Debate between M. Jacques Chirac, President of the Republic, and young Vietnamese (excerpts), Hanoi 07.10.2004
Q. – As young French-speaking Vietnamese, we love French and are pleased to speak the language, but it is difficult to learn. Is it a durable investment for the future and is it a good investment from the point of view of finding work?
FRENCH/LA FRANCOPHONIE
THE PRESIDENT – (…) A language is first of all a doorway to another culture – and therefore to another way of looking at things. From that point of view, it’s very important. Even languages that seem little spoken make a cultural contribution. From an economic point of view, there are languages which are more or less useful because they are more or less commonly spoken. French is a useful language. And I can think of nothing worse for mankind than to move towards a situation where there was only one language, because it would be bound to lead to a sort of narrowness of thought. A language is also an expression of a way of thinking. If everyone spoke the same language, it would inevitably lead to greater narrowness of mind, with serious repercussions in the end.
So why learn French? Firstly because it opens a door to a culture, the French culture, which is also an ancient culture with something to say, from which you have something to learn. Learning about it in French obviously brings a cultural gain, but the French language is also a vector of important scientific and technological progress. French is spoken in much of today’s science and technology. So a knowledge of French also makes it easier to gain scientific, technological and technical knowledge. That’s significant. It’s also a way into quite a sizeable Francophone world: there are fifty-one or fifty-two countries which belong to La Francophonie [international Francophone organization].
It was in Hanoi in 1997 that the Francophone Summits were completely reorganized and structures established. So French, even if it’s not spoken perfectly in every country in La Francophonie, offers a way into all these countries, not just into their cultures but also into their economies, into work, and in that respect it’s an important vehicle.
Overall, even if it’s difficult, I believe that it’s worthwhile and especially worthwhile for young Vietnamese to learn the language, besides their own, over and above English which is spreading in very many parts of the world, and I would also say over and above Spanish, which is currently the world’s fastest-growing language and is very close to French, being of the same linguistic family: for all these reasons French is very useful. So it’s worth making an effort.
A young person entering the labour market and looking for a position in an industrial, scientific, commercial or agricultural enterprise will always find it advantageous to speak two or three languages. It’s a major advantage. It takes effort but the benefits are great. A major company seeking to recruit a young graduate will always prefer to take the one who speaks two or even three languages, because that person will definitely have a much broader range of capabilities. So I say that it’s certainly in your interest to learn French. Indeed, many young Vietnamese are learning French.
STUDYING FRENCH IN FRANCE
There is a whole system of grants and I see that at present more than 3,000 young Vietnamese are in France learning French. Many are studying at a very high level. In the great French grandes écoles [competitive-entrance higher-education establishments], the number of Vietnamese, young men and women, is increasing. This is true even of the most prestigious grandes écoles such as the Ecole Polytechnique, Saint-Cyr [French military academy] and many others. I believe that in this year’s graduate class at the Ecole Polytechnique, the nationality most represented, with six students (all studying at the highest level), is Vietnamese. And I don’t think that by doing this these students will have wasted their time. We do as much as we can, and we’re increasing the number of our grants to attract as many young Vietnamese as possible. The advantage in France is that the State pays a large proportion of the costs of studying, which is not the case in other countries such as the United States or Britain. Today, France has more young Vietnamese students than any other country in Europe and is third in the world after the United States and Australia. So you see that even if it’s difficult, it’s worth making an effort.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY/WTO/ARTS FUNDING/UNESCO UNIVERSAL DECLARATION
Q. – I’d like to ask you a question about cultural diversity. We’re already aware of your commitment to furthering cultural diversity, but it seems to me that it is rather an abstract subject. Can you tell us what it means in a more tangible way and what forms of action it leads to?
THE PRESIDENT – (…) There are a lot of cultures, some are, numerically speaking, extremely small, which doesn’t mean they aren’t great cultures. Others have a very large number of adherents. But each of these cultures has its own vision of the world, life, man, things, evolution. Consequently, each contributes something to the world’s thinking. And, of course, modern means of communication and demographic and political developments are such that there is a tendency to move towards a majority Anglo-Saxon culture which is tending a bit to erase the others.
Let me give an example: if we accept the current arguments put forward by our American friends in particular, there would very quickly be one form of cultural expression. Our American friends – especially in the World Trade Organization, which as you know Vietnam is going to join, and France advocated Vietnam’s membership of the World Trade Organization because it’s in line with Vietnam’s economic interests and development – say that countries can’t provide financial support for their own culture, literature, cinema or media because it distorts the market. And that therefore prevents the American culture – I am using America as an example but one could quote others – from developing as it should. That argument is tantamount to all cultural expression being stifled in favour of only the American culture.
For example, I have taken a look at the funding given to the cinema in Vietnam. There is a fund, called I believe Fonds Sud [cinema], which gives funding to young Vietnamese who want to make films. Nowadays, film is one of the ways in which a country expresses its culture and aspirations. Cinema is very important. So this fund gives financial support to young people, and two major films in particular benefited: the first was called "Buffalo Boy" and the second "Gone, Gone, Forever Gone". These are both very beautiful films which express Vietnamese culture in terms of its traditions, its roots and its modernity.
If these films hadn’t been given help, they wouldn’t have existed because, of course, the promoters and creators of these films have no financial resources. And Vietnamese films, a very important form of cultural expression, would gradually have disappeared from cinema screens, leaving only American films, films from English-speaking countries and perhaps French films. A culture would be disappearing.
That is why I have always said that cultural goods are different from other goods. Cultural goods, cultural creation, films, books, songs, calligraphy and so on, all these things aren’t bought and sold like goods on the industrial, agricultural and commercial market. They must be respected. They must be helped because they are a way of expressing the soul of a society. It is absolutely capital. It’s why France, and moreover the European Union and la Francophonie and many other countries are indeed fighting for recognition of the specificity of cultural creation. It’s what we call cultural diversity. And we are, admittedly, fighting here a sort of battle against American artists who, having a lot of money, can make a name for themselves without State aid. But the result is that we risk stifling the cultural creation of all the others and ending up with a generalized subculture in the world, which would be the worst possible situation. (…)
We have taken steps in La Francophonie to defend cultural diversity, i.e. each country’s ability to give direct aid to its artists in all the spheres I have just mentioned. At France’s initiative, we have set in train the preparation of a UNESCO Universal Declaration which I hope will be adopted early next year and which will recognize the particular importance of cultural goods for what we call cultural diversity, i.e. respect for everyone’s culture.
FRENCH CULTURE/SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
Q. – What does a country gain from a knowledge of French culture?
THE PRESIDENT – (…) Like other cultures, French culture has something to give. It has a vision of mankind, a certain universality, it produces works of great quality in literature, music, cinema and other fields. It has its own specificity. And there’s no doubt that it’s interesting for a young Asian, whose own culture is an ancient one, to know how other cultures think, especially French culture. There are works of art which are worth knowing, which broaden the mind, round out the training and expand the intelligence and awareness of those with access to them. That’s important.
Of course culture is not only culture in the literary sense. It’s also scientific culture and technical culture. And in France and the Francophone countries there are lots of people working in every high-tech area who know things, are finding things in the most modern fields, be it in medicine, space or any of the modern technologies which are increasingly dominant in today’s world. It’s clearly important for someone who knows French to access this culture through books, the media, the Internet and by attending schools and cultural centres and universities. It’s very important indeed.
(…)
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT/FOURTH PILLAR
Q. – You’ve talked a lot about culture and I remember the Johannesburg Summit because you talked a lot about culture and the four pillars of sustainable development, i.e. the economy, the environment, social responsibility and culture. Can you explain to us exactly why culture is considered the fourth pillar of sustainable development?.
THE PRESIDENT – (…) The last pillar is obviously culture. Since in that context, too, we see whole cultures disappearing. Do you know that in the world several hundred languages disappear completely every year, quite simply because the number of men or women who speak them falls below the number required for an organized form of society. Languages disappear; a language that disappears is a lost treasure and that’s tragic. And the same is true of cultures: there are great cultures, of course, which are robust, but there are an infinite number of cultures based in small, poor countries but which are often ancient, original and important cultures which could well disappear if we don’t take care. Whenever a culture or a language disappears, the culture of the world is diminished. That’s very dangerous, hence the importance of cultural diversity and respect for cultural diversity.
(…)
ASEM/UNSC/WTO
Q. – I represent the Franco-Vietnamese Training Centre. You have also come to Vietnam in order to attend the Asia-Europe Meeting, where Asia and Europe talk to each other. What do you think of the role Vietnam, France and our partnership play in this dialogue and in the world as a whole?
THE PRESIDENT – (…) I believe that Vietnam and France have a special remit in ASEM. Firstly, they are two great powers, one in Asia, the other in Europe. Next, they are two great powers who know each other well and get on well and that’s important. We don’t need to talk at length in order to understand each other and whenever necessary we give each other mutual support.
When Vietnam became a candidate to be the next non-permanent member of the Security Council, France immediately began a campaign to help her succeed. When Vietnam wanted to join the WTO, France immediately worked to make it possible. And there are examples in the other direction, especially with regard to cultural diversity: despite the pressure on Vietnam in relation to her joining the WTO, she made a point of supporting France over the cultural diversity issues. (…) France is perfectly aware that Vietnam, because she also belongs to the Francophone world, offers a sort of privileged entry to Asia. And Vietnam is perfectly aware that France offers her a privileged entry to Europe, and a Europe which now has 450 million inhabitants and is a major market.
So at the practical level Vietnam and France have a common interest we are well aware of, which means that in ASEM, if I can use the term, the Vietnamese-French tandem is a natural and spontaneous driving force. I’m not saying that we’re more important than the others, that’s not what I mean. But through our understanding, through our special cultural, economic and scientific links, we are a spontaneous driving force.
I believe this is very important and it’s why I was pleased that Vietnam is hosting this year’s ASEM. (…)
CULTURAL DIVERSITY/LANGUAGE LEARNING/EU
Q. – I am in my final year at Ho Chi Minh City. On the subject of cultural diversity: in order to prevent culture becoming uniform through a single language, for example through the invasion of the English language and the American culture, what in your view must we, as a Francophone country, do to develop our common language, other languages and the various cultures?
THE PRESIDENT – It’s true that if we ended up in a world where there was only one language, that would mean only one culture, and all the rest would disappear which would be a real ecological disaster. So everyone must make their contribution to respect for the others. (…)
Here we have some shared capital, La Francophonie; I’m not saying that French must be imposed as a language, but I believe the countries which belong to this group will benefit from making an effort. For a long time I have been actively working to make it mandatory in Europe to learn two languages in addition to the national language: I haven’t won yet, but we will get there. In other words, every French, every German, every Spanish person should have to learn two foreign languages from a very young age. Why? Because then people will learn English as a priority, but by taking a second language they will also learn German or Spanish or French. It’s a way of protecting linguistic plurality and firmly entrenching those languages.
I believe that the same applies in Asia and that it would be a good move to say that in Vietnam, since she belongs to the Francophone group, two languages should be taught to the Vietnamese; English would probably be their first choice, but the second language is likely to be French. Then everyone would gain, which is why I support the teaching of French.
LASTING ECONOMIC PROGRESS/MODERN SOCIETY
Q. – Do you believe there can be lasting economic progress without building a modern society?
THE PRESIDENT – Some changes in the direction of what you call a modern society are unavoidable, I believe. A modern society is one in which everyone finds his or her place without acrimony, where the struggle to make social progress, the combating of poverty, the development I would say more generally of a respect for human rights are gaining ground. I believe that in today’s world that’s a necessity, an imperative. A moral imperative, perhaps, but above all a practical one. Moreover, almost all countries are taking this route, which will, to my mind, lead to greater respect for others. Authority is needed in the world and in countries, but it must show respect for individuality and that’s a great step forward. (…)./.