“The very first cool thing about this portal is the variety of the French magazines on leisure, politics, history, economy, sports etc. Once these magazines are out in France, they are automatically launched on the portal,” says Yvan Lꨥr, responsible for culture at the Embassy of France to Tirana
TIRANA, May 27- Institut Francais (IF) has launched internationally an online platform (www.culturetheque.com) to keep people all over the world updated about the ‘explosive’ French culture.
The website has been adapted even for the Albanian public in general and for the youngsters in particular. It offers headlines and categories section in Albanian language while the comments and the various resumes of books and resources are in French.
‘Culturetheque’ initially provides users with a free three-week offer which requires only a simple online registration. Then, they can extend their subscription by subscribing to the Libraries of the Alliances francaises in Albania for a symbolic yearly membership fee of Lek1000. This membership will give possibility to all the Albanians to have a full access to the freshest magazines (380 titles), 200 comics strips, 350 videos for the youngsters, 370 manuals for autodidactic studies, 91000 articles and university resources as well as e-books and news about the French music and much more. The platform accesses online events taking place in Albania on real time.
Yvan Lꨥr, responsible for culture at the Embassy of France to Tirana, said that this portal is an exclusive project of “L’Institut Francais” in Paris, presented in the beginning of 2013. “L’Institut Francais” is the major cultural operator of the French Foreign Ministry abroad. “There is a strong demand to develop an online digital library and present the French culture with a new tool to the whole world. So, they developed a unique tool by encompassing all the resources for each country including Albania,” said Lꨥr who included Albanian resources and edited the portal for Albania.
Each country will launch its own portal. Morocco was the first to launch it followed by China. India and Albania will launch it together with Germany late this month.
“The very first cool thing about this portal is the variety of the French magazines on leisure, politics, history, economy, sports etc. Once these magazines are out in France, they are automatically launched on the portal,” he adds.
In this context, Lꨥr highlights that Albanians also have the opportunity to read comic books to this portal given that this genre is very traditional and important in France.
“We expect to reach as many Albanians as possible. This portal is accessible from everywhere, so chances are high for everyone. In addition, the portal helps the youngsters to learn a lot through professional online courses, like learning photoshop program or how to play guitar etc,” he said.
Leger calls “Culturetheque” an invention where books, videos, events, news, songs and all the info you may search for are brought together in one place. All is just one click awayō
