WhatsApp Campaign Aims to Boost Global French Language Learning

In total, 34 countries such as Morocco, Mali or Brazil will be put in touch with a French speaker from their country to exchange around the French language. You just have to send a message to a single number (+33 6 99 82 13 75) where a French-speaking person will engage the conversation, in writing, audio or video. This learning of French via WhatsApp is the best way found by the Institute to attract the most young people. "We have targeted 18-25 year olds. The idea is to bring young people to the physical or digital door of language centers," said Erol Ok, director of the French Institute, at a press conference.

In this campaign, the French Institute is counting on its network of 137 branches around the world, to make young people in the selected countries understand that French is a "useful language" in many fields. "The object is not to compare ourselves to English but to consider that French is an added value in a career, a path," says Judith Roze, director of the French language at the Institute.

During the campaign, several personalities from the world of art and culture will give testimonials about their relationship with the French language. "When I arrived in France, I had gone to see a theater workshop of one of my friends at school. I didn’t speak French very well at the time. And all of a sudden, I saw that there was a job where you got paid to play and I wanted to do that," says Iraqi actress Tamara Al-Saadi in a short video to promote the campaign. With her, other headliners like British singer Jane Birkin, famous Rwandan artist Nirere Shanel, the same source specifies.