Marketing a foreign language : the case of French in South Africa

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dc.contributor.advisorFléchais, Olivieren_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMargerison, Angusen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-23T07:09:00Z
dc.date.available2014-10-23T07:09:00Z
dc.date.issued2005en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 152-160).en_ZA
dc.description.abstractIt is not unusual for a student to study French from secondary school to university level and still not be able to communicate effectively with a native speaker. In addition, for many years, apart from translation diplomas, the traditional Bachelor of Arts degree in French prepared students for little more than teaching the language. In South African universities, the introduction of courses in Business French is relatively recent. An individual might be motivated to learn a foreign language because of its aesthetic value or practical use. Howevere, in South Africa, the decision to allocate state funds and school-learning hours towards the promotion and teaching of a foreign language has deeper implications, particularly when there are eleven official languages competing for recognition. In India in early 1900, Michael West had attempted to establish why Indian people should learn English ("in order to read") and how they should learn English ("through reading"). Abbot (1981: 12) called this random teaching of a foreign language "TENOR (teaching English for no obvious reason "'. Similarly, the question as to why South Africans should be taught French or any other foreign language needs to be answered. If not, we risk falling into he same trap as "TENOR" except in this case we will be teaching French for no apparent reason. While the purpose of this research is not to discredit those students who desire to learn French for personal reasons, the main argument presented in this thesis is based on whether South Africans should learn French in order to trade more effectively with Francophone countries. Combining qualitative and quantitative research, preliminary conclusions indicate that an in-depth cost and benefits analysis might prove the link French language acquisition with economic expansion. However, within the limitations of this research, there is insufficient justification for the allocation of state funding for foreign language acquisition over and above the need for other mainstream school disciplines. A more viable solution would be to train and to employ South Africa's new language resource, that of the Francophone refugees currently living in the country, assuming that they are willing to remain in this country.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationMargerison, A. (2005). <i>Marketing a foreign language : the case of French in South Africa</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,French Language and Literature. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8730en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMargerison, Angus. <i>"Marketing a foreign language : the case of French in South Africa."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,French Language and Literature, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8730en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMargerison, A. 2005. Marketing a foreign language : the case of French in South Africa. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Margerison, Angus AB - It is not unusual for a student to study French from secondary school to university level and still not be able to communicate effectively with a native speaker. In addition, for many years, apart from translation diplomas, the traditional Bachelor of Arts degree in French prepared students for little more than teaching the language. In South African universities, the introduction of courses in Business French is relatively recent. An individual might be motivated to learn a foreign language because of its aesthetic value or practical use. Howevere, in South Africa, the decision to allocate state funds and school-learning hours towards the promotion and teaching of a foreign language has deeper implications, particularly when there are eleven official languages competing for recognition. In India in early 1900, Michael West had attempted to establish why Indian people should learn English ("in order to read") and how they should learn English ("through reading"). Abbot (1981: 12) called this random teaching of a foreign language "TENOR (teaching English for no obvious reason "'. Similarly, the question as to why South Africans should be taught French or any other foreign language needs to be answered. If not, we risk falling into he same trap as "TENOR" except in this case we will be teaching French for no apparent reason. While the purpose of this research is not to discredit those students who desire to learn French for personal reasons, the main argument presented in this thesis is based on whether South Africans should learn French in order to trade more effectively with Francophone countries. Combining qualitative and quantitative research, preliminary conclusions indicate that an in-depth cost and benefits analysis might prove the link French language acquisition with economic expansion. However, within the limitations of this research, there is insufficient justification for the allocation of state funding for foreign language acquisition over and above the need for other mainstream school disciplines. A more viable solution would be to train and to employ South Africa's new language resource, that of the Francophone refugees currently living in the country, assuming that they are willing to remain in this country. DA - 2005 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2005 T1 - Marketing a foreign language : the case of French in South Africa TI - Marketing a foreign language : the case of French in South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8730 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/8730
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMargerison A. Marketing a foreign language : the case of French in South Africa. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,French Language and Literature, 2005 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8730en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentFrench Language and Literatureen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherLiteratureen_ZA
dc.titleMarketing a foreign language : the case of French in South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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