International French Language Day (20 March) : projection of the documentary film "Speak Up"
On the occasion of the United Nations French Language Day and of the Journée internationale de la Francophonie which occur each year on 20 March, members of the Groupe des Ambassadeurs Francophones (Group of Francophone Ambassadors), in cooperation with the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) and with the support of the Institut français d’Autriche, invites you to a screening of the film documentary « Speak up / À voix haute » (France 2017), on Monday 26 March at 12 :15, in the theatre room of the Vienna International Centre (G0575).
Synopsis : «Each year at the University of Saint-Denis in the suburbs of Paris, the Eloquentia competition takes place to determine the best orator in the class. Speak Up (À voix haute – La Force de la Parole) follows the students, who come from a variety of family backgrounds and academic disciplines, as they prepare for the competition while coached by public-speaking professionals like lawyers and slam poets. Through the subtle and intriguing mechanics of rhetoric, these young people both reveal and discover themselves, and it is impossible not to be moved by the personal stories that surface in their verbal jousts, from the death of a Syrian nightingale to a father’s Chuck Norris–inspired approach to his battle with cancer. Without sentimentality, Speak Up proves how the art of speech is key to universal understanding, social ascension, and personal revelation.»
Each year, the United Nations celebrate the French language day on 20 March. UN Language days at the UN – with 6 official languages – have been created in 2010 to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity.
Essential factor for a harmonious communication between the people, multilingualism is particularly important for the United Nations Organisation. It supports tolerance and eases the participation of each and every one to the works of the Organisation.
French is one of the most spoken mother languages in the world, above the 5 continents, and covers a large geographical and cultural diversity. With 273 million of speakers in the world, French is the 4th most used language on the Internet, the 3rd most used language for business and the 2nd most used language for international news in the media.
French, which was the language of diplomacy in the XIXth century, has still today a particular place in the UNO. It is not only one of the six official languages but also one of the two working languages of the Secretariat. 38 countries among the 193 Member States use French to correspond with the UN. The United nations are also very involved in francophone countries: 40% of the staff for peace maintaining operations are deployed in francophone countries. The United Nations programme for development has some offices in 24 francophone countries.
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