Word: french
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...consequence, French culture is a real melting pot: from Manu Chao to Youssou N'Dour, artists who are famous all over the world have strong links with our country, even if they don't necessarily sing in French. In editorial terms, too, France is a land of discovery: each year, almost half of the novels published in France are translations...
Some mischievous souls in France would say that the difference between our two countries is that nine out of 10 French know who Marceau was, while only one in 10 Americans has heard of Mailer. And others, more mischievous still, would assert that Mailer was better known in Europe than in the U.S. Indeed, Woody Allen, William Klein, Philip Roth, Paul Auster and so many other American creative spirits are bigger draws in this country, with its supposedly moribund culture, than they are in the U.S. No doubt, you will say, this is because our French artists...
...wanted to react to the announcement of French culture's extinction, rather than simply revel in the silence of the tomb into which you had hurled us. For the whole month of December, outrage poured out everywhere: in the papers, on the radio, on television and at dinner tables. A few amiable traitors confirmed your hypothesis, and accused the French state and its "official culture" of having encouraged this death. They did so out of pique, or - and in this they were not wrong - out of admiration for American creativity. For a few weeks, every argument was thrown into...
...subject of a UNESCO agreement signed in Paris in 2005 by more than 140 countries from all over the world. That is one way in which we can justify the strong, protective measures we have taken for the past 20 years, such as quotas for air-time for French songs on the radio, or advances against box-office receipts for movie producers. Such measures have enabled us to maintain a good share of our own domestic market...
...despite appearances, is not the only country with influence in the cultural field. The case of French architecture is an obvious example. When Paul Andreu builds the National Grand Theater in Beijing, when Jean Nouvel has projects in Brazil or Jean-Michel Wilmotte in the gulf states, when Christian de Portzamparc works in Rio de Janeiro, and Dominique Perrault in Russia, they are operating in countries that will very soon represent major cultural "markets...