I have to agree that there is a lot to say about the DJs, speakers and programs from QBS...
But people have to understand that we cannot make everyone's happy with 1 radio in Doha. And by the way, thanks god there is one!!!
There are programs in English to satisfy the majority of people in Doha, and I got to hear some arabic or hindi/urdu programs on other radio stations.
So there is not only QBS in Qatar !
For some reasons QBS is broadcasting also in French and this must be because the founders or sponsors were either french of french speakers.
Even is the French community is still few thousand people (but actually growing quite fast) its the number of french speaking people that matter!
I was extremely surprised when I first arrived in Qatar 4 years ago about how many people can speak french over here.
Qatari/Lebanese/Syrian/Jordanian/Tunisian/Algerian/Moroccan/Egyptian... even American and Brits :-)
I was even more surprised when I found out that one of my egyptian colleague know 60's french songs better than me!!! (Thanks to QBS).
So my point is that, as a french I'm quite happy to be able to listen to news in French in the morning, listen to old and new songs, listening to talks and education programs in french and basically to keep a kind of link with my mother tongue (which I tend to loose while I'm here).
In addition I'm tempted to say that if I was not French but used to learn it at school, it could be a good way to practice and enhance my understanding of the language.
And to finish by a few facts and figures, see below why you should not underestimate the Francophonie!
Its a big thing :
In 1999, French was the 11th most common first language in the world, with 77 million first language speakers and another 51 million second language speakers, according to the Ethnologue Report.
French is the second most commonly-taught second language in the world (after English).
Another source, La Francophonie dans le monde 2006-2007, looks at it differently:
* 128 million Francophones: speak French (as a native or adopted language) fluently and use it on a regular basis.
* 72 million "partiel" Francophones: live in a francophone country but do not speak French regularly, due to limited knowledge.
* 100-110 million students of all ages: do not live in a francophone country, but have learned/are learning French in order to communicate with Francophones.
I have to agree that there is a lot to say about the DJs, speakers and programs from QBS...
But people have to understand that we cannot make everyone's happy with 1 radio in Doha. And by the way, thanks god there is one!!!
There are programs in English to satisfy the majority of people in Doha, and I got to hear some arabic or hindi/urdu programs on other radio stations.
So there is not only QBS in Qatar !
For some reasons QBS is broadcasting also in French and this must be because the founders or sponsors were either french of french speakers.
Even is the French community is still few thousand people (but actually growing quite fast) its the number of french speaking people that matter!
I was extremely surprised when I first arrived in Qatar 4 years ago about how many people can speak french over here.
Qatari/Lebanese/Syrian/Jordanian/Tunisian/Algerian/Moroccan/Egyptian... even American and Brits :-)
I was even more surprised when I found out that one of my egyptian colleague know 60's french songs better than me!!! (Thanks to QBS).
So my point is that, as a french I'm quite happy to be able to listen to news in French in the morning, listen to old and new songs, listening to talks and education programs in french and basically to keep a kind of link with my mother tongue (which I tend to loose while I'm here).
In addition I'm tempted to say that if I was not French but used to learn it at school, it could be a good way to practice and enhance my understanding of the language.
And to finish by a few facts and figures, see below why you should not underestimate the Francophonie!
Its a big thing :
In 1999, French was the 11th most common first language in the world, with 77 million first language speakers and another 51 million second language speakers, according to the Ethnologue Report.
French is the second most commonly-taught second language in the world (after English).
Another source, La Francophonie dans le monde 2006-2007, looks at it differently:
* 128 million Francophones: speak French (as a native or adopted language) fluently and use it on a regular basis.
* 72 million "partiel" Francophones: live in a francophone country but do not speak French regularly, due to limited knowledge.
* 100-110 million students of all ages: do not live in a francophone country, but have learned/are learning French in order to communicate with Francophones.
THE FRENCH TOUCH'