There are six official languages in the Caribbean including Creole, French, Spanish and Dutch. Add to this the ever-evolving variations of indigenous patois and you have a region with a rich linguistic tapestry, informed by its unique history and culture. “Language, as the first tool for communication, is essential,” says Evelyne Gasse, Director of Alliance Française of Saint Lucia. “New worlds can be opened through languages and exchanges can be developed. The more exchanges you develop in a region, the more you create a sense of belonging and the pride of being Caribbean.”
And yet languages are often not prioritised in the classroom, depriving the next generation of Caribbean citizens the chance to better themselves and their communities. A new project is now seeking to address this knowledge gap and promote plurilingualism among 11 English-speaking countries in the region, including Saint Lucia.
Alliance Française
In April 2019 stakeholders came together to launch the Integrate French as a Language of Exchange (IFLE) CARICOM project. A partnership between various regional and international bodies, including the OECS Commission, Alliance Française of Saint Lucia and the French Embassy to the OECS and Barbados, the initiative aims to promote French across the region, from Jamaica to Suriname.
It seeks to do this by investing in teacher training, networking and facilitating greater business and cultural linkages between the English-speaking Caribbean and their French-speaking counterparts. The EUR800,000 project is funded primarily by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and, by the time it concludes in December 2020, hopes to have reached 110 French teachers and 1,000 students, enabling the latter to pass the Diploma in French Language Studies.
“Bringing this kind of assistance to French teachers is very important for us because, without them, Francophone is just a word,” says Gasse who is one of the project leaders. “I always ask: ‘Which teacher do you remember and why?’ Most of the time, the answer is the teacher who was passionate and creative. But to be passionate and creative, you need to master your art and you need to feel that you belong to a group that shares the same concerns and goals. That’s what we want to create.”
But the project mandate is not purely academic. Gasse emphasises the need for practical instruction that will help children make the most of their linguistic skills as they build connections in the world. “Foreign language learning needs to be done with the purpose of speaking. I come from the French Alps. I learned to ski very early and our instructors always told us that if we fell, it was because we were progressing. It’s the same thing with languages. When we learn a foreign language and we make the effort to practise, we do not make mistakes but errors, and these errors make us progress.
“The more you learn foreign languages when you are young, the easier it is, as your ear and your brain are without filter and without fear. If you learn foreign languages, you will open your eyes to different cultures and worlds, and then you will see your own country in another way.”
The IFLE is on a tight timeline, with much to do before it meets its December deadline. One of the first priorities is gathering data on how French is taught in primary, secondary and higher schools through a pilot initiative being launched in Saint Lucia. Gasse says information on this is scarce, making it more difficult to assess current need. “We can observe that there is a problem with language in the Caribbean but there is a lack of more precise data. That’s why, for the French part, we have decided to make what we have called a ‘realistic map’ of French learning at school in the English-speaking Caribbean countries.”
Indirect benefits
The upsides of learning language go far beyond communication. Being able to speak another language has proven benefits for mental acuity – improving concentration, memory, the ability to multi-task, creativity and decision-making. By enhancing core cognitive skills, language learning also positively impacts other areas of study, making students more well-rounded and ready for the workforce.
It’s no wonder employers prize multilingual employees. Not only can they network with global clients, they also tend to have better inter-personal skills. Having this kind of competitive edge can help employees move up the ladder more quickly and fill more high-paying jobs.
And the benefits aren’t just limited to individuals. A greater number of multilingual speakers in society helps build cultural connections and profitable business links. One of the core components of the IFLE project centres on entrepreneurship, forging bridges between markets in the English-speaking and French-speaking territories. In early 2020 the group expects to recruit a Regional Co-ordinator for Cultural Exchanges, based in Saint Lucia, and organise a ‘familiarization trip’ with artists and cultural representatives to French-speaking islands.
IFLE may focus on French, but Gasse is keen to broaden the focus to other languages, saying: “Of course, as we are French, we promote French but, most of all, we are interested in plurilingualism. This region has always known multilingualism, several languages are spoken here. It is now necessary to move to plurilingualism and to organise a language strategy that will help nationals exchange languages in a more fluid way. This will help everybody to be more mobile in the Caribbean.
“I am convinced that the Caribbean has the opportunity to appear as a large and dynamic region of the world. Developing mobility is a necessity to gain this status.”
