My International Living Room

     Our Les Amis Francophones parties always get me thinking.... mostly because it's a very obvious time of seeing my own language flaws. It makes me realize WHY most people don't try to attempt a new language, and renews my resolve to improve (even if it's just a pipe dream for now... until I have time to hone my skills).

     What I love the most, is the great interactions between groups of people. I think people who move to America, or come visit, or come to study here are adventurous. They also seem to be very dedicated and kind. We've had visitors from such a variety of countries in my home. It amazes me how different they all are, and no matter how crazy the interactions may seem in theory, we all seem to get along.

     I told this story a million times last night, it was a cultural learning experience for me (really an oversight). We had a nice Muslim gentleman from Senegal here a few months back. It just so happened I had whipped out my Julia Child Cookbook and made Coq au Vin and a pork-ful terrine. We had some vegetables but I was so embarrassed because French Cooking requests bacon in everything. In case you don't know Muslims don't eat pork because it's considered dirty (pigs don't sweat, so the toxins stay in their body so the theory goes). And well bacon=pork. But he wasn't offended at all. He ate what he could and laughed as he told a story of many of his friends excited about eating McDonald's for the first time, only to have to spit it right back out when they realized half the menu items are covered in bacon.

    People have these misconceptions about the world. Maybe they have a few worldly friends... maybe they get excited at the prospect of talking to someone overseas... but really we're all fairly ignorant about each other. Even my visitors have to challenge their ideas of what Americans are. You know that their learned tolerance of our ideas and cultural snafus is their attempt to find common ground. I wish Americans recognized that when we spoke to others. We have to LEARN to accept others. We have to SEEK common ground... we have to put a little effort in y'all.

    On that note we usually have a number of students who are at various stages of learning French at our parties too. What Columbus State University doesn't realize is how valuable our language students are to our community. I'm sure you've heard me talk about this lately; I'm on a campaign to save the French Major and Minor tracks at CSU because someone (we haven't been told who) has decided it's not a worthwhile pursuit. "Our French Language Students aren't providing value to our school or community." One of the individuals involved in the axing of the program hasn't ever been to our meetings (though has been invited)... which leads me to believe 'they' are not interested in seeing the value of French Language and French students in our community.

     Again these students are challenging their perceptions of culture and the globe. They are pursuing the kind of 'out of the box' thinking that companies vie for. Not to mention the fact that French is a U.N. language and a language in which billions of dollars of business are transacted each year. American markets are recognizing OUR need to get niche markets in other countries (Come tour America with our United States of Awesome campaign, and Amazon's grab at a Kindle store in France). And let's not forget to mention they are active in their community (through Les Amis Francophones & other community oriented projects) and have recently won public interest through participation in the Landings Scarecrow Contest. These are the kind of accolades that, no matter how small, universities want to be associated with.

    As a friend of mine said "No one is going to put 2 years of French down on their resume." That doesn't show an interest in language, that shows a requirement fulfilled. Eliminating language education programs at Columbus State Univeristy is a disservice to the students, our community and the university as a whole.

I think my international living room proves that. There is a need for foreign language speakers, and we have a growing community of them. We need to support Language Arts, Foreign Language Programs, and a different view of the world.

If you agree with me, I have a community petition to keep the French Language Track at CSU, and you can also write:

Dr. Pedro Maligo
Chair of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages
Faculty Office Building 225
4225 University Avenue
Columbus Georgia  31907
*or*
Dean of Science and Letters David Lanoue
Lenoir Hall 301A
4225 University Avenue
Columbus Georgia 31907

Remember to be respectful when you tell them that they are making a MAJOR mistake (eliminating the French Major track from CSU) and prompt them to continue French language minors (and expand their minors program to other languages) and begin requirements for the School of Business to take 4 semesters of foreign language study (can you believe they don't have to take ANY foreign language?!)

So until next time, join our Les Amis Francophones page, find a good french program, and meet us for our next fete!