This audition, which took place on 31 May at the Palais du Luxembourg, provided an opportunity to discuss the influence of the socio-economic, technological, cultural and geopolitical context on the Francophonie and its contours.
A few major issues can be mentioned: the place of languages in major sporting events, with the need for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris to «tell and live the games in French» while ensuring that this event is hosted “in all languages” to promote cultural and linguistic diversity.
Another major long-term issue is the growing share of language technologies in our societies, through the human-machine interfaces of artificial intelligence. More and more written and oral content is produced by machines, so the future of languages plays a large part in these technologies. The Ministry of Culture is carrying out a project for a Reference Centre dedicated to this sector to better support the academic and industrial world in this field, which should see the light of day by 2025.
Finally, the acceleration of digital integration on a global scale poses the challenge of linguistic sovereignty. This is linked to a guarantee of the diversity of cultural, intellectual and scientific expressions online. This is the subject of France’s commitment to “The multilingual discoverability of knowledge and science”, a topic that will be included in the roadmap of the 21st alternate meeting of French and Quebec Prime Ministers.
This hearing was also an opportunity to discuss the presidential project of the future Cité internationale de la langue française. Its inauguration is scheduled for next autumn at the Château de Villers-Cotterêts in the department of Aisne. Laboratory of the French language and the Francophonie, the City will be anchored in its territory while being open to the world. Its abundant programming - permanent tour dedicated to the Adventure of French, temporary exhibitions, shows and meetings, residencies of artists, researchers or entrepreneurs, training sessions or the Reference Centre for Language Technologies - reflects the ambition to give a new impetus to the French language, in France and around the world.
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