An English song listened to in stream, a telenovela watched in Spanish, an article consulted in Creole or Shimaora (one of the languages spoken on the island of Mayotte)… While France is, in law, a monolingual country, cultural consumption in languages other than French is in fact as common as it is varied. This is what the study Langues et usages des langues dans les consommation culturelles en France (Department of Studies, Foresight, Statistics and Documentation) of the Ministry of Culture reveals. The sixth edition of the founding survey on Cultural Practices, which was extended in 2019 and 2020 to ultramarine territories, made it possible to analyze the uses of languages in cultural consumption and to uncover strong differences between territories. If the use of the language of Molière dominates in metropolitan France, it gives way to creoles in the drom.
Majority monolingualism in Metropolitan France, not in the French Overseas Territories
The linguistic directories of the populations of metropolitan France and the overseas territories are very contrasted. While monolingualism concerns 54% of the inhabitants in metropolitan France, it is a minority in the ultramarine territories, from 26% in Guyana to 3% in Mayotte. In metropolitan France, it mainly concerns the oldest populations (70% of those over 65 as against 36% of those aged 15-24) and the least qualified.
What other languages are mastered in France? In metropolitan France, they are mainly foreign languages, particularly English (31% of respondents). On the contrary, in the ultramarine territories, the languages of the Overseas Territories are more mastered: 88% of Guadeloupeans, 80% of Reunionese, 90% of Martiniquais and 47% of Guyanese master Creole, and 62% of the inhabitants of Mayotte speak Shimaore.
The importance of “language bath”
In terms of early language immersion, the situations are again different in different territories. In metropolitan France, the family language bath in which respondents were immersed when they were children is often only francophone (79%) while the opposite situation is observed in the ultramarine territories. More than 70% of Guadeloupeans, Martiniquais and Reunionnais grew up in a household where at least one of their parents spoke an overseas language to them, a proportion that stands at nearly 50% in Guyana and 60% in Mayotte.
In Martinique, 97% of people who grew up in a language bath with one of its languages then master it, 92% in La Réunion and 95% in Guadeloupe. In metropolitan France, the transmission of languages other than French is more concerned with foreign languages, since 85% of those who have grown up in a language bath comprising one or more foreign languages then master them orally as adults.
Cultural consumption in languages other than French is widespread in all territories
Cultural consumption in a foreign language or in the French overseas territories is common everywhere in the country, especially when it comes to listening to music: it concerns 83% of the population in metropolitan France and between 64% and 88% in the overseas territories. The type of language listened to or read differs according to the territories and the practices or consumptions considered. In metropolitan France, English is widely popular, with 78% of respondents listening to music in that language or 25% watching films and 19% of series. On the other hand, in the overseas territories, regional languages are favoured.
On the other hand, the consumption of books and television programmes in a language other than French is much more contrasted. For example, 58% of respondents in Guadeloupe and 56% of Reunionese say they watch it in a language other than French, compared to 16% in metropolitan France. This is also the case in Mayotte, where 40% of the population follows the news and 31% reads books in a language other than French (against 21 and 13% in metropolitan France). Everywhere, the consumption of cultural content in a foreign language or overseas concerns a younger and more educated population in all territories.
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