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France Says 'Au Revoir' to the Word 'Smartphone' (smithsonianmag.com)
Hoping to prevent English tech vocabulary from entering the French language, officials have suggested 'mobile multifunction' as an alternative. An anonymous reader shares a report: The official journal of the French Republic, the Journal officiel, has suggested "internet clandestin" instead of dark net. It's dubbed a casual gamer "joueur occasionnel" for messieurs and "joueuse occasionnelle" for mesdames. To replace hashtag, it's selected "mot-diese." Now, as the Local reports, the latest word to get the official boot in France is smartphone. It's time to say bonjour to the "le mobile multifonction." The recommendation was put forth by the Commission d'enrichissement de la langue francaise, which works in conjunction with the Academie Francaise to preserve the French language. This isn't the first time that the commission has tried to encourage French citizens to switch over to a Franco-friendly word for "smartphone." Previous suggestions included "ordiphone" (from "ordinateur," the French word for computer) and "terminal de poche" (or pocket terminal). These, it seems, did not quite stick.
which works in conjunction with the Academie FranÃaise to preserve the need of UTF8
ftfy
`echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
I remember when they tried to push back against "cheeseburger", McDonalds in Québec had to write "hambourgeois au fromage". It didn't stick for long. It's called "hamburger au fromage" in the correct form now, but we still call it a freakin' cheeseburger.
C'est le meilleur choix
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I used to think, being a Canadian, that it was just the Quebec francophones with the hyperactive inferiority complex which manifested like that. In Quebec they are anal about signage to the point of there being ordinances outlining the maximum size of English print on your store front in order to preserve their language (which I won't actually insult France enough to call French and will just call "Quebecois"). They were so adamant about it they had to use a special constitutional opt-out Canadian provinces have called the notwithstanding clause to make it legal notwithstanding a person's right to freedom of expression.
Now I realize this is just endemic to all French everywhere.
...they don't even have a word for "entrepreneur"
i don't speak French but even I can figure out that's a big mealy mouthful... hard for six or seven syllables to come up with two... couldn't they even compromise with a more streamlined "multifonc" ?
Don't underestimate the link between language and culture.
The French are probably doing the right thing here. (granted removing the invaders is probably a bigger concern; but one that takes a bit more political capital to make happen.)
I believe it's the only language which has a government-supported commission to decide what new words are needed. The result, as with any other bureaucratic organization is that the language is a lot less flexible than English, and adapts much more slowly to changes.
IMO, that lack of flexibility is the reason that English has become humanity's lingua franca.
French IT specialist complained about not being able to find jobs abroad. International companies we asked cited "a lack of knowledge of fundamental IT terms they even know in third world countries" as a reason.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
They can get back at us for "French Fries".
This sort of French language and cultural identity protection has been going on for years. I remember once talking to a colleague from Quebec about this. He told me that he had initially been reticent about the idea of moving to the US because there is a sense among the Quebecers that the rest of us English-speaking Americans are out to destroy their cultural heritage. At the time of the conversation he had already been in the US for several years and so I asked him, "well, what is your assessment of American culture trying to destroy French culture?" His response boiled down to, "most of you don't even know who we are. We've been paranoid about nothing."
My wife spent a summer living in Germany with her family. They took the Eurorail to Paris for a couple of days. On the way, all announcements were made in English, Spanish, French and German. Until they got to France, where it switched to ONLY French, even though the train was continuing on to Spain.
At some point it gets petty.
... a Tracking and Data Harvesting Device.
You mean like when we say things like despite the constant negative press covfefe, Trump is still popular?
#DeleteFacebook
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
#DeleteFacebook
I've been on /. for many years and I've never heard of such an acronym as "UTF8", and neither have the site maintainers for /.
The "dark net", in its original definition, was a part of the internet that was unobservable, because it existed behind passwords, or because it was simply not indexed in search engines. The phrase "internet clandestin" immediately tags a big "illegal!" tag on the whole thing.
Also, "internet" is kind of a funny choice. How about "réseau reliant les ordinateurs à l'échelle mondiale"?
When I was in college, my English professor insisted that the official bodies which have vise-like control over the French language will inadvertently make it a dead language by the end of this century.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
NO ONE cares about the "Académie Française".
I can't remember a suggestion they did that did stick, whereas all the stupid "Cédérom", "Dévédérom", "mél" are NEVER used by the people actually using the language every day (It is possible some TV shows/commercials try to stick on that, but no one cares). There's no reason "internet clandestin", "joueur occasionnel", "mot-diese", or "mobile multifonction" will fare better than the previous failures.
The Académie Française is a group of old men babbling together about how the language is so awesome despite needing a heavy refactoring. They are just unable to keep up with the 20th century, nevermind the 21th. Just remember to shut down the TV before putting them to bed for the night (and don't forget the medicine, and the diapers).
Seriously, there are more important things in the universe.
The day we fire them, and replace them by actual language experts and engineers, we'll all celebrate together. Until them, let them talk. Don't give them your attention (they crave that). Just close the door so the noise doesn't bother you.
French: ... Sixty-seven, sixty-eight, sixty-nine, sixty-ten... ...sixty-eleven, sixty-twelve, sixty-thirteen... ...sixty-sixteen, sixty-ten-seven... ..sixty-ten-eight, sixty-ten-nine... ...four twenties! :) Four twenties one...
Other languages: **stares**
French: **stares back**
French:
French:
Other languages: *shutting eyes*
French:
Other languages: *hands over face*
French:
I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
It seems quaint, doesn't it? A central authority trying prohibit a language from evolving by pronouncing the occasional fatwa against a loan word, a foreign coinage, etc. However, there's a good argument that such a preservation effort will be needed far more over the next 100 years than it was over the last ~400.
Alors, au cours du présent siècle où le monde se rétrécit chaque jour, je souhaite la meilleure des chances à l'Académie Francaise.
They're gonna need it.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)