On March 20, the International Day of La Francophonie wishes to highlight the vitality of the French language, not only in francophone countries, but wherever we find ardent admiration for the French language and culture. To this end, the official celebrations will take place in London, the host city for the next Olympic Games. Trafalgar Square will be decked out in its very best French attire and vibrate with the sounds of French music from around the world.

With a nod to modernity, the organizers are asking all connected francophone enthusiasts to send in their favourite French expressions through the social media – French words in all the colours of La Francophonie.

This event will serve as a prelude to the Global Forum on the French language organised by the Organisation internationale de la francophonie to take place in Québec City on July 2-6. At this symposium, leading figures and the general public from all Francophone countries around the globe will focus on the important issues be it the modernization of the French language, its vitality or its merits.

This March 20, cultural activities will take place in more than 100 countries in over a thousand diverse celebrations. In schools, dictation will be at the fore and the classics revisited through plays followed by spelling competitions. Speaking of classics, this year in honour of the tercentenary of the birth of Rousseau,‘Dis-moi dix mots qui te racontent’ (Find ten words that say) will promote self-expression through the challenge of telling about an emotion, an experience, a dream, or a feeling using ten words chosen from a work by Rousseau: soul, otherwise, character, home, confide, history, natural, inclination, dream and transportation.

The Francophonie represents 13% of the world’s population spread over 5 continents with a population of about 890 million people. The Francophonie’s mission is based on the fundamental idea of building capacity for solidarity, humanity, democracy and respect for a diversity of cultures based on sharing the French language.

Greetings to all the world’s Francophones and Francophiles!

[Translated by Susan Spier]