10th "Allons en France" Contest on "How to say Europe in 6300 languages"
- from: 07.07.2008
- to: 17.07.2008
- In: Paris and Strasbourg
The programme "Allons en France" celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Launched in connection with the 1998 Football World Cup, this programme aims to develop French language training courses by offering educational visits to France to 200 young people selected from 40,000 candidates from every country of the world. Since it began ten years ago, "Allons en France" has become a standard programme of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and has enabled the creation of a community of high-level young French speakers on all five continents.
On the occasion of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the theme chosen for the 2008 event is Europe and its multilingualism. In a campaign entitled "How to say Europe in 6300 languages", 100 young French speakers from Europe will invite 100 young people from all over the world to discover Europe and its institutions. They will visit symbolic European locations in France - such as the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the Maison Jean Monnet - and express their views on Europe in professionally-organised theatre workshops throughout their stay.
TV5 Monde, the international French-speaking channel, will make the most of the presence of these 200 young people to make a series of adverts on Europe as seen by young French speakers from all over the world, which will be broadcast this autumn.
A little pocket guide called "Oui je parle Europe" ('Yes, I speak Europe') will be distributed to each young person to help them discover European languages and promote their learning. It contains about 15 useful phrases translated into the 23 languages of the European Union, a presentation of each country, an interview with a young European on their vision of Europe in 2020, as well as some handy tips on mobility and studies in Europe. Some 30,000 copies of this pocket guide will be distributed in Europe and throughout the world through the French cultural network abroad. Alain Joyandet, the Minister of State with responsibility for Cooperation and the Francophonie will meet these young French speakers on 16 July 2008.
- Updated: 22.09.2008
