Message from Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the Occasion of the International Day of la Francophonie

教科文组织总干事奥德蕾·阿祖莱国际法语日致辞

20 March 2021

2021年3月20日

Each year, International Day of la Francophonie is an opportunity to celebrate the French language and the values that it embodies; values of peace and diversity, which mirror those of UNESCO.

每年的国际法语日，我们礼赞法语以及法语所承载的和平和多样性的价值观，这些价值观与教科文组织的价值观殊途同归。

The French language is in constant evolution: from the medieval "fran?ois" of Villon to the colourful orality of Rabelais; from the elegant classicism of Boileau to the lyrical Romanticism of Lamartine and, more recently, the French of Léopold Sédar Senghor, Aimé Césaire and Ahmadou Kourouma, it conveys an immense variety of visions of the world. In the words of Felwine Sarr, French today is the "link between the individual and the universal", connecting men and women across continents through a shared attachment to their language and its beauty.

从弗朗索瓦·维庸的中古法语到拉伯雷妙趣横生的口语风格，从布瓦洛的古典主义优雅到拉马丁的浪漫主义抒情，以至列奥波尔德·塞达·桑戈尔、艾梅·塞泽尔及阿马杜·库鲁玛的法语写作，法语一直在变化更新，承载着丰富多样的世界观。用费尔文·萨尔的话说，法语在今天，是“个体与世界交汇的所在”，将各大洲共同热爱这门语言及其美感的人们连接在一起。

With this Day, UNESCO is mobilizing alongside the International Organization of La Francophonie to defend linguistic diversity and multilingualism. This is a central issue for the respect of human rights, and for building back a better world after the pandemic.

值此国际日，教科文组织与法语国家国际组织携手行动，致力于捍卫语言多样性和多种语言使用。这是尊重人权以及在疫后重建更美好世界的关键所在。

Indeed, la Francophonie is a global issue, covering subjects related to culture, heritage, information, the dissemination of science, as well as education. When we estimate that 40% of students do not have access to education in the language they know best, we can see the importance of multilingualism in bridging the educational divide broadened by the pandemic.

法语的使用确实是一个综合性议题，涉及到文化、遗产、信息和科学传播等诸多层面，也与教育息息相关。据估算，目前40%的学生都无法用自己掌握最熟练的语言接受教育。这让我们更加认识到，多种语言使用在弥合疫情造成的教育鸿沟方面意义重大。

Future years look to be fruitful and promising for la Francophonie. By 2050, it is set to bring together approximately 750 million men and women, mainly in Africa. This is not only a major opportunity, but also a great responsibility, because we must open up a range of possibilities to this future French-speaking generation within a horizon of justice and equality.

对使用法语的国家和地区来说，未来丰富多彩且大有前景。到2050年，讲法语人口预计将有大约7.5亿，其中大部分在非洲。这是重大的机遇，但也意味着巨大的责任，因为我们必须在公正和平等的基础上为这未来一代讲法语的青年开辟各种可能前景。

By 2050, the world will certainly have changed, as will have the French language. Because, as Victor Hugo once wrote: "Languages are like the sea, they move to and fro incessantly. […] Languages and the sun do not stand still. The day when they become fixed, they are dead".

到2050年，世界一定会改变，法语也会随之改变。因为，正如维克多·雨果所言，语言“就像大海，变动不居。无论语言和太阳，都不会停止不前。它们固定不变之日，就是安寂死亡之时。”

On this International Day of la Francophonie, UNESCO therefore calls upon each and every one of us to defend the humanist values embodied in the French language, to keep alive this common heritage through reading, writing, music and cinema, to share it, and, in doing so, to make it thrive.