THE LINGUOCULTURAL IMAGE OF FRANCE IN THE PERCEPTION OF MONGOLIAN STUDENTS LEARNING FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

ABSTRACT

In this article, it is investigated at how Mongolian students learning French as a foreign language build their image of France — not the physical country on a map, but the idea of France that takes shape inside their heads as they learn the language. Using linguoculturology and the cognitive-affective model of country image as a framework, the study is based on survey responses from 37 students in the "French language and civilization studies" program at the National University of Mongolia. Perhaps the most interesting part is that 89% of these students have never actually been to France, and yet they carry around a surprisingly clear and mostly positive linguocultural image of the country — one they have pieced together from social media, movies and their civilization courses. For them, France means culture, fashion, art and a kind of refined way of living. Areas like defense, aeronautics and aerospace, on the other hand, hardly come up at all.

АННОТАЦИЯ

В данной статье рассматривается, как монгольские студенты, изучающие французский язык как иностранный, формируют образ Франции — не как географической территории, а как представления, существующего в их языковом сознании. Основанное на лингвокультурологии и когнитивно-аффективной модели образа страны, исследование опирается на данные опроса 37 студентов, обучающихся по программе «Французский язык и страноведение» в Национальном университете Монголии. Особенно примечательно, что 89% этих студентов никогда не бывали во Франции, однако у них сформирован удивительно устойчивый и преимущественно положительный образ страны — образ, сложившийся почти исключительно под влиянием социальных сетей, кино и курсов страноведения. В их представлении Франция прежде всего является страной культуры, моды, искусства и определённой элегантности повседневной жизни. В то же время такие сферы, как оборона, аэронавтика и космическая отрасль, практически не представлены.

Keywords: linguocultural image, country image, linguistic consciousness, French as a foreign language, linguoculturology.

Ключевые слова:  лингвокультурный образ, образ страны, языковое сознание, французский язык как иностранный, лингвокультурология.

1. Introduction

Contemporary linguistics regards the image of a foreign country not as an external geographical or political fact, but as a linguoculturological concept that takes shape in the linguistic consciousness of language learners. Maslova captures "language is a mirror of culture, in which not only the real world is reflected, but also the mentality of the people, their national character, way of life, traditions and system of values" [5, p. 8]. In other words, learning a language and forming an image of the country behind it go hand in hand. In Mongolia, French has always been taught with a strong cultural component attached to it. Going back to the mid-twentieth century, textbooks like Mauger's Cours de Langue et de Civilisation françaises played a big role in shaping what Mongolian students thought France was like [1, p. 16]. Today the image is even richer. Students in the French language and civilization studies program at the National University of Mongolia (NUM) do not just study language — they also take courses on French history, society and culture, geography and economics, politics and international relations. This combination of language training and civilization studies makes them a particularly good group to study when we want to understand how a linguocultural image of a country gets built. The goal of this article is fairly straightforward: to describe what linguocultural image of France these Mongolian students actually hold, to figure out which parts of that image are strongest and which are weak or missing, and to trace where the image comes from. The article begins with a brief look at the theory behind "country image" in linguoculturology, then moves into the survey results — covering the cognitive, affective and conative sides of the image — and wraps up by interpreting those results within the linguoculturological framework.

2. Materials and methods

The theoretical starting point for this study is linguoculturology, a field established by Vorobyev [6], which sees the image of another country as a concept that sits at the crossroads of language, culture and consciousness. Building on this, the study uses the cognitive-affective model that Martin and Eroglu first proposed [4, p. 195] and that Buhmann and Ingenhoff later expanded into what they call a 4D model [2, p. 108]. According to this model, a country's image has four dimensions: cognitive, normative, aesthetic and affective.

The actual data come from a questionnaire given to 37 students in the French language and civilization studies program at NUM. They ranged in age from 19 to 25, were in their second through fourth years, and the group was heavily female — 32 women and 5 men, which is pretty typical for this kind of program. The questionnaire had both open-ended and closed-response items, and it was organized into three sections. The first section dealt with the cognitive image, asking students about their perceptions of France across nine areas: politics and international relations, fashion and beauty, education and science, economy and business, infrastructure and transport, quality of life, food and cuisine, arts and culture, and health care. The second section went after the affective image — basically, how students feel about France on an emotional level. The third section looked at what we might call the conative dimension: whether students actually want to visit, study, work or live in France. Open-ended responses were processed by content analysis and closed responses by descriptive statistics.  

3. Result of the study

3.1. Sources of the linguocultural image. Of the 37 respondents, 33 (89%) had never visited France, which means that the image is constructed almost entirely through mediated sources. Asked where they obtain information about France, 40% said social media, 38% films, 13% French civilization courses and 8% literature. The dominance of digital and cinematographic sources confirms that in the twenty-first century the country image is increasingly shaped in the digital environment, where France actively pursues cultural diplomacy through platforms such as Netflix, Institut Français and Alliance Française.

3.2. Cognitive image. The cognitive image is highly positive across all nine domains, with average agreement above 80%. "Politics and international relations" received the highest score (89%), followed by "fashion and beauty" and "education and science" (88% each); the lowest-rated domain, "health care", was still supported by 80%. In open-ended answers, France was described first of all as a country leading the world in tourism (25 mentions), arts and culture (19), fashion and beauty (14), and gastronomy (15). The five most frequently named French brands were Chanel (34), Dior (30), Louis Vuitton (28), Hermès (22) and Yves Saint Laurent (18) — all from the luxury, fashion and cosmetics sector. France's actual leading industries such as defense, aeronautics and aerospace were almost absent. This tells us something important about how the linguocultural image works. It is not a balanced, encyclopedic summary of a country. It is heavily shaped by what students actually see in movies, on Instagram  (принадлежит Meta, признана экстремистской и запрещенной в России) and in their daily media consumption. The glamorous, visually appealing side of France takes center stage, while the sectors that actually drive a huge part of the French economy stay almost invisible. The image is real, but it is also lopsided.

Figure 1. Average result of nine domains in cognitive image

3.3. Affective image. The affective dimension is structured around four feelings: students perceive France as luxurious and refined, romantic, artistic and creative, and powerful. The first three clearly dominate, confirming the romanticised stereotype of France circulating through global cultural products [3, p. 152].

Figure 2. The affective dimension around four feelings about France

Asked what first comes to mind when they hear "France", 32% said the Eiffel Tower, 22% Paris and the Seine, 16% French gastronomy (croissant, cheese, wine), 11% culture, art and fashion, 8% the Louvre. Historical and political symbols appeared only marginally. The emotional core of the image is basically a beautiful, slightly dreamy version of Paris. It is not all rose-tinted, though. Students did bring up negative aspects: the high cost of living (49%), traffic and overcrowding in cities (41%), safety concerns (38%), issues related to migration (35%) and unemployment (32%). When the responses related to safety were examined in more detail, students frequently mentioned issues such as theft and drug use. For instance, reports by the French Observatory on Drugs and Toxic Substances indicate that cocaine use in France has increased in recent years, which may contribute to such perceptions among students. However, it is important to note that these views are based on subjective impressions rather than direct experience. But here is what is interesting — almost all of these complaints were aimed at Paris specifically. In these students' minds, Paris and France seem to be more or less the same thing. The city stands in for the entire country, for better and for worse.

3.4. Conative dimension. When asked about their plans for the next five years, 68% of students said they definitely intend to visit France and another 32% said they might. Zero students said they had no interest in going. Even more telling, 98% said they want to study in France — the most popular fields being arts, design and architecture (25%) and international relations and politics (25%). Also 89% wished to live and work there, citing the quality of education, personal development opportunities, the attractiveness of French culture and the need to use French in an authentic environment.  The linguocultural image is thus not only descriptive but also action- oriented: it shapes educational and migratory aspirations.

4. Conclusion

The linguocultural image of France in the consciousness of Mongolian students of French is stable, structurally complex and predominantly positive. It is built around the cultural-aesthetic core of France — the Eiffel Tower, Paris, fashion houses, gastronomy, art and romance — and only marginally includes the country's leading scientific and technological sectors. Generated mainly through digital media and audiovisual culture, the linguoculturological concept "France" in the Mongolian learner's worldview is largely co-produced by France's own soft-power policy. At the same time, this image is action-oriented: the overwhelming majority of students wish to study, work or live in France. University programs in French studies should therefore consciously enrich the linguocultural image of France by integrating less visible but objectively important domains — science, technology, industry — into their linguoculturological content, producing a more balanced "image of the country" in the linguistic consciousness of future specialists.

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