What is the Alliance Française?

The Alliance Française was founded in 1883 in Paris as an “Association nationale pour la propagation de la langue française dans les colonies et à l’étranger” under the aegis of Pierre Foncin and ambassador Paul Cambon. The Paris Alliance was created the following year by a board of directors featuring illustrious names like Jules Verne (writer), Louis Pasteur (chemist and biologist), or Ferdinand de Lesseps (diplomat). The first Alliance Française abroad was created the same year in Barcelona.

Today there are 1081 Alliances Françaises in 135 countries. From Tierra del Fuego in Argentina to Canada, from the furthest tip of Africa to the North of Europe, across a vast swaths of Asia and Oceania, the Alliance truly spans the globe. About 400,000 students take classes at the Alliance Française throughout the world.

For over a century, the Alliance Française has been seeing through an ambitious project :

Spreading French language and culture well beyond the borders of France. A network of associations set up throughout the world have been benefiting from the Alliance’s mark of quality so as to disseminate the French language abroad. The remarkable longevity and vitality of our institution is due in part to the strong bonds we have built with the citizens, the sponsors of our hostcountry and with the French State.

However, the Alliance’s mission does not stop with the work it does abroad. In Paris, an ever growing number of students from around the world attend the Alliance in heart of the French Capital. International students discover French culture thanks to the Paris Alliance, while officials from Alliance committees across France welcome French-learners throughout the country. All of the Alliance’s activities (cultural or otherwise), as well as its status as a non-profit association account for some of the ingredients of the Alliance’s current success.

An Alliance is the outgrowth of community-based initiatives and reciprocal adhesion, which have been central to its long term success. The Alliance Française attributes its success to the unwavering loyalty of its public who are impassioned by the French language. Known the world over, the Alliance is present in 135 countries where it has adapted its recipe to over a thousand local committees, each with its very own personality.

A leader in teaching French to foreigners, the Alliance Française has pioneered pedagogical methods that take into account the mother tongue and the learning style of all of its students. Alliance teaching methods combine a classic approach to language acquisition and an open-mindedness to new modes of communication.

The Alliance is adopting new technologies and has created partnerships and has diversified our course offering: Intensive and extensive training sessions, In-company courses, Theme courses, Semi-independent instruction, Distance learning, Teacher-training, etc. Today the Alliance Française is incontestably the reference for teaching French as a foreign language. The Alliance’s recognition by the French Education Ministry as well as by European organizations such as the ALTE (the Association of Language Testers in Europe ), speaks volumes about the Alliance’s leadership in the field.

The Alliance’s pedagogical mission is inextricably linked to its commitment to culture. Hence, the Alliances have forged their identities by meshing French language and French artistic creation with a wonderfully diverse student body. In short, a language truly lives when it is shared.

The Alliances Françaises are independent associations regulated by local law and bound by a common purpose to the Paris Alliance. The Alliances Françaises are apolitical and nondenominational, which facilitates establishment and long term continuity in numerous countries where it might be otherwise hard to set up shop. And whereas in many of these countries the legal framework concerning non-profit organizations is sometimes inexistent, the Alliance is showing the way. Furthermore, the Alliance’s unique status requires democratic governance, which can serve as an excellent introduction to democratic principles depending upon the country. The establishment of an Alliance abroad is the sole expression initiatives taken by local Francophiles who wish to share their love of French language and culture with their fellow citizens. Internationally, the Alliances do not play a role as a diplomatic representative of France. However, they may sometimes act as conduits of information and help orient those seeking information towards the competent persons in charge at the proper embassy. Furthermore, we most often work closely in conjunction with the city, region, educational institutions or the key cultural players, regardless of the country where we are implanted.