are the two official languages of the United Nations system, which means that all international civil servants working in U.N. system agencies should be fluent in these two languages. This applies not only to the United Nations, but to the over 30 specialized agencies and U.N. programs and funds.
These agencies cut across a wide range of economic, social, technical and political fields, ranging from such specialized agencies as the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency to such programs and funds as the United Nations Children's Fund and the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees.
German is not even one of the six United Nation's "Working Languages" into which documents and working papers are translated into Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Russian
Moreover, educated Americans would agree that French philosophers such as Rousseau and Montesquieu, artists like Monet and Renoir, literary figures including Molière and Jean Paul Sartre and scientists like Marie Curie constitute a vital part of our Western cultural heritage.
And how can we in the United States ignore the impact on us of the French Revolution and Alexis de Tocqueville's astute book on American democracy?
I do, however, fully agree that American public education should accord greater priority to international language instruction since globalization, the cybernetics revolution and the high mobility of persons throughout the world have ensured that the 21st century will be fully multicultural.
However, my short list of languages that should be taught, preferably beginning in primary school, includes French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, Russian and German.
For the record, despite my last name, I am a native Atlantan, as were both of my parents. However, the fact that I was able to study French at the Sorbonne in Paris my senior year of college not only expanded my academic and employment opportunities, including work at the United Nations and UNESCO, but also broadened my interaction with French language speakers around the world and afforded the joy of appreciating more fully the rich body of knowledge available in the French language.
Herschelle S. Challenor is a former dean and professor at Clark Atlanta University.
Editor’s note: This essay is in rebuttal to a July 6 guest column, No more French, s’il vous plait , which questioned the utility of Georgia students learning French
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