Many good ideas are suggested to encourage and support the use of the French language in our organizations.
However, it seems to me that there are three issues that are not given enough attention by our organizations. I propose three more projects.
The use of French in meetings
In meetings, it’s common to turn to English when there’s just one employee who doesn’t understand French well enough. This is not efficient because we ask five, ten and sometimes more employees to adapt to one person.
The opposite is quite possible. To do this, managers must be supported in adopting French as the language of meetings. For English speakers learning French, this is a unique opportunity to fully immerse yourself and learn the French language quickly. To seize them requires both the effort of their superiors to reassure them, a franking program to enable them to improve and, above all, the encouragement and validation of their efforts by their colleagues.
Help monolingual Anglophones embrace their accent
In my experience, there are major psychological and cultural barriers for an English speaker learning French. Supporting him means appreciating his interest, his efforts, and most importantly, embracing his accent. My monolingual English speaking friends tell me that most of the time their own accent bothers them, either because they think it’s the wrong one or because they’re afraid we won’t understand it.
However, Quebecers are used to hearing a variety of accents. So we have to reassure our Francophile English-speaking friends: it’s okay to have an accent, we’re happy when they speak French, and making mistakes is normal.
Teach grammar properly to avoid imposing “inclusive” writing
“Inclusive” writing is essential in our organizations, makes it difficult to use the French language and introduces new management problems, all of which are avoidable. I say it’s necessary because managers and employees don’t know enough grammar and how to respond to the Manicheanism of “inclusiveness.”
In fact, “inclusive” writing puts people on trial for not embracing it: “If you don’t, you’re sexist because you’re using (allegedly) sexist language.” This is not a way of functioning in a democracy and in an organization.
In order to teach grammar correctly, it must be remembered that grammatical gender has nothing to do with biological gender. It should be remembered that the masculine (and not men) takes the form of the neutral in the presence of the feminine (and not women). It should be remembered that it is not necessary to make the sexual distinction between men and women at every turn. It should be remembered that this is only necessary when the topic requires it (e.g. during comparisons). It is important to use normative French to preserve French as a commonplace and to ensure that it is accessible and passed on to as many people as possible.
Photo provided by Jean-François Plante-Tan
Jean-Francois Plante-Tan, Holder of a Master’s degree in Management from HEC Montréal and founder of Pour l’amour du français