HYDERABAD: At an all-India webinar organised by the Embassy of France / Institut Français in India and the Alliance Française network, in collaboration with Campus France India, the Ambassador of France to India, Emmanuel Lenain, elaborated on French as an international language and its rapid rise partly on account of increasing speakers in the African continent.
He highlighted the over 300 million francophonia and an even larger francophile, especially in the Indian sub-continent thanks to a shared history.
According to Lenain, “The development of the French language is part of a global scheme presented by President Emmanuel Macron in March 2018. India is a priority in this plan and boasts of the largest network of Alliance Françaises in Asia.
:We will encourage more Alliances Françaises in the country thanks to a large demand”.
The Ambassador also cited Covid-19 as a factor in the speeding up digitalisation of the network enabling access to students living far away from city centres.
He enunciated the benefits of learning French especially in the context of higher education in France and working for French companies both in India and France.
On this subject the Ambassador mentioned, “Next year will not be a blank year as we will make sure that students go to France to study even if it means a few weeks of online learning in the beginning. I am confident that onsite teaching will resume soon given the improvement in the sanitary situation of France.”
“For now, I advise you to apply and prepare everything so that once the visa services begin, and this will be soon, your visa requests can be expedited,”he stated.
Dr Samuel Berthet, Director of the Alliance Française in Hyderabad traced the historical context of French language in India and described the Alliance Françaises as vehicles of technical and scientific cooperation between India and France as well as dissemination of culture besides discovery of both France and India.