French at the UN is the subject of a recurring debate: historical prestige or a useless symbol in the face of the hegemony of English? This role of the French language at the United Nations deserves to be analysed from a diplomatic, cultural and practical perspective.
An official language since the creation of the UN, French is one of the six recognized working languages (along with English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic). This recognition is not only symbolic: it guarantees access to documents, interpretation in meetings and legal visibility in the drafting of resolutions. For French-speaking countries and for the Francophonie, the presence of French at the UN represents a lever of influence and a vector of cultural and political cooperation.
In terms of prestige, French retains an image as the language of diplomacy and international law. Several African, European and Latin American states continue to use French as an official or working language, which reinforces the relevance of a strong presence of this language in multilateral forums. Maintaining French at the UN also means preserving linguistic diversity that reflects a commitment to multilingualism and cultural equity.
However, critics point to cost and effectiveness. Simultaneous interpreting, the translation of thousands of documents and the maintenance of specialized language teams represent significant budgets. In a context where English largely dominates diplomatic communication and where machine translation tools are advancing, some consider French to be an expensive and sometimes redundant luxury.
The reality is nuanced. While machine translation and artificial intelligence facilitate access to information, they do not completely replace the finesse and legal certainty of a human translation, especially for sensitive texts. In addition, language plays an identity role: the erasure of French from certain official uses could weaken the political visibility of French-speaking countries.
What strategy for the future? Investing in the training of interpreters and translators, modernizing digital tools in French and promoting the Francophone cultural presence are ways to reconcile efficiency and diversity. The United Nations would benefit from preserving effective multilingualism, not only for prestige, but also to ensure equitable representation.
French at the UN is therefore both a prestigious heritage and a symbol that requires practical justification. Rather than choosing between prestige and uselessness, it is a question of adapting and innovating so that the French language remains a real asset at the heart of multilateral diplomacy.
