Paris seduces new Europeans with joys of the French tongue
Art, wine and culture are the weapons being wielded by the French government in a battle to stem a decline in the use of French in Europe.
Paris is offering all three, along with exquisite cuisine and musical soirées, to the 10 future Commissioners of the new EU member states who have been invited to attend free language courses this summer in Avignon.
English is proving by far the most popular second language in the new eastern European member states, with 69 per cent of officials choosing it as their preferred working language against 18 per cent who choose German and 13 per cent French.
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