Issue link: https://publications.tfs.ca/i/609675
Since its beginning, the TFS community has always appreciated the benefits of learning multiple languages. As a bilingual country, Canada is one of approximately 40 countries where French is primarily or regularly spoken. While the thread of the French language in all of these countries forms a common basis of understanding, each culture infuses the language with its own points of view. What we teach at TFS goes beyond the surface of language itself. It allows students – and alumni – to see and think from the outlooks of both francophone and Anglophone cultures; they bring awareness to other cultures that surpasses "Je parle français" or "I speak English." Recently Entre Nous spoke with three alumni, Dr. Walter Dorn '79, Kate Pal '01 and Stephanie Frischkorn '14, about how learning French and being informed by more than one worldview have broadened their life's journeys. One of the concepts that resonates with our alumni is connection. They don't see second language fluency as a way to just communicate I feel that sometimes it is easier to express yourself in French, because the words are more emotional, with subtle differences in meaning, so you can describe your feelings more accurately." — Kate Pal with others; it is a means to relate to other people and ideas on a deeper level. Says Dr. Dorn, a defence scholar and operational professor who participates in field missions and works with international organizations such as the United Nations (UN), "I teach in English and French at the Canadian Forces College; I also read and evaluate master's projects in both languages, which are typically 14,000 to 20,000 words in length. In using a different language, you get a wider and deeper sense of a subject area." FOR KATE PAL, who has worked as a banker in private sector development finance, and currently for her family's insurance company, the sense of connection she feels is to her diverse group of friends, but also in articulating her thoughts in a more nuanced, precise manner. "I feel that sometimes it is easier to express yourself in French, because the words are more emotional, with subtle differences in meaning, so you can describe your feelings more accurately," she says. Another bilingual advantage is access. STEPHANIE FRISCHKORN, now in her second year at University College London, in the law (UK) with French law program, acknowledges that, "knowing French has opened doors that would not otherwise have been available to me. I am taking a more professional degree, and all my courses related to French law are taught in French." The legal studies she is pursuing in English relate to the common law legal system that originated in the UK, while her French-based studies are concerned with the civil law legal system that arose in France. When in her third year, Ms. Frischkorn's studies will take her to Université Panthéon-Assas 26 TFS ENTRE NOUS 2015