France levels up local video game slang with list of French terms to replace foreign words France’s Commission d'enrichissement de la langue française* has decided to offer citizens new ways to describe video games in the language of the land. The Commission’s mission is to create new terms that replace adopted words from foreign languages that become part of common speech in France, so that French doesn’t have gaps …
Long ago I remember hearing that said Commission declared that "weekend" was to be replaced by "fin de semaine".
Yeah right. Everybody says weekend.
I'm guessing this new publication will only be important in the offices of those who wrote it.
Long ago I remember hearing that said Commission declared that "weekend" was to be replaced by "fin de semaine".
The thing is just literally translating the words doesn't change the fact that France has no concept of "the weekend" in the way the UK does. So they still need "Le Weekend" for that.
Interested to know what this concept of the weekend is that "fin de semaine" doesn't convey and how come other romance languages manage to struggle on with "fin de semana" (Spanish), "fim de semana" (Portuguese), "fine settimana" (Italian) without needing to import "weekend" from English.
Many, many years ago my Dad amused himself by learning Hebrew. The modernisers of the language had the choice of either directly importing modern words from other languages for stuff that Hebrew didn't cover or to make up new Hebrew words to cover things.
They ended up doing it roughly 50/50.
Likewise modern Celtic languages.
English is a bit odd in that it's probably taken more words from French than French ever has borrowed from English - that's one reason why English vocabulary is so flexible..
I’d guess that “petty” indirectly came from the masculine form of the French word, « petit », because the second T of « petit » is silent (which is reflected in the spelling pronunciation of “petty”), and because the English word “petit” (with the same pronunciation as “petty”) is still found in legalese, e.g. “petit larceny”.
"The modernisers of the language had the choice of either directly importing modern words from other languages for stuff that Hebrew didn't cover or to make up new Hebrew words to cover things.They ended up doing it roughly 50/50.
Likewise modern Celtic languages."
Yep! Though if you looked at my Welsh essays in school, you'd think it was way over 50/50 - I tended to "Welshify" English words if I didn't know the actual Welsh word!
French guy here : when you say "fin de semaine" you're talking about Friday afternoon/evening basically. Whereas "weekend" is the word used to describe Saturday and Sunday.
We don't have a word, except "weekend", to describe what happens between Friday evening and Monday morning.
Also, "une semaine" (~a week) covers the seven days period, whereas "la semaine" (~the week) is mostly about the Monday to Friday period.
So, yeah, saying that further on we need to say "fin de semaine" to describe what we are calling "weekend" won't work because we already use "fin de semaine" for something else.
English guy here: see also "le parking" and, more bizarrely, "le brushing".
They're applying the strict rules of (Latin) grammar and using the gerund to form a noun, even where the original language does not.
Less easy to explain "en suite" and "double entendre" which, AFAIK, are unknown in French.
Sorry, it seems that it has been "stolen" from English.
But while we are here... we are also reusing "glamping" for "glamorous camping".
And do you know how we call an RV? "Camping-car". Yes, because it's a "voiture" (car) that you use for... camping.
And do you know how we call a coach (the bus for long travels)? "un car" (short for "autocar").
I love this game!
> to say "fin de semaine" to describe what we are calling "weekend" won't work because we already use "fin de semaine" for something else.
You should do it the English way and start calling it semaine-fin.
I dare you to say that quickly in polite company though. :)
You're English aren't you ? Telling us how foreign languages work without ever bothering to try yourself.
If you had, you'd know you were talking cobblers. My Italian father often commented how fine settimani was totally not "weekend" in English.
Roughly, fin de semaine refers to a point in time and could be translated as "the end of the week", as opposed to "the weekend".
Though I seem to recall that in Quebec they do call the weekend, fin de semaine. I stand to be corrected though.
I'm guessing this new publication will only be important in the offices of those who wrote it.
Some moon ago I was running a training class in France (its an American company so training is in "English") and over lunch one of the company's top performance consultant who was from Paris told me that the following week he had to attend a French class.
I looked confused, "But you're French"
Yes, but next week I need to go on a special "learn French" course to learn all the French words for things to do with computers. I need to go and sort out some problems on a government site and if I use any American word I will be banned from the site and I won't be able to solve their problems for them.
Like so many cases, technical ability counts for nothing, they are just interested in the ability to jump through hoops.
In Irish, the word stór (with multiple meanings, like [and from] English “store”) also exists, but the Irish phrase for “database” is bunachar sonraí (literally “base of data”). Analogously, its English abbreviation “DB” is BS in Irish.
> if I use any American word I will be banned from the site
I call either bullshit or a gross exaggeration. Quite often the French themselves don't know proper French terminology, even though they do have one, having invented a number of technical and engineering concepts that the Americans went on to "borrow".
I had to do a years computing french as part of my time at uni. Only problem was, the teacher, while thoroughly fluent in several languages (including native English, Russian and French, he was a cross breed) he knew not a jot about computers, and there was no formal curriculum outside of "where is the gas station" and "can I have 100 grams of butter please", so he asked us to bring in anything we could find that was computer related, with an English and French translation printed on it, and he'd then teach us it. By the end of the year, I was fluent in Lemmings, Megalomania, Stunt Car Racer, Speed Ball 2 and many other Amiga games that a couple of us had original boxed copies of. No joke, part of our final exam was the question "Please list the system requirements to play the game "Lemmings".
I did get a B, but now some 30ish years later I can't remember diddly squat.
I came across one of these diktats many years ago when writing technical documentation. Whilst I can vaguely understand the motivation for them, they deny the fact that human languages are fluid, dynamic beasties that evolve over time. Vocabulary, morphology and syntax all change.
This particular edict seemed deliberately obtuse, and had the result that it was side-stepped by writing the documentation in English. Everybody understood the result better, but I doubt the Language Commissioners were best pleased.
> it was side-stepped by writing the documentation in English
I see you've never made acquaintance with "European English" then? It was for a time the "official" form of English we were supposed to use on EU texts relating to aviation.
I'm not quite sure how actually official it was though. My recollection is not clear but in retrospect I reckon it might have been some busybody's pet project or something.
Cue the horde of self-righteous anglo-ethnocentrists whose intuitions are divinely infallible... <sigh>
If you've spent any time in Québec, whose French-language heritage diverged from Europe close on 4 centuries ago and has "modernised" in subtly different ways to the Europeans, you'd know that "fin de semaine" has been the way of referring to the weekend since before many English-speaking countries spoke English and it continues to be common usage to this day. It rolls of the tongue much better/faster in the fanco-american accents, and anyone who has heard a side-by-side comparison of a Québecois saying "fin de semaine" with a Parisian saying "weekend" should be able to understand why English terms aren't and shouldn't be the canonical answer to every other language's evolution.
Ditto "magasinage" (in North America) versus "shopping" (in Europe, whose pronunciation by francophones must surely contravene some provision of the Geneva Conventions).
Funnily enough, after moving to Québec a long time ago and learning its language and ways, I am always amused when I hear my unilingual anglophone friends mention that a given street is a cul-de-sac. Most of them are die-hard Tolkein fans, but don't realize what a fine opportunity they're missing: it should of course be a "Bag End". (Tolkein was a linguist, I'd be surprised if this wasn't a clin d'oeil on his part.)
The English language is an amalgam of many other languages - Old Frisian, old German, old French, old Viking, some Greek, Latin, and Hebrew due to the church. The English language does not mind adopting foreign words. The language has been doing that for hundreds of years!
I may be wrong about this, but the impression I get from some French is that they are bitter that French is not the lingua franca. So it seems like they are trying to protect their language from any English influence. Which I think is stupid. Every language has a strength and weakness. Why not use the strength of another language to make yours better? Okay, so "weekend" doesn't sound French? Well, "hacienda" doesn't sound English, but it is now part of the English language.
Also, languages are living. So, it is only natural that Quebec French would differ from France French. Just like American and Canadian English differs from British English which differs from Scottish English which differs from Australian English and so on.
Actually, the term comes from "language of the Franks", whose various kingdoms covered most of western Europe at different times, and it was around long before any kind of united France or French language existed. The original lingua franca was a pidgin language used around large parts of the Mediterranean for trade between people who spoke many different languages.
So it's actually the exact opposite. Not only has French never been the lingua franca, but efforts like the one in the article all but guarantee it never could be.
Interestingly, ( to me at least) until relatively recently, there was no one French language.There were numerous languages, like Breton or Languedoc/Occitan. Paris decided to make their language the language. Just as the British (English) tried to kill off Welsh. And indeed Breton, Welsh and Cornish are pretty much the same language. The Acadamie Francaise has only been around since the 1630s, and at that time only posh people spoke proper. It became universal in the 1880s or thereabouts when the French (Paris) decided to educate the masses.
> Cue the horde of self-righteous anglo-ethnocentrists whose intuitions are divinely infallible... <sigh>
You then go and patronisingly scoff at a point made that an actual French person in this comment section has verified to be the case.
Now, some would say that the typical pompous Quebecan attitude to French vs English has wormed its way into your psyche, but I couldn't possibly comment on that.
"<sigh>" indeed.
> > Cue the horde of self-righteous anglo-ethnocentrists whose intuitions are divinely infallible... <sigh>
>
> You then go and patronisingly scoff at a point made that an actual French person in this comment section has verified to be the case.
Huh? By the time I read the article there was already a comment about "administrative busybodies" that had a slew of follows ups, in which the use of the English word in French was frequently and unashamedly argued to be normal, natural, modern, [etc]. (With an inference that any discussion otherwise is some kind of retrograde and futile exercise in pencil-pushing.) We all read through the prism of our own experience and perhaps this leapt out at me more than it leapt out at you. But it satisfies the anthropological definition of ethnocentrism as far as I can tell so I don't think my comment was out of line.
As for patronisingly scoffing, I don't even know at which or whose point you believe I scoffed. I went on to make my own point, not scoff at anyone else's. At least that's what I was thinking when I wrote, and had nobody else's point in mind, for scoffing at or anything else. Apologies to anyone who felt scoffed at, but as it clearly wasn't you, let me just say that you judged my intentions (incorrectly) rather addressing what I wrote or the point I was trying to make.
As for this alleged scoffing victim being an "actual French person" - so? I speak and write French natively enough, having lived and raised kids in the language for more than a couple of decades, and I was specifically speaking from the perspective of French as it is spoken in North America, _as opposed to what might seem to be normal in France_. Indeed that was _exactly_ my point. (Some intellectually lazy oaf is likely at this point to whip out the old "but that's not real French", to which I'd just draw their attention to how the English-speaking world is currently spread out and urge them to draw some parallels.)
Whatever the hoopla may be about the use or recognition of "fin de semaine" in France, it is utterly moot from the perspective of at least one significant French-speaking people (outside Europe) that has _never not used those words_. On the contrary, it is the increased use of "weekend" (like "shopping", and "parking", and ...) coming from Europe that comes off as bizarre _in this French-language context_, given that linguistically native terms are already in wide usage ("magasinage", "stationnement", ...). If y'all wonder why the French might want to find and use non-English words in their language, we are more often than not wondering why they want to adopt English words in the first place when there are _already_ words for such things that harmonize more naturally with the rest of the vocabulary and grammar, and that sound less freakish when applied.
Canadian French consists of taking an American English-language phrase and replacing some of the words with French ones, while leaving the order and structure unchanged. It leads to such delights as "mon tire est flat", and "salle de repos" (for "toilet")
> Canadian French consists of taking an American English-language phrase and replacing some of the words with French ones, while leaving the order and structure unchanged.
That is exactly as true as saying that American English consists of removing some vowels and randomly inserting the word "like". Which is to say, utter b******t. But hey, if asinine cultural prejudices of that sort help you get through the day, best of luck.
Germany has a more pragmatic attitude, they use native words and imported words, which can get confusing, especially as the imported word tend to have a different case.
Der Wagen, das Auto = the car
Die Apfelsine, die Orange = the orange.
Die Möhre/Mohrrübe, die Karrote = the carrot
Der Rechner, das PC = computer
Der Bildschirm, der Monitor = monitor
Der Fernseher, das TV = TV
Die EDV (elektronische Datenverarbeitung), die IT (Informationstechnik) = IT
Although Fernseher is still widely used, as TV (pronounced Tee-Fow) is actually harder to say out loud.
We still use EDV (eletronic data processing) at the company where I am at the moment.
There are also confusing ones, where an English word is taken and used in a completely different context:
Das Handy = mobile/cell Phone/smartphone
Der Beamer = projector
Ok, I get it. Someone who makes money out of playing games. And good luck to them.
But to call sitting on your arse infront of a telly, pressing a few buttons and maybe twiddling a joystick a "sport"?
Seriously?
In that case, if I sit further from the bar and make more frequent trips to said bar for more beer, then that should surely qualify me as a marathon runner?
Cheers... Ishy
"There are only 3 sports, mountain climbing, motorsport and bull fighting; all the rest are merely games" (Hemingway).
(I'd add rugby personally, yes more of a game, but still plenty of potential for life-altering injury)
I get his point completely, and agree that watch someone play a pc-game would seem dull as ditch water, but then plenty of people watch things like golf or football.
Bit I find odd is that people want to watch other people play video games.
Even before "e-sports" was a thing, I enjoyed watching my friends play video games. I'm not into esports btw, but I do enjoy watching other people play video games. It's far more enjoyable to me than watching a football match.
E-sports, nope. No interest in bad twitch shooters; especially those being played by caffeinated, sugar-rushed 17 yr olds.
However, the speedrunning / glitching communities can be incredibly entertaining. Kaizo mario is a whole rabbit hole all of it's own. Try "Summer games done quick 2019 SMW Blind Kaizo Race" and you will see why it's worth a watch.
Another one I'd recommend is Heinki's speedrun of Deus Ex (SGDQ 2018).
The old Gamesmaster show had quite an audience in the 90's for people watching people play games (sometimes).
Shooting and archery are Olympic sports, darts isn't particularly different in the physical requirements. In fact I have a huge respect for the mental arithmetic capabilities of darts players, who can manage to break down any number < approx 150 into (1..3)x + (1..3)y + 2z before I've even had time to register what the number is.
With respect to snooker, anyone who's had to deal with a cue ball on the opposite side of the table knows that snooker requires a remarkable agility in certain situations, and with respect to 20-30 years ago all the top professionals are exceptionally trim, if not exactly 'fit'. Of course as in any other sport, you get the ultra-talented using their talent to get physically lazy eg Ronnie O'Sullivan just switching hands instead of reaching over the table with his 'stronger' hand.
I don't know anything about esports but surely it requires at the very least a very high level of mental concentration and stamina, which in turn is greatly helped by physical fitness.
Bit I find odd is that people want to watch other people play video games.
I watch other people play because personally I'm complete shit at it, so I don't enjoy playing myself.
Sometimes it's fun watching someone so good that he plays Call of Duty with just a knife and still ends up with more kills than everybody else combined.
Or watch someone play Dark Souls and get to see parts of the game I would never get to if I was playing.
"Bit I find odd is that people want to watch other people play video games."
I agree. I wonder if it's an age thing, related to the initial scarcity of games?
Cheer people on? We actively wanted them to fail - I remember as a kid, hanging around the local arcades hoping for the player to use his lives so I could have my turn!
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Looking at the entries for “game” in the OED, I suspect that this meaning was an evolution from a now obsolete meaning:
† 9. Sport derived from the chase. dog of game: one used in hunting or sporting. to be in game: to be engaged in the chase. Obs.10. a. The object of the chase; the animal or animals hunted.
b. transf. and fig. An object of pursuit; also, an object in view. fair game: a legitimate object of pursuit, attack, etc.; also forbidden game.
11. collect. a. Wild animals or birds such as are pursued, caught or killed in the chase.
b. The flesh of such animals used for food.
c. jocularly, of vermin.
d. slang. (See quot.)
12. A flock or herd of animals kept for pleasure. Obs. exc. in a game of swans.
Sport - "an activity involving physical exertion"
So it's definitely not a sport.
E-Sports are a game of skill: reactions, strategy, dexterity etc.
As for watching it, anyone saying "can't understand", "it's boring" etc are just showing their age. Anything can be interesting performed at it's highest levels. Apparently quite a few people watch a load of cooks in a tent bake stuff, or celebrities perform ballroom dancing!
As someone who spent significant time leant on an arcade cabinet waiting for their turn, watching others play was almost as fun. Just be wary of criticizing new things you don't personally find interesting, it's another step towards being old and irrelevant.
"like claiming all catastrophes are caused by cats"
So, you have proof that they aren't?
I've seen my cuddly little mass murderer in action. I can well believe that most catastrophes are caused by cats, and tragically (for us), done purely for amusement.
Icon, because she would if she could, just because.
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I used to work for GEC in Rugby. We had a close relationship with another electronics company, Plessy, and a combined telephone exchange production facility in Coventry. It was always referred to as "GPT", which stood for GEC/Plessy Telephones, except in France, where it was referred to a "TGP", Telephones GEC Plessy. I asked why this was, and was told that "GPT" said with a French accent sounded like "j'ai petez", which is French for "I have farted".
It's not that bad, since, at least, the words are meaningful in french, even if they are really straightforward.
They particularly didn't re-invent terrible terms like "bogue" for "bug" or similar non-sense.
I don't even think I've read anyone use this awful word "bogue" anywhere, but I'm sure this is still the "regular" french term for "bug".
The interesting thing is that while "official" French increasingly resembles an unopened Hammer Horror crypt, festooned with dust and cobwebs, your actual French (to borrow a phrase) is rather more inventive, especially amongst the younger people in the técis, which no doubt leaves their ramps somewhat vénères.
France is by no means the only country to have an official body that determines linguistic orthodoxy - it's actually quite common. In most cases, though, their main function is to keep the official version in line with current practice - which ensures everyone a perpetual job as all languages change over time. It does seem that the French - and more particularly the Quebecois - have a particular missionary zeal in their endeavours.
I'm (also) French, living outside France since infancy and with seldom contact with French people not living abroad for long. Whenever I speak to French residents in a casual setting I'm always adjusting to new words and new expressions, because spoken French evolves at a higher rate than any other of the languages I speak. Business French, au contraire, is much more stable.
> France is by no means the only country to have an official body that determines linguistic orthodoxy - it's actually quite common. In most cases, though, their main function is to keep the official version in line with current practice
Yup, but you're describing (one of the functions of) the académie française, which these guys have nothing to do with. In fact the académie are quite open on the matter and share the opinion that languages evolve through constant contact with each other and that it's pointless to try to rein in on that.
… and share the opinion that languages evolve through constant contact with each other and that it’s pointless to try to rein in on that.
They’d certainly expressed a strong preference to rein in the evolution of écriture inclusive, having declared that
devant cette aberration « inclusive », la langue française se trouve désormais en péril mortel
I’ll grant that it can be unwieldy (e.g. Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen vs. Déclaration des Droits Humains et du·de la Citoyen·ne), but does that really put the French language into mortal peril?
This commission's origin can be traced back to the Académie Française created in 1635. Claiming that French is a dead language since four centuries is clearly an academic-type joke: it's trying to be witty with no sense of reality.
French is everything but dead. It's renewed basically on a daily basis.
It's just the official grumpy old guys that are trying to keep things the way they never really existed. Kind of the FFGE (Faire le Français Grand Encore or Make French Great Again).
I can only recommend Paul Taylor's show on this topic : https://youtu.be/Pae2AMnmUVA?t=3760
I wonder what the Icelanders do with this stuff. They are possibly even hotter than the French on preservation of the language against loan-words. I also get the impression that Icelanders largely support that, in contrast to the average personne française.
Of course the Icelanders are probably far more sensible than to indulge in professional computer game-playing.
Of course the Icelanders are probably far more sensible than to indulge in professional computer game-playing.
"The 2021 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the eleventh iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. The tournament was held from 5 October to 6 November in Reykjavík, Iceland."
Mind you, they've never quite struck me as a sensible bunch.
;)
"Of course the Icelanders are probably far more sensible than to indulge in professional computer game-playing."
No, they'd rather spend time stripping down and souping up a 4WD so they can drive it up a near vertical cliff face :-)
I do wonder if those tyres actually get some grip to propel the vehicle forwards or if the soil is just acting as reaction mass.
What the Icelanders do can be shown in an example. The Icelandic word for “video game” is tölvuleikur ; it comes from tölvu (the genitive declension of tölva, “computer”) + leikur (“game”). Tölva is a portmanteau word, formed from tala (“number”) + völva (“prophetess”). All of the root words of tölvuleikur came from Old Norse, but those roots can be used in novel ways.
We're an odd species really.
Language is the thing we use to communicate with each other, to convey our ideas, thoughts and emotions, you'd think we'd all be madly rushing towards some kind of commonality, especially with the globalisation of communications. (Imagine, just being able to talk to anyone.... no matter where they were...)
However, we don't, we become nostalgic about it, as though it's the only way to maintain a specific cultural identity (despite that being an ephemeral thing that's constantly changing and differs from person to person), we romanticise it and jealously guard it.
All so we can be less well understood by each other. How strange.
Iechyd da!
they generally get by with English
Indeed - for lots of boring historical reasons. But also because basic English is very, very flexible (because it's a context-derived language that, even when fairly corrupted, can get the meaning across).
Whereas other languages that are more rigidly structured get messy very quickly.
English tends to be fulfilling that role to some degree.
The problem with trying to achieve true commonality IMO is you have to have a homogeneous culture to understand all the naunces and references. There are sayings in some languages that just don't make sense even if translated, and slang throws things right out.
> Language is the thing we use to communicate with each other
Chomsky makes a compelling case that languages (as opposed to language) exist not in order to communicate but in order to be able to identify the enemy, or at least the outsider.
There's a recording of one of his lectures on the topic, at a French university coincidentally.
This is the country where "après-midi" is shortened down to "aprèm". And they don't even say "bon weekend", everybody around here says "bon week"...and an awful lot of things are known by abbreviations and acronyms - Sécu, CAF, etc.
So I would contest that people aren't speaking English words because "English is cool", but rather it's partly because tech words likely came first in English, and mostly because it's less of a mouthful than whatever the académie française might dream up.
"and mostly because it's less of a mouthful than whatever the académie française might dream up."
And that's where their problem begins. They seem to almost exclusively come up with descriptive phrases to replace the "loan" words. Those loan words were, in many cases, created from Latin or Greek roots (Like French itself!) or made up from parts of existing words intended to convey a new meaning. After all, my name is John, not Yohanan nor it's English translation of "Graced by God"
This has been the way in France since forever. Every now and again, some bunch of aristocratic bigots, who spend the rest of their time bemoaning "anglo-saxon imperialism", chuck out a bunch of French neologisms to replace all the new loan words that have crept into use.
These will be mandatory in use in government and the snottier bits of academia, but nobody else will take any notice.
The funny side, looking in from outside, is the longer this goes on the more difficulty the general populace has in understanding what their lords and master are saying. I reckon this is deliberate.
"The funny side, looking in from outside, is the longer this goes on the more difficulty the general populace has in understanding what their lords and master are saying. I reckon this is deliberate."
After the Normans invaded and subjugated England, that was the case for hundreds of years here. The aristocracy almost exclusively spoke French while everyone else spoke Anglo-Saxon, Middle English in their local accents and dialects.
The aristocracy almost exclusively spoke French while everyone else spoke Anglo-Saxon
Which is why there are separate words for the animal and their meat (sheep vs mutton or pig vs pork spring to mind) - it was the peasants that raised the animals and so they were identified using the peasant language whereas it was (mostly) the aristocrats that ate the meat so it ended up using the appropriate word from the aristocratic language.
"Every now and again, some bunch of aristocratic bigots"
Every now and then they make these grand assertions that the rest of the world ridicules in order to demonstrate some sort of relevance.
Thou dost not speaketh like somebody from the Bible because language evolves. Yes, even English loan words in French, for when there's no suitable concise French equivalent.
It's just a shame that this makes the French seem a bit insular and stupid, when it's only a few snooty "guardians of the language" who are probably still reeling in shock that nobody wants to know about the plus-que-parfait du subjonctif anymore.
I'm glad and thankful that the comments for this "news" didn't turn out as the total french-bashing-fest I was expecting, it even came up with interesting linguistic discussions.
But personally this kind of thing, along with the abysmal/appalling/monstrous/inept/etc... handling of last weekend's Champions League disaster makes me want to crawl under a rock and stay there for a week. Possibly even try to get a UK (blue, right ?) passport.
That commission did find some acceptable words at time ("mél" for email, pretty harmless, and nobody uses it), but "joueur-se en direct" for "streamer" ?? This is public (mine) money we're talking about folks !! Do something useful ! Secure the freaking stadiums and put the thugs in jail ! Send them to Guyana !
I'm OK with "jeu en nuage" though. I don't know exactly how "cloud" is perceived in English, but "nuage" for me retains some kind of poetry, whatever the context.
Again, sorry a thousand times to all Liverpool supporters out there. Have a beer. Yes, the kids too if they want.
Électricité is a French word that means "electricity".
Sport is a French word that means "sport".
So why is "e-sport" not considered sufficiently French?
If you want to insist on "é-sport", then I have no problem with that, but I don't see any need to insist on "jeu vidéo de competition"
Because it is almost 2 times as long to say it, as a consequence the younger people will not use it. I was surprised some years ago to see a university student text " R U cumin 2nite" in French it would be pages long , yes I do know that that is a bit of an exaggeration but hey " Vous venez ce soir ? Certainly longer and not possible to shrink!
....all goes back to la loi no 94-665 du 4 août 1994 relative à l'emploi de la langue française, the project of Jacques Toubon, the French minister of culture at the time. Preserving the French language, particularly against the insidious creep of English into it, was viewed as a sacred duty.
The law, of course, is known to my French friends as "la loi de Jack Allgood."
You all may like the following. At the side of the roads around here you will find concrete blocks with the tops painted red with distances etc for "mile posts". These are in fact cast in US mail boxes and were for the drivers of materiel for the war to know the red route. The same for empty trucks and ambulances and the tops were painted blue. There are also large things with insignia on them and distances again sometimes on them. These are drop tanks that have been filled with cement to mark the roads, (now they are made out of fibre glass,) German 5th columnist cannot easily alter them. Now as a plus, the shape of the stop sign is actually based on the lids of parachute dropped parcels for the soldiers and the STOP was actually in honour of the Canadian soldiers, many being French, that were here liberating France. Lastly, driving on an auto route or 4 ways in the centre of the road there is every kilometer a small road sign with the distance marker on it. This is again shaped as a US mail box with the rounded top Red and the bottom cream. There, some things about France that the French do not know!
What really annoys me is the sign in bars a Gestapo Law either in Red and white writing or white and Red writing. Many French do not know this was a gestapo law registering bars. It gets worse, I live in 44 (loire Atlantique). It should be in Brittany, the head of the Gendarmerie for here is in Rennes, 35 and in Brittany but we are not. So many gestapo laws still being upheld. yet these wallies get involved in a bit of English. In fact this part of France was originally English, and it was also at one time gaelic speaking, Celtic. Now the French government is ACTIVELY involved in stopping Gaelic! No, OK so why send a professional teacher of Gaelic to some out of the way place to teach French a language I was informed she was not fully able to teach. She taught here in France, Gaelic and something else, possibly maths, yet the French government sent her to a small island. (the education system here determines where you will teach!) Incidentally, here in France we are not supposed to complain publicly.
Yes, I mentioned some of those bits. Linguistically we tend to use the fewest words/syllables with the fewest tongue and mouth position changes. It doesn't feel right to move from, say, a "v"- top teeth pushed against bottom lip, to an "a" open mouth, to a "j" tongue lifted to just behind top teeth, to "I" open mouth with tongue pushed back to an "n" with tongue travelling to the front again, touching top teeth etc.
When people speak they tend to choose the word that's easiest to say. This means two main things; the fewest possible syllables consistent with clarity and rhythm, and not too much difficult tongue movement between consonants.
Which creates problems when trying to get people to use the correct words for body parts.- Vagina, three syllables and switch from a fronted tooth and lower lip consonant to a back tongue and upper mouth to a back teeth and tongue fronted tongue and upper teeth ( four different combinations in different parts of the mouth). Anus. Two syllables, but a long travel from near the back teeth to the front top then down again.And so on.
Try "le weekend" compared with "fin de semaine". The first has two words that run together and takes and very little movement compared to the second. Three words that are very distinctly separated with a whole bunch of different mouth movements, it's a bit of a tongue twister.
I did some work for a French F1 team in the 1990's. Everyone had to speak French on-site. As soon as we passed through the gate on the way out on my first day I found out that many were English as they immediately switch to speaking English.
We had a snigger later in the bar as we could hear the French staff complaining that "those two tables will only speak English to us - bloody English!" - one table were Dutch and the other German.
Whilst I agree that having the government or some agency "dictate" what words should be used is idiotic, I also like the fact that French is not getting too polluted by the "international" languages, unlike British English. Yes, language does encourage tribalism but it also reflects the national & cultural identity of different countries and regions. Can you imagine the outcry if the federal US government told Texans that they could no longer use "y'all" or if the UK government told Liverpudlians to stop using "arr-kid"? Yes, having international languages means easier communication, but it also means that people more closely approach being the same and therefore boring. UK and US citizens are amongst the worst foreign language learners simply because they haven't had to due to the British ex-Empire and the US's commercial Empire spreading of the English language. One of the funniest things I heard recently was when a colleague went to India for a business trip and found that he struggled to communicate without someone to interpret for him. He had heard that everyone in India spoke English, and most of them do, but their version of English along with local dialects and accents meant that he couldn't understand 1 word in 10. In the meetings he was fine because everyone spoke Business English but elsewhere he was lost.
The real drive behind the "Commission d'enrichissement de la langue française" is to avoid what could end up sounding like pidgin French. Many French people have an aversion to the way colonials and foreigners speak French. I have experienced it and it is a strong feeling.
Hi I am also French and what the French young people are against is the fact that anything in French is about 2 times longer than in English. Worse, half the french get French wrong. It is so complicated that even one of the French language books has French language mistakes. This book is renown in France. To try and get the French younger people to use a French description will not happen. I talk to youngsters and see just how annoyed they get when things like this happen. A child I know speaks English and French and is doing Spanish at school yet her French school attainment is "moyen" but she is getting about 5 or 6 out of 20, 18 out of 20 in English and Spanish. Frankly I love to hear French but schools are making kids afraid to speak English or in fact any other language. As a result the kids do not do as well as they could. I have been with French people for about 60 years both here in France, and in the UK, they mostly can understand English spoken slowly, but are timid to speak it. To therefore try and stop the kids using English is a dramatic and very retrograde step!
There is the definition of Sunday as the first day of the week. So actually the common understanding of weekend really week end week stsrt.
Given that every French translation is much longer than the English version, to save the planet from destroying as many forests. Also n the heat generated from thus suggestion could power the world for csnturies!
Now leaving , closing door softly.
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