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Chapter 1085: Simplified French

In the brief window after the banquet had ended but before the ball had begun, Rahman and several tribal chiefs gestured for their servants to carry chests of gifts into the Crown Prince’s drawing room.

Joseph gazed at the room overflowing with the shimmer of pearls and the glint of precious stones. He offered Rahman a warm smile. "I am deeply grateful for your generosity, Count Boussaâda."

Indeed, just that afternoon, Louis XVI had been so thoroughly charmed by Rahman’s silver tongue that, after consulting his son, he had officially granted the man a title of nobility.

Rahman had certainly earned his reward through his efforts in integrating Algiers. Moreover, his elevation served as a perfect example for other Berber nobles—proof that as long as they served the King diligently, the benefits would be substantial.

Rahman bowed respectfully. "It is our greatest honor that you would accept these humble trifles, Your Royal Highness."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "In truth, I have one more special gift to present to you."

"Oh? And what might that be?"

Rahman gestured toward the tribal chiefs behind him. "You see, when they departed from the port of Mitidja, none of them knew a single word of French."

Joseph was genuinely surprised. During the earlier banquet, he had heard these Berber nobles speaking French. While their accents were thick and their grammar a bit clumsy, they were capable of sustaining long conversations.

It was worth noting that the journey from Algiers to Paris took only about two weeks. These largely illiterate tribal leaders had managed to memorize so many phrases in that short time.

"How did you manage it?"

Rahman didn’t answer directly. "Your Highness, I believe that if the Governor’s office wishes to manage Algiers effectively and ensure rapid development, the people must be taught to speak French as quickly as possible."

Joseph studied the newly minted Count Boussaâda with renewed interest. He thought to himself that this man was truly a model of pro-French assimilation.

However, promoting the French language was indeed something Joseph cared about deeply. Whether in Savoy or the Rhineland, language barriers remained a significant hurdle, to say nothing of North Africa.

He understood clearly that for these regions to truly integrate into France, a unified language was the most vital component.

Joseph nodded immediately. "I would very much like to hear your suggestions."

"To be honest, French is far too difficult," Rahman admitted. "I mean no offense—the language is beautiful, but it is incredibly hard to master.

"It took me four full years of study before I finally stopped making constant grammatical errors.

"Later, I tried to teach my nephew. You should know, the boy was quite thick-headed; he could never get the hang of the articles or the changes in adjectives."

Joseph nodded inwardly. French nouns were gendered—a table was masculine, while a door was feminine. This meant that articles and adjectives had to change based on the gender of the noun, leading to a massive amount of variations.

Add to that the plural forms, and memorizing it all was enough to kill off a vast number of brain cells.

Rahman continued, "Out of desperation, I told him to stop worrying about the gender of nouns. Uh, I also had him set aside plural forms for a while, just so he could start forming basic sentences.

"Suddenly, he began learning much faster.

"However, the boy used this as an excuse to be lazy. He ignored every tense except for the present, the compound past, and the simple future. Whenever he encountered a thought he couldn't express properly, he just improvised.

"For instance, he used the compound past combined with a time expression to substitute for the imperfect tense. He used the compound past plus a time adverb and another compound past to express the past anterior.

"In this way, after only four months of study, he was able to carry out simple conversations. His grammar was an absolute disaster, but I could generally understand what he meant.

"Oh, and he never could master the subjunctive mood. So, I told him to replace it entirely with the indicative, using the subjunctive only in imperative commands."

Joseph’s eyes lit up with interest.

This was an excellent proposal. One had to realize that French had as many as fifteen different tenses! Never mind mastering them; just sorting out the logic behind those dozen-plus structures could take months.

Rahman’s model, however, retained only five tenses, using "combinations and simulations" to make up the rest.

This would reduce the difficulty of learning the language exponentially while still ensuring that over ninety percent of the content remained intelligible.

As for the subjunctive, that was even more of a nightmare. It required conjugation based on four different types of intent—necessity, suggestion, command, or hope—all combined with the tense and personal pronouns. And then there were the irregular verb conjugations.

Consequently, a single sentence could produce over twenty different variations.

Joseph remembered that even in the future, French children wouldn't start learning the subjunctive until they reached middle school.

If the language were simplified according to Rahman’s suggestions, it would essentially remove the greatest obstacles to learning French.

The only real downside was that the speaker's nuance might be less clear. But that could easily be reinforced with auxiliary words.

For example, after saying a sentence, one could simply add, "That is an order."

Rahman was still speaking animatedly. "Furthermore, I had him eliminate certain articles and use 'indefinite article + uncountable noun' for everything..."

Joseph interrupted him at once. "I need you to compile what you’ve just described into a textbook. How long do you think it will take you?

"I can assign a linguistic expert to assist you. However, you must promise me one thing: do not listen to a single word of their advice."

This task of "dismantling" the French language really had to be done by a non-Frenchman. If a French expert were asked to simplify it, they would likely be too precious about the language to make the necessary cuts.

Joseph estimated that with Rahman’s simplified method, a dedicated student could start having basic conversations in just over a year. Regular French required at least three years for the same level.

This would dramatically accelerate the spread of the French language.

A flash of joy crossed Rahman’s eyes as he bowed low. "It should take about three months, Your Highness."

"Excellent! You have done a great service for France."

"Ah, it is my honor to serve you!"

Eman knocked and entered the room, addressing Joseph. "Your Highness, the ball is about to begin. You need to change into your formal attire."

Upon hearing this, Rahman immediately bowed and took his leave.

After Joseph had changed, he stepped out of his room and ran straight into Talleyrand.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs stepped forward and bowed. "Your Highness."

"You’ve returned," Joseph greeted him with a smile and a nod. "Did everything go smoothly?"

"Yes, Your Highness, everything went exactly as you anticipated." The Minister followed him as they walked toward the Hall of Mirrors. "Sultan Selim III was initially furious, even threatening to reconsider our country’s priority purchasing rights for cotton and sugar.

"However, once I suggested that we could assist them in dealing with the Mamluks, his attitude changed instantly."

Joseph nodded. "Very good. Did he decide on a time to take action?"

"Their Grand Vizier suggested either the end of this year or early next year." Talleyrand paused, then added, "Additionally, he expressed a desire to sign a formal agreement regarding this matter."