Common Language

Frightfully English

Most Mauritians are surprised to discover that their Constitution makes no mention of an official language. Before the country became independent, 45 years ago, this was a British colony and since the British created their own model of infrastructure, English has been generally accepted as the “unofficial” language of Mauritius. 

Très Français 

English was, and still is, the language of government, administration and the courts.

Nonetheless, in the English-speaking Parliament, any member of the National Assembly can address the Speaker in French, which is the dominant language in the mass media, as well as in corporate and business dealings. In fact, even English language television programmes are usually dubbed into French.

Traditionally Indian

This is despite the fact that only 3% of the population are of ethnically Christian European origin while 69% of the population are ethnically of Indian origin with linguistic affiliations to Bhojpuri, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi and Urdu.

A small, but economically significant, proportion of the population stems originally from China, while roughly a quarter of the population are the descendants of African slaves. These have contributed to the creation of a large sector of the community who identify themselves as Mauritian Créole, bringing with them a lexicon of Arabic, Swahili and other Bantu languages which have been blended into French to create the Creole language - Kreol Morisien.

Whatever the ethnic or religious affiliation of the people who live on this lovely island, they all proudly identify themselves as Mauritians, and the vast majority speak Kreol. Even the most well-bred white Francophone teenagers will slip into Kreol with their friends, for the simple pleasure of expressing themselves with Kreol’s witty vulgarity and wealth of humour.

Mauritian beauty queen

This ethnic blend has created – in my opinion - the most beautiful women in the world. 

The combination of skin-tone, figure and stature presents a vision of a veritable Lorelei – the mythical siren of the Rhine who enticed sailors to a watery grave. In my eyes, Mauritian girls are enchantresses; - they are a tempting sight and should carry a Government health warning of impending heart attacks of one kind or another.

I drooled from afar, and would happily return to Mauritius just to sit in the Bagatelle Shopping Mall and watch the world go by.

Well, at least I can speak the language(s.)

I have been to several of my host’s family occasions, and have had to exercise a degree of linguistic gymnastics. You need to be ready to jump around between English and French even mid-sentence, and everyone does it without the least hint of pretentiousness. It’s just easy to use more suitable words in the other language, just as we might slip into slang or colloquialisms in talking with English friends back home.

I believe that multilingual societies have a distinct advantage over countries who just have a mother tongue and are xenophobic about anything foreign – especially conversation.

Grandson Edmund

In Europe it’s been an academic issue. If you were in the right stream you learned languages. Hence the children of my Italian nephew in Rome learn Latin, Greek, English and French as core subjects. What many people fail to realise is that both ancient and modern languages train the brain in problem solving, and have a value far beyond literature, business and tourism.

Mauritian children probably never realise the enormous benefit of acquiring the necessary verbal dexterity to leap around between languages in the course of a single conversation. For them, this everyday process creates an invaluable intellectual flexibility. 

I am delighted that my 5 year-old grandson has a place at an almost unique English primary school where he is taught in English Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning, and in French on Wednesday afternoons and all day Thursday and Friday.

I know he will learn mental agility that his mono-cultural friends in the village will miss out on. As for being bilingual, he’ll have a head start with those gorgeous girls if he gets out here to Mauritius one day.