Report on ‘Journées d’expression française’
SI Lyon 29 April – 1 May 2016
Text by Liz Rodgers, photos by Sue Fortescue, SI Poole
I’m writing up our experiences and adventures on the train whilst heading to Paris, and have brought with me a wealth of memories of the French Union’s 19th ‘Journées d’expression française’.
Most striking was the warmth of the welcome and camaraderie of the French-speaking Soroptimists, along with the wonderful organisation.
SI Lyon and SI Lyon Tête d’Or must be congratulated on their successful event, which started on Friday evening with dinner in a city centre ‘bouchon’, a typical Lyonnais bistro specialising in the city’s world-famous gastronomy. We were entertained by the President of SI Lyon, who gave a witty and informative presentation on Lyon traditions. For example, our wine came to the table in traditional ‘pots’, wine bottles with a very heavy base, designed originally for playing ‘boules’ to avoid accidental spillage of the region’s wines, Beaujolais being one of the best-known.
We were fortunate to be at a very international table with Soroptimists from Switzerland, Belgium and Martinique as well as France. Sue and I were the only British delegates at the event.
We were all bonded not simply through Soroptimism but also through our love of the French language so it was with great anticipation that we embarked on the programme of the ‘Journées d’expression française’ on Saturday morning.
We were not disappointed! The quality and variety of speakers and entertainment was spot-on! Hervé Fernandez spoke with great clarity on the problem of illiteracy. Much work has been done to quantify the problem, understand it and deal with it, and the concerted efforts of multiple agencies resulted in a 30% drop from about 3 million to 2 million between 2004 and 2012.
Henriette Walter spoke next. She is a very distinguished linguist and her walk through the history of the French language was fascinating. It took Sue and me back to our university studies on the subject over 30 years ago.
Professor Walter gave many examples from across the centuries to illustrate how history has shaped the French language we know today. Here are just a few examples:
Gaulois influence: mostly agricultural, e.g. ‘sillon’ (furrow) and ‘mouton’ (sheep).
Roman, i.e. Latin: ‘cheval’ (horse) and ‘manger’ (eat).
Particularly fascinating is how two different words have the same root. Known as ‘doubles’, these include ‘potion’ and ‘poison’.
She also explained about dialects, the role of the ‘Académie Française’, and words introduced from particular regions, e.g. ‘brioche’ (Normandy) and different countries, e.g. ‘biscotte’ (Italy) and ‘chocolat’ (Aztec).
There was great debate on the decision to drop the circumflex accent (as in hôtel) and on the proposal to simplify some aspects of French, such as changing the spelling of words that contain ‘ph’ to ‘f’.
There were two Round Table sessions, a short one on ‘The French language and globalisation of work’ and a longer one with three famous novelists who write in French but live abroad, in Bulgaria, Lebanon and Belgium.
With a ‘poetry on demand’ recital from Timothée Laine, who has memorised some 200 poems, and an amazing ‘slam’ performance by two very gifted young women, the day was a huge success.
The President of SI France opened the proceedings and the Vice President of SI Europe brought the day to a close.
I mustn’t forget to mention that delegates were asked to donate a children’s book for a children’s centre in Lyon. The result was a magnificent collection of books that the children will enjoy.
At the Friendship Dinner in the evening, we were joined by Cynthia, a Soroptimist-sponsored Bangladeshi student. Cynthia had very bravely spoken to the delegates in French earlier in the day. I say ‘very bravely’ as she is only just starting to learn French.
The final event, on Sunday morning, was a walk round Lyon with Soroptimist Sophie, who explained not only the history of what we were looking at but also the famous women of Lyon. Sadly the weather was poor – cold and wet – so most of us did not complete the three hour tour.
However it did inspire us to wish to return. Lyon is a beautiful city with much to see and do, and excellent shopping and restaurants. It’s easy to get there via Easyjet’s Gatwick to Lyon service, and our hotel, Mercure Saxe Lafayette, was only a 10 minute walk from the city centre.
We plan to return and would love more Soroptimists to join us and meet with the many members of SI Lyon and SI Lyon Tête d’Or. Allons-y!