Æntrelangues multilingual writing competition

The spirit of the competition: plurilingualism in freedom

The main feature of the Æntrelangues competition is its plurilingual dimension: the students' texts must indeed be written in French, but a French mixed, fused, associated with other languages, in a thousand and one ways. This is hardly surprising, given that Inalco offers the opportunity to study over a hundred different languages and civilizations!

The aim of this competition is to give students confidence, and to enable them to showcase their creativity and linguistic baggage: adherence to the norms of standard French is not part of the assessment criteria. Texts will be assessed first and foremost on the basis of their writing, narrative and visual dimension, as well as on the appropriateness of using other forms of language and integrating them into a French text. Spelling or syntactic mistakes, here, should be seen as the hallmarks of a language at work: they can be corrected, or simply given a sympathetic ear!

A pedagogical dossier for writing between languages

Through the REVE service's pedagogical action unit, Inalco has put together a pedagogical dossier for teachers. This includes not only a variety of activities to raise students' awareness of plurilingualism and the diversity of world languages and French, but also a framework narrative and turnkey writing proposals, which competition referents can appropriate to get students in their schools to write.

The aim of these resources is to turn the competition into a genuine educational activity for the classes and students taking part: not only will the winning texts emerge, but each participant will be able to play with his or her linguistic repertoire, to allow themselves to be creative through the interplay of languages. Our aim is to enable each student to learn about and through languages, and to gain confidence in his or her ability to grasp them and write with them.

Please note that this teaching pack is here to give hints, ideas, to provide turnkey writing proposals, but that the competition remains open to other forms and formats, as long as the general spirit of the competition is respected. As the illustrations below show, this competition lends itself very well to graphic creations and illustration.

Organizational arrangements

Each participating secondary school will receive the pedagogical dossier and general instructions for setting up the competition. The practicalities of organizing the competition within the school are left to the discretion of the school's coordinator, depending on the dynamics and possibilities of the school itself.

The pedagogical dossier is designed to provide ideas and suggestions for turnkey writing projects, but the competition remains open to other forms and formats, as long as the general spirit of the competition is respected. As the illustrations below show, this contest lends itself very well to graphic creations and illustration.

Pedagogical training

Pedagogical training will be offered to give you the keys to leading rich and dynamic plurilingual writing workshops. It will be provided by Simon Lhéritier, professional writing workshop facilitator, and Florian Targa, mediator and educational engineer at Inalco.

Four dates are proposed, each time from 5:30pm to 7:30pm : November 6 remote, November 27 (face-to-face at Inalco Paris 13), December 12 (remote), January 15 face-to-face, and finally January 16 remote.

Content will be adapted according to registrants' requests, and while content covered during the various training courses will be linked, each training session will be quite independent.

Registering for the competition

Each participating secondary school will receive, during the month following registration, the pedagogical dossier and detailed general instructions for setting up the competition. The practicalities of organizing the competition are left to the discretion of the school's coordinator, depending on the dynamics and possibilities of the school. In the event of a large number of entries, the school will be invited to select, from among all the texts written by the students, those that will be submitted to the competition: a pre-selection according to free procedures but in compliance with the spirit and rules of the competition.

To register classes or students from your school, read the competition rules, which also act as a framework document, and fill in the online form: Register for the Æntrelangues Competition. It is possible to complete several forms for a single school, although we prefer grouped entries per school.

Contest timetable

Registration is open from September 29 to December 20, 2025; texts selected for submission to the contest by registered schools must be returned to Inalco by March 20, 2026, either digitally or by post.

The results of the competition will be sent to participating establishments in mid-April, and a prize-giving ceremony, will take place at Inalco (Paris 13) on the afternoon of May 7, 2026.