Alumni from the French Language and Culture programme return to Leiden: ‘I feel like an ambassador for the language’
The pews of the Walloon Church were filled on Friday 23 May, as more than 120 former students of the French Language and Culture programme gathered to attend mini-lectures, a short theatre performance, and a discussion about the state of the discipline.
Following an opening by Assistant Professor Alisa van de Haar, Assistant Professor Emmanuelle Radar continued with a presentation on Canadian songs about the United States. In 15 minutes, she demonstrated not only that there is little positive feeling about the world of Trump, but also that French studies today look far beyond the borders of ‘l’Hexagone’.
International character
Assistant Professor Benjamin Storme also took the audience on a journey through the international societal importance of the French study programme. Using various linguistic models, he showed, among other things, that AI is effortlessly able to determine whether two texts were written by the same author, but that writing slang is sometimes still quite difficult for ChatGPT.
After an interlude featuring several generations of former students who were once members of the study programme's theatre company, Assistant Professor Marjolein Hageman highlighted the connection between Leiden and France by talking about how Voltaire was received in the Netherlands. Although the French study programme has ‘only’ been around for some 130 years, there had already been regular contact and knowledge exchange prior to that.
The panel that concluded the event also emphasised the importance of the programme's international character. Especially now that higher education is under pressure and language learning in school is under threat, the French study programme has to demonstrate its value. ‘In Leiden, I was surrounded by people who loved French and everything about French culture,’ said young teacher Roos Le Fèvre. ‘In the classroom, I am much more of an ambassador, trying to convey that even in the age of Google Translate, you need to master a language to really connect with people.’
Drinks
Then it was time for the part of the afternoon programme that many of those present had secretly come for: drinks at Grand Café De Burcht, where former students could catch up with each other over a drink. ‘To me, this afternoon felt like a homecoming,’ is how alumnus Dries van der Laan summed it up.
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Dr. Alisa van de Haar opened the symposium -
Former associate professor Sjef Houppermans received a thank you for his commitment to the programme -
Panel discussion 'The (university) teaching and research of French: developments and future perspectives' -
What is a study French without books?