French language in Cambodia
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (June 2022) |
French was an official language of Cambodia for over a century, from the establishment of the French protectorate in the mid-19th century to the start of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1975. Cambodia is the smallest of the three Francophone communities in Southeast Asia, the others being Vietnam and Laos. Out of all Asian Francophone nations, Cambodia is where French has declined the most since the end of the Indochina Wars.[1] Nevertheless, French remains an administrative and cultural language in the country.[2]
In 2022, French was fluently spoken by a little under half a million people, which is about 3% of the country's population,[3] but only by 873 people as a mother tongue according to the country's 2008 census.[4]
History
[edit]The French language was introduced to Cambodia in the mid-19th century after French explorers and merchants made their way from Vietnam into Cambodia. In 1863, Cambodia became a protectorate of France and was incorporated into French Indochina in 1887. Unlike Vietnam, the French initially did not exert much influence on Cambodia and Khmer still remained the medium of education in schools, with French being limited to politicians.[5]
After the turn of the 20th century, French began to be widely introduced into Cambodian education, initially being limited to the elite class before spreading to the masses nationwide as the economy grew significantly by the 1920s. This was particularly notable in urban areas, where French usage became widespread in business in addition to education and government.[5] The French language's growth continued until the Japanese invasion of Cambodia in World War II. Under the Japanese, Khmer was also made a government language alongside French and the two were taught alongside in schools. After the war, French again became the sole official language. When Cambodia became independent in 1953, the French language maintained its official status, now alongside Khmer, and continued to be used in education, government, business, and media.
Despite its strong presence in the government and education, French declined much heavier in Cambodia by the end of the conflicts that embroiled Indochina in the mid-1970s than in Vietnam and Laos. After its victory in the Cambodian Civil War in 1975, the Khmer Rouge came into power in Cambodia and began executing thousands of individuals who were educated or formed part of the professional class before the regime's takeover. Members of these groups were overwhelming French-speaking, though ironically top Khmer Rouge leaders were often themselves fluent in French or educated in France.[6] By the end of their reign in 1979, French had almost been completely wiped out in Cambodia. A Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia that established the People's Republic of Kampuchea reintroduced French into the nation's government, though ironically, French began its decline in Vietnam around this time. French continued to gain ground in Cambodia until 1993, when the present government of Cambodia took power and Khmer became the sole language of government and primary language of education. Beginning in the late 1990s, the English language became more widely taught in Cambodia and French continued its decline as English was seen as a more useful international language. Revival of the French language has gained ground much later in Cambodia than in Vietnam and Laos. In 1997, a French-language center opened in Phnom Penh and French-language education began to revive in Cambodia and dozens of Cambodian students study abroad each year in France.[1] French is also once again, a diplomatic language of Cambodia. Communities of returned refugees from France and Quebec as well as students who have studied in Francophone nations have also added to the French-speaking population of Cambodia.
Dialect characteristics
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Cambodian French vocabulary has been influenced by Cambodian, Cantonese Chinese, and Teochew Chinese. Cambodian French is based on standard Parisian French but contains more differences from standard French than the dialects of Vietnam and Laos.
Media
[edit]French-language media is present in Cambodia, though less so than in Vietnam and Laos. The nation boasts a French-language newspaper, Cambodge Nouveau (and had another, Cambodge Soir, until 2010), as well as French-language television channels.[1]
Education
[edit]The following higher education institutions are members of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie:
- Institut de Technologie du Cambodge
- National Institute of Education
- Royal University of Agriculture
- Royal University of Fine Arts
- Royal University of Law and Economics
- Royal University of Phnom Penh
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c La Francophonie in Asia, France-Diplomatie, 2005, archived from the original on 2009-05-02, retrieved 2010-10-14
- ^ Baker, Colin; Jones, Sylvia Prys (1998). Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education. Multilingual Matters. p. 384. ISBN 9781853593628.
- ^ La langue française dans le monde, 2022, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF),
- ^ Schliesinger, Joachim (11 January 2015). Ethnic Groups of Cambodia Vol 1: Introduction and Overview. BooksMango. p. 211. ISBN 9781633232327.
- ^ a b Cesari, Laurant. L'Indochine en guerres, 1945-1993, p. 13
- ^ "Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge regime". 2007-09-19. Retrieved 2020-10-04.