On June 18, Jean-Luc Mélenchon spoke during a conference on the Francophonie, organized in the Assembly. Invited by the deputy LFI Aurélien Taché, the former presidential candidate in France pulled out on his vision of the French language, and surprised by proposing to rename it. “If someone could find another name to qualify our language, it would be welcome”he said, report the French media.
He then justified himself by evoking the history and evolution of French: “The French language is not the singular property of France, and especially not of those who would like to freeze French identity in its language. The French language has not belonged to France for a long time […] She borrowed on all sides. This is why there are so many Arabic words in French, there are also Russian, Spanish, Hebrew words. There is everything and that’s good. ” In the world, 29 countries have French as an official language, and it is estimated that this represents 444 million people. There are also many states where French is commonly spoken, although it is not taken up as an official language.
