French culture has influenced the city people for the past few years. Even state board schools offer French as a second language option. DharunJosseph Roy, Master student - ICAM France, says, “According to the Indian History, two Nations predominantly colonised India during the late 16th century. These two nations are Great Britain and France. Ever since then their native languages - English and French have grounded its roots deeply in India”.
When these two nations developed an education system in France, they added their native language as a secondary language course and implemented it as a medium of education. During the course of time, Indians started following English as the medium of education and French as a secondary language and that’s when French started to spread across India.
“The only reason why people prefer French than other global languages is because of the familiarity bred during colonization and fascination for the French culture” added Dharun.
French and English have a deep connection with history and culture. “Lot of French companies have been set up in India and these companies, even though being global, still use French for communication", explains Desy Arvin, a project engineer from France. "So, they request their employees to learn basic French. For the past few years, the number of Indian students coming to France for higher studies has also been on the rise and unlike other EU countries it is imperative to know basic French to study in France”.
According to Desy, “French is easier compared to other languages and French culture is a distinctive among other western cultures,” he says.
French is a language that is not only spoken in France, but also in other Francophone countries like Canada and a lot of African and European countries as well. “I believe that after English, French is THE language to know and learn because of its global reach. This is the reason why people prefer learning French in particular when it comes to foreign languages in general”, says KavyaChandhrasekharan, who has been learning the language.
French settlements and their language, culture, and architecture have had a huge impact on the city as well and for South India in general because of Pondichery.
“I also feel the reach for French language compared to English is a huge advantage since we have so many French speaking countries in the world. When we know two of the world's most accessible languages (English and French) it is easier for people to find employment in different parts of the world and also to communicate with people easily”, adds Kavya.
