France and its difficult relationship with foreign languages

Abstract

Abstract This chapter considers two research areas that are rarely dealt with together: French educational policy towards foreign languages from the 1980s onwards and the creation of official neologisms to avoid English loanwords. Examining these two areas together shows the ways in which they are intertwined. The chapter examines French attitudes towards loanwords and suggests that this can shed light on pupils’ performance in foreign-language learning. It also shows that the innovative policy of teaching a second language from the age of 13, which aimed to create a real diversity of languages within a multilingual Europe, has failed. The conclusion addresses an important question: to what extent is a country like France able to modify its behaviour towards the other?