My francophone friends are justifiably fond of their language and do not
like to see it unused and defend its use on every opportunity. This
sometimes leads to agressive anti-anglophonism, as they suspect theat
English, as a lingua france will lead to cultural impoverishment (whereas
French of course....).
The French, as a good "enlightenment" nation, strongly identifies the
language with the nation state. Germanic languages on the other hand are
more closely assocaited with place than nation. Autochthony ( hey that's
easy for you to say) is clearly a germanic concept.
The French are not very fond of their minority languages, and afford them
few "rights". I am a Welsh speaker and I could spend large parts of my
working life not using English at all although I live in the UK and I have
a professional job. I am fortunate, because after a century of struggle we
now have laws defending the use of Welsh and making it an official
language in Wales.
We have a large number of English speakers in our midst. Many do not like
the new laws because it debarrs them from many jobs in the public sector.
You can not really function in schools or local government if you can noy
speak Welsh these days. Some friends, who know that English is really my
main language, tell me " it is time to live in the present, it is who you
are and how you act that counts, not the language you speak". This is code
for:" Don't expect me to learn Welsh and you are a fool for persisting
with it".
We have had English imperialism since at least 1272 ( and earlier if you
count the fact that Welsh was the language of the Britons and English the
language of the Angles and Saxons).
Bilingualism is the way of most of the world. Monoglot English speakers
are in the minority...
Martin