By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press Writer
PARIS (AP) -- Goodbye "e-mail," the French government says, and hello "courriel" - the term that linguistically sensitive France is now using to refer to electronic mail in official documents.
The Culture Ministry has announced a ban on the use of "e-mail" in all government ministries, documents, publications or Web sites, the latest step to stem an incursion of English words into the French lexicon.
The ministry's General Commission on Terminology and Neology insists Internet surfers in France are broadly using the term "courrier electronique" (electronic mail) instead of e-mail - a claim some industry experts dispute. "Courriel" is a fusion of the two words.
"Evocative, with a very French sound, the word 'courriel' is broadly used in the press and competes advantageously with the borrowed 'mail' in English," the commission has ruled.
The move to ban "e-mail" was announced last week after the decision was published in the official government register on June 20. Courriel is a term that has often been used in French-speaking Quebec, the commission said.
The 7-year-old commission has links to the Academie Francaise, the prestigious institution that has been one of the top opponents of allowing English terms to seep into French.
Some Internet industry experts say the decision is artificial and doesn't reflect reality.
"The word 'courriel' is not at all actively used," Marie-Christine Levet, president of French Internet service provider Club Internet, said Friday. "E-mail has sunk in to our values."
She said Club Internet wasn't changing the words it uses.
"Protecting the language is normal, but e-mail's so assimilated now that no one thinks of it as American," she said. "Courriel would just be a new word to launch."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
French Government Bans Term'E-Mail'
Moderator: S2k Moderators
-
southerngale
- Retired Staff
- Posts: 27418
- Joined: Thu Oct 10, 2002 1:27 am
- Location: Southeast Texas (Beaumont area)
my Cowboys 
-
hurricanedude
- Military Member
- Posts: 1856
- Joined: Tue Oct 08, 2002 9:54 am
- Location: Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Contact:
-
WidreMann
The French have been doing this for a while. English, fortunately, doesn't have an offical group that determines what the standard valid language is (although we have a multitude of dictionaries and editing style books that have set the standard in the English speaking world). In this age of mass communications and English hegemony, many guardians of language have become concerned at the large number of English words entering their languages. Historically, this is a common occurence as people are very defensive about their language, especially if the idea of a pure language with no foreign elements gets tied up with nationalism. We as English speakers don't really worry about this too much because it is our language that is invading the others and not the other way around. However, in the US at least, people are getting defensive about Spanish overtaking English in certain areas.
It's a human phenomenon, not a French one.
It's a human phenomenon, not a French one.
0 likes
-
blizzard
- Category 5
- Posts: 2527
- Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2003 2:04 am
- Location: Near the Shores of Gitche Gumme
WidreMann wrote: However, in the US at least, people are getting defensive about Spanish overtaking English in certain areas.
It's a human phenomenon, not a French one.
There is a difference with the Spanish speaking areas that you refer to though. The reason that it is being criticized and the reason that I feel that it is wrong, is that 99% or so of the employers around these areas are requiring their employees to speak spanish. Not necessarily having to speak english too. Now what that does is discriminates against those of us who are not bi-lingual and who do not speak spanish. I have witnessed this and have fell victim to this practice. It is not a pleasant one.
0 likes
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests