Family stories, the appropriation of foreign languages in Egypt in the 20th century ; Histoires de familles, l'appropriation de langues étrangères en Égypte au XXe siècle

Abstract

This collective work was led by French teachers working in different universities and Faculties of Egypt. It is on the basis of their varied experiences in the province and in Caire1 that a teaching discussion has been developed, including, as a matter of priority, social paramets in the learning and appropriation of foreign languages. As opposed to more technical ways of approaching the teaching of 'Français Langue Étrangère', it was a question of showing that in mastering, using and, consequently, learning a foreign language, the most important thing might be outside the classroom, amphitheatre or language laboratory. The assumption that led our research makes the family a privileged place to observe the process of capitalising foreign languages in 20th century Egypt. The choice to learn a language and bi- or trilingualism go back to family decisions. The family shares with the school a major role in training foreign languages, some of which, in particular French, have become second languages or even genuine mother tongue. It seemed interesting in a country where imperial powers, whose national identity has largely been built up against them, to see how Egyptian families have followed the practice of politically dominant languages, diversified their strengths, integrated them into their transferable heritage or not, depending on which social mobility strategies. A foreign language is a communication tool, but also a sign of recognition. We therefore built our work on the idea that the ability to play on several codes was a strong class brand, and tried to test this assumption on around ten Arabic Egyptian families, who at a certain point in their history had access to one or more foreign languages. ; International audience ; This collective work was led by French teachers working in different universities and Faculties of Egypt. It is on the basis of their varied experiences in the province and in Caire1 that a teaching discussion has been developed, including, as a matter of priority, social paramets in the ...