It might be hard for us to understand this attitude, most of us being people with English as the first language, but I’m sure we would be shocked if in fifty years, the word “friends” began to be substituted for “amigos” (with the current state of immigration and amnesty, it’s not so hard to imagine).
As long as there is no persecution or supression based on the usage of such foreign words, I’m okay with the government encouraging its native language, as seems to be the case with the ‘beach’ argument.
When it comes to things they don’t already have words for, it seems a little pointless to try and think of new French words as substitute. After all, there are plenty of non-English expressions commonly used in the English language. Vis-a-vis is one of them.
Assassin is an Arab word. Commando is Portuguese. We use these words because presumably, at the time, they were words we really didn’t have good comparable words for.
It’s good to want to promote your own language in your own country, but don’t overdo it.
I’m not unsympathetic to the French attitude here. While I truly love my native tongue, it has to be admitted that English spelling is a mess, and importing English words into various other languages that have their own phonetic logic and structures can in my opinion diminish a language. We tend to take in foreign words whenever and don’t have an official language authority to police the English language, and that is fine, but I don’t see why other countries can’t regulate their own languages.
Aw shucks...I loves me some engrish.....(said very tongue in cheek)
Any language fighting there read-guard skirmishes for survival is already doomed.
I think this angst stems from a time when French (Lingua Franca) was the language of the world. (Gosh, how long ago was that?) France was an important world power. Now France is just a loud world occupant. Fewer people speak French than speak Portuguese. France was given a permanent seat on the US security council even though their military has the utility of mammary glands on a bull. (“Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without bagpipes.”) This desire to eliminate invading words probably derives from their inability to eliminate invading Germans.
This attitude is a problem for the French. Suppose you write a resume stating you’re an expert in Cloud Computing. Presumably, since you’re an expert, you know that everybody in the industry calls it that. If you put down the French term, which is not widely accepted, then people looking for you may not even notice you have the skills they want. If you put the term Cloud Computing followed parenthetically by the French term you’ll annoy a Francophile. Also, by using the non-politically correct word your resume may get rejected by HR.
Thanks. Nice photos, but after five I got tired of waiting for the next one to pop up, then re-readjust to see everything. I think I’ll stick with what is called “English.”
My favorite story was from decades ago, being with a bunch of Anglo Canadians in France. They noticed in France (and just about every other country in the world) that the Stop Signs said “STOP”, while in Quebec, they said “ARRET” or something like that. They were angry about it, although I understand that the French have a new word for Stop now, anyway.
I was thinking English words French would want banned were actually “shower....bath....soap....flush....clean....shave armpit and leg....”
Why are the streets of Paris lined with trees? Because the Germans prefer to march in the shade.