- France denies the proliferation of terms in English that multiply especially in the world of technology.
- To stop this progress, the Ministry of Culture made a drastic decision: it prohibits officials from using them in official texts.
- With experts in the Gallic language, he looked for alternatives.
France determined to ban for official use the use of a series of words in English, many of them closely linked to video games.
According to the latest publication of the bulletin of the Ministry of Culture of France, in which the rules related to the language that regulates the French Academy (the French equivalent of the Royal Spanish Academy) are disclosed, Concepts such as “pro-gamer”, “streamer” and “e-sports” will not be accepted.
The rule applies to official bulletins, documents and translations and, as an alternative, the French Academy recommends that French officials use French words.
France doesn’t like English words
It is common in France for locals to renounce tourists who try to communicate in English.
This is why the determination of the French Academy, which aims to “avoid the degradation” of a language that has fewer and fewer speakers in the world, is not too surprising.
That’s right, according to the publication of the Ministry of Culture of the country that Emmanuel Macron governs, the jargon related to technology that comes from the other side of the Atlantic “degrades” the French language.
In addition, he says that this postponement “should not be seen as inevitable.”
On the other hand, he assures that especially the contents linked to video games are plagued with anglicisms that, on numerous occasions, become an impediment for those who are not part of that segment to understand.
The bulletin of the French Ministry of Culture says that “numerous anglicisms are used instead of terms or phrases that have their equivalent in French, which makes it inevitable that they will begin to be eliminated due to lack of use.”
Especially, in sports and technology.
Although France had already recommended to stop using English terms such as email or big data, this is the first time that the decision was officially published.
According to the highest French cultural body, they worked with a group of specialists so that people know what French terms can be used to replace prohibited anglicisms.
The words banned in France and their replacements
- “Pro-gamer” > “joueur professionnel” (professional gamer).
- “Streamer” > “joueur-animateur en direct” (live player-host).
- “Cloud gaming” > “jeu video en nuage” (cloud gaming).
- “E-sports” > “jeu video de competition” (competitive video game).
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