Day 1786 (Friday) 29th April 2022
Huw took this photo last night, what a lovely colour the rose is
I did my Duolingo this morning and I was amazed to see my name at the top of the leader board of the diamond league! We both do Duo every day but still really struggle with everyday French. Huw’s French is better than mine because he doesn’t care about making mistakes, which I have been telling students to do in English for over 20 years but because of my job I want to get it right so I say very little. We’ve got our teacher Sylvie this afternoon – she is about the only French person I feel comfortable talking to her. Even young Oceane laughed at my pronunciation this week.
It was lovely and warm this morning and there was a cruise ship in the bay – let’s hope they all spend lots of money in the shops, bars and restaurants.
For once Eduard was only 7 minutes late today – that’s punctual for him. I spent an hour with him looking at false friends and word pairs and then an hour with Olga doing phrasal verbs.
After a quick lunch Huw dropped me off outside the toy shop where I spent 90 minutes with Florence in the toy shop – she really is a lovely woman and I enjoy working with her and she’s improving my French!
Speaking of French we had a lesson with Sylvie this afternoon and she still says we’re improving – I can’t see it but we’ll accept her compliments.
An Avid Reader of World History
What are some amazing facts about France?
The largest forest in France and indeed the EU is located in South America, in the French overseas territory French Guyana.
France shares its longest land border with Brazil by virtue of owning French Guyana.
France is more than TWICE the size of the UK in land mass. It is the largest country in the EU.
France is the number one most popular tourists destination in the world. It received 90 million tourists in 2019. Second is Spain. Third USA.
France has the highest number of Michelin Stars in world. Not surprising as they are pioneers of haute cuisine. But Japan has the most Micheline Starred establishments in the world.
The French Overseas Territories are considered integral part of France. Residents have full rights as French citizens including freedom of movement inside EU.
France recently changed its flag. It reverted back to the dark blue used in the 70s. Some see this as a symbolic move of France reasserting its national identity over the EU.
As France was founded on secular principles, it is illegal to gather data on a person’s race or religion. That is why there are no official census statistics on the racial or religious makeup of its population.
France allows any able-bodied male from any nationalities between the ages of 17 and 40 to join its Foreign Legion. After three years of service with good conduct the legionnaire is entitled to French citizenship.
Although France now uses the Euro there are 14 other countries in Africa that use the Franc (CFA). Until recently these countries had to hold over half of their reserves in the French Treasury.
The French have a cool real estate system called viager where an older person agrees to transfer the ownership of his/her property to an investor after death. In exchange the investor pays the owner a fixed income til the day he/she dies.
France is a nuclear power and a permanent member of the UN Security Council. It is one of only three countries that can field an army anywhere in the world.
YES. Here are four reasons why France is a powerful country.
Military
France is in fact a superpower…technically speaking. It is one of three countries (the other two being USA and Great Britain) that can “project power on a global scale” meaning it can launch a military campaign anywhere on the planet in any continent or seas.
Like Great Britain, being a former colonial power, France still has an impressive portfolio of overseas territories all around the world enabling the country to carry out sustained campaigns far from its shores.
This is the territorial map of France.
As you can see, France has territories in some very remote parts of the world such as in the South Pacific, South Indian Ocean, off the western coast of Mexico. And looking at how many islands it owns it’s no surprise France has the largest EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) in the world.
It is also one of the handful countries that has nuclear weapons and ICBM capability. And unlike Britain, France has actual control over deployment of its nukes.
International Politics
France is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. That means it is on equal footing as the USA, Great Britain, Russia and China when it comes to international power plays.
On top of that France also has formidable influence and leverage over its former colonies in Africa. Many of these countries use the West African CFA Franc currency which is pegged to the Euro and held in reserve in the French Central Bank. France also regularly conducts military campaigns in northern Africa to aggressively protect its interests.
European Union
It is no secret that France is a major player in the EU. You can even say it is the de facto leader of EU now that Merkel is gone. Due to the sheer control and influence France has over the EU, it can implement its will more or less. Remember EU as a whole has the second largest GDP in the world at $17 trillion. With size comes significant leverage when it comes to international diplomacy, trade, sanctions, etc.
The future of the EU is a bit uncertain. But, it looks like they are going the federation route full steam ahead with ever closer integration and a EU army. This will shift the power balance more towards France than Germany. As France is the one with the overwhelming military and diplomatic edge.
Also don’t forget, there are still some countries in eastern Europe such as the Balkans and Ukraine that can potentially join the EU in the future, making the bloc even bigger and stronger. Economically, EU dwarfs Russia which I believe will also join the EU ( I assume this was written before they invades Ukraine) eventually in the distant future after Putin is long gone. EU is an ideology. Like communism it is very difficult kill off an ideology.
Soft Power
In terms of soft power France punches above its weight. Although not as substantial as the UK or the USA these days. It is still a world leader in the fashion and luxury market. People from all over the world have a romantic view of France. This certainly helps in boosting its soft power, especially among females.
And remember, France is the the most visited country in the world with around 90 million visitors per year.
French is an official language in 29 countries around the world with around 270 million speakers. Most of these speakers are in Africa and given Africa’s explosive population growth this number will only increase over time. Even still, Macron’s government is actively promoting French language in Africa.
So, based on these facts it’s fair to say France is an extremely powerful country.
French is the official language of NATO, IOC, International Criminal Court alongside English. It is also the official language of 29 countries, mostly in Africa.
France imposes a strict quota on number of movies it imports from abroad to protect its film industry.
Wary of American cultural influence, France limits on the number of English words it borrows. It has its own language police called Académie française that regulates on the usage of French. So they have words like “mot-dièse” for hashtag, “courriel” for email, etc.
France proper is sometimes colloquially referred to as L’Hexagone because it is shaped like a hexagon (6 sides).
France once quit NATO due to its concerns of losing its ability to make its sovereign decisions in matters of war as NATO command chain puts USA first and Britain second in command.
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