French students say bonjour to language, 'culture' house

USC's French Language House, located at 820 Henderson St., held an inauguration ceremony Tuesday afternoon to celebrate its first year on campus and to recognize 2005 as the "Year of Languages."

"This is a doubly good day for the university," said Provost Mark Becker. "The French House is not only a language house but a culture house. This is the first (language) house but hopefully not the last."

The only collegiate language house in South Carolina, the French House offers apartment-style housing to its 22 residents as well as offering a French community. Students moved into the apartments at the beginning of the fall semester. Of the 22 residents, 15 are French majors or minors. One native French speaker, Christen Green of Belgium, lives in the house and serves as the activities director.

"There are benefits on every level," said Green, a second-year international business and French student, of living in the French House. "It's beautifully located, fully equipped and provides an area where (students) can really practice French."

In a speech she added, "When the French House was proposed, I was thrilled at the idea of finally having a place where I wouldn't have to constantly make sure that I was indeed speaking the right language and hadn't slipped back into French."

While students are not required to speak French to live in the French House, weekly conversation hours and tutoring are available, as well as monthly parties and viewing of French movies. Last week the house had its first party, with each apartment providing a different kind of pasta.

"Students can just come and speak French in a laid-back environment," Green said. The monthly parties are open to the community, not only to house residents.

For students living in the house, it has become natural to be greeted not with a "hey, what's up," but with a "bonjour, comment allez vous," said Andrew Bentz, a third-year international studies student.

"It's a place for students to be involved in community life with the shared interest of speaking and learning French," said Lara Lomicka, faculty advisor for the French House. She organized the opening of the house in conjunction with University Housing after conversations last spring with Associate Provost Karl Heider.

"It's such a natural thing, and here we have it," said Heider at the dedication ceremony, noting the "importance of knowing languages, literatures and cultures."

Second-year international business student and French House resident Bryan Payne jumped at the chance to live in the house first because of the "nice amenities" - the apartments are the largest on-campus and offer laundry facilities in each apartment - but said living there "has afforded me the opportunity to advance my cultural and language experiences." Payne said he speaks French often in the house, particularly with his roommates.

The opening of the French House provided a background for the introduction of the "Year of Languages," a nationally recognized effort to raise Americans' awareness of the importance of learning other languages, said Carolyn Hansen, a senior instructor of Spanish at USC and executive director of the South Carolina Foreign Language Teachers' Association.

"Every American should develop proficiency in at least one other language," Hansen said.

Provost Becker read a proclamation written by USC President Andrew Sorensen recognizing 2005 as the Year of Languages.

"I urge the students, faculty and staff at all of our campuses to become familiar with the course and program offerings in our departments of languages, literatures and cultures," the proclamation read.

Noting that 14 languages other than English are taught at USC, Sorensen's proclamation said, "In our role as academic leaders of the state we should also be aware of the services and benefits offered by the many language education programs and other related programs in our state and community and should support and participate in these programs to promote not only proficiency in English, but also in other languages as well."