Journal of Film Preservation N° 56 - FIAF

countries (and continents) than others, so a «fair» representation by distribution
of archives will tend to look distinctly «unfair» when mapped
according to geography. Equally, the ‘language’ issue would be better
explored if the category of those outside the English/French/Spanish
speaking groups took account of the preferred official languages of EC
members belonging to that category. These are not arguments for complacency,
but they do indicate the dangers of jumping to conclusions
without more careful research.
2C1. Representation by Continent
Collated by continent, the figures show an overwhelming domination
by Europe, whose archives have provided over 70 % of EC
membership over the years.
Chart 4: EC Service by Continent
Europe
72.3%
2C2. Representation by Language
Collated by language group, the figures show most clearly the need
for more careful analysis.
If the historic weightings of individual archives or countries are collected
according to native language, a position emerges that emphasises only
that the majority of EC business has always been done in a language
(whether English, French or Spanish) that is not native to the majority of
participants - 9 other native languages have each provided over 20 ‘person-years’
of EC service, 4 of which - German, Dutch, Portuguese and
16 Journal of Film Preservation / 56 / 1998
North America
7.2%
English
23.9%
Asia/Pacific
1.5%
South & Latin America
9.0%
Chart 5: EC Service by Native Language
Other
51.3%
Spanish
5.6%
French
19.2%