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Université de Montréal’s annual French language contest seeks Concordians to compete

Participating students will prepare oral presentations for Délie ta langue! and compete for cash prizes
September 16, 2021
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By Candice Pye


A group of smiling young people sitting around a table and talking together. Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

Université de Montréal’s Bureau de valorisation de la langue française et de la Francophonie is calling for Concordia students to compete in their annual Délie ta langue! contest.

The French-language competition — a test of eloquence and proficiency — is being hosted by Université de Montréal as part of the Office québécois de la langue française’s Le français, au cœur de nos ambitions 2017-2021 program. Each year, the contest aims to promote the French language in undergraduate students from all disciplines from participating universities and to prepare them for entry into the job market by giving them the opportunity to practice their spoken French through oral presentations.

“This competition is an opportunity for students to benefit from training that will allow them to develop their communication skills,” says Chanel Bourdon, coordinator for the promotion and development of the French language in Concordia’s Département d’études françaises. “As a result, they will then be able to use the acquired knowledge throughout the rest of their academic and professional careers.”

Competing students must speak advanced French, as they will be asked to select a French expression and deliver a five-minute professional oral presentation on it. This includes analyzing and explaining the expression as well as connecting it to a social issue of their choice.

“Concordia is an English-speaking university in the heart of the largest French-speaking city in North America,” says Pascale Sicotte, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science.

“Our students come from Montreal, Quebec, the rest of Canada, as well as all over the world. French proficiency contributes to their success in all fields — business, education, the arts, the social and community fields, as well as engineering and science. The Faculty of Arts and Science of Concordia is therefore proud to support an initiative like this competition, which allows the learning and practice of skills that will be useful to our students in their professional lives.”

How to get involved

To enter the contest, students are required to submit a video through the bureau’s registration form. The selected competitors will be announced in December. Once selected, participants will be given the opportunity to take a series of public speaking training sessions likely be held in January and February 2022.

“The students who participate in this competition will be accompanied on their journeys,” says Françoise Naudillon, chair of études françaises.

“They will gain ease and confidence. It is not always enough to simply master a language to appreciate it. In a way, you have to know how to dance with it and take your audience with you,” she says.

“As French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal once said: ‘Eloquence is a painting of thought; and those who, after having painted it, add something more, make a picture instead of a portrait.’”

After the training sessions, an in-house jury will select two contestants to move on to the final round, set to take place March 28, 2022. The finalists will receive further mentoring in the month leading up to the event, and then the an outside jury will choose the winners. The judging criteria will include factors such as fluency, diction, charisma, originality and more.

At the 2021 edition, several prizes were awarded: a $5,000 grand prize sponsored by Druide informatique, a $3,000 second-place prize, a $1,000 third-place prize sponsored by TD Insurance, and a $500 public prize sponsored by Acfas. Each award recipient was also gifted Druide informatique’s Antidote 10 software.

The Département d’études françaises will be also offer cash prizes to selected participants.


For more detailed information about the Délie ta langue! contest rules, eligibility criteria and how to enter, 
visit the event page. You can also keep up with the finalists, their trainings and other behind-the-scenes content on the Bureau de valorisation de la langue française et de la Francophonie’s FacebookTwitter and YouTube pages.

Learn how to shoot a video at home.

Direct any other questions about the contest to the Délie ta langue! team’s at delietalangue@umontreal.ca.

 



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