The real "crisis" in France in fact is not economic {France is in a cyclical slump; it will end} or even cultural {France is in a cyclical slump; it will end} but linguistic. French has diminished as an international language, and this will not end. When people talk about globalization, what they're really saying is that an English-speaking imperium now stretches from Adelaide to Vancouver, and that anyone who is at home in one bit of it is likely to feel at home in the other bits. You can join this global community by speaking English yourself, but that's about all. The space between the average Frenchman {or Italian or German} and the average American is just as great as it's ever been, because language remains in place, and it remains hard. Even after two years of speaking French all the time, I feel it. We breathe in our first language, and swim in our second.
( Adam Gopnik )
[ Paris to the Moon ]
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