'Streamer' and 'eSports' banned in France along with other English gaming terms

[midian182]

WTF?! From apéritif to vinaigrette, there are a large number of French words commonly used in the English language, but it seems the French government isn't too happy when the roles are reversed, at least when it comes to gaming jargon.

The Guardian reports that French officials have overhauled the rules on English gamer terms in a bid to preserve the purity of the language and allow the population to communicate more easily.

France's culture ministry told AFP the video game sector was rife with English terminology that could act as "a barrier to understanding" for non-gamers. Some translations are pretty obvious: "pro-gamer" is now "joueur professionnel," but "streamer" is now the much more cumbersome "joueur-animateur en direct."

Elsewhere, "cloud gaming" becomes "jeu video en nuage," "eSports" is now "jeu video de competition," and "retro gaming" has turned into "retrojeu video," or simply "rétrojeu."

French president Emmanuel Macron, probably not a big fan of jeu video de competition

The issue of the French Language being anglicized has been around for years in France. It's gained prominence recently as more English words and phrases make their way into everyday speech, especially in tech and social media settings. Language watchdog the Académie Française previously warned of a "degradation that must not be seen as inevitable," highlighting terms such as "big data" and "drive-in."

The agency's previous attempts at introducing new French terms have not been welcomed with open arms. The most notorious example was its desire to replace "le Wifi" with "l'access sans fil à internet," which translates as "wireless access to the internet." But this week's changes were issued in the official journal, meaning they are now binding on government workers.

According to The Local France, the ministry said experts had searched video game websites and magazines to see if French terms already existed.

The French government previously changed "email" to "courriel" in 2003 while "autotune" became "Ajustement automatique d'intonation" in 2020.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/94768-treamer-esports-banned-france-along-other-english-gaming.html

 

[mrSister]

Well, not surprising. This also happens here in Spain where many of these English terms end up included in the oficial dictionary of the language but in a translated form like "Tweet" became "tuit" or "CD-ROM" became "cedé" which simply look strange.

Now the "ban" bit, I don't think these English terms are banned here. Banned as in forbidden to use.

In the end, everybody just keeps using the English (or French or German) terms save for those who work for the Real Academy of Language. Probably that will happen in France too.

 

[RedGuard]

France wants to become completely separated from any other country. They don't want English in their life nor any other language and expect the Danish, Norwegians or Dutch to speak their language.

The reality is that all other European countries ignore them/don't do business with them which is completely fine for the French.

 

[Geralt]

Lack of common sense is also in France! Absurd. I will continue to use the shorter/more practical English terms despite English is my second language. Purity of language has nothing to do with that. They are nuts.

 

[winjer]

Now imagine if all countries were to start banning words with French origin in their dialects....

 

[RedGuard]

Now imagine if all countries were to start banning words with French origin in their dialects....

Lol, say Farewell to Italian, Spanish or Romanian. On the bright side, no more Latin in 9th grade.

 

[OortCloud]

Your literal translation in the article is incorrect (and if corrected is even more cumbersome), it should be:

"l'access sans fil à internet," which translates as "the access without wires to the internet."

 

[hahahanoobs]

Check out what Quebec is doing in Canada right now in regards to their precious language.

 

[Dimitriid]

Well, not surprising. This also happens here in Spain where many of these English terms end up included in the oficial dictionary of the language but in a translated form like "Tweet" became "tuit" or "CD-ROM" became "cedé" which simply look strange.

Actually while I'm sure it does happen in Spain too, for us in Latin America the Spaniards are often a source of ridicule (Much like the French in this article) precisely *because* their silly resistance to adopt terms generated and created by other countries, mostly English ones.

Seriously many of our running jokes about Spain are about how we just name popular American properties what they are while people in Spain go out of their way to force the foreign words into their version of Spanish, all the while historically and currently, they do not exactly do a good job at respecting the language and culture of people who speak say, Catalán and let's not even get into the treatment your countries have towards Latin American vernacular or Haitian Creole among others in the case of France.

 

[passwordistaco]

If only France consistently applied their will to stay French...

 

[m4a4]

Check out what Quebec is doing in Canada right now in regards to their precious language.

Yeah.... their recent "anti-English" bill they've passed is pissing a lot of Canadians off...

What's with the old French elites trying to force the preservation of their language (regardless of which country they're in)?

 

[captaincranky]

Were it not for the fact that so many other nation's soldiers being willing to fight and die on French soil, (speaking their native tongues), France would be a German colony, and German would be the "official language".

 

[George Keech]

In my opinion Languages are ones that naturally occur, they evolve they change and its not up to the government to do that. A lot of the English language is based upon England being invaded by everyone in Europe for about 1000 years.

I do wonder what the French think about this or is this just a stupid publicity stunt to get the right wing French on board - at the moment in the UK the government are looking into some law that no one cares about or enforces about having to have Metric measurement with food - Literally no one cares that is remotely sane

 

[Kam7r]

Were it not for the fact that so many other nation's soldiers being willing to fight and die on French soil, (speaking their native tongues), France would be a German colony, and German would be the "official language".

yea... and you konw what, my ancestor is burried in Newport, from your independance war ... do I shout it everywhere ? no it's acually the 1st time I say it on the internet, why ? because it's been a sh*tload of time, as the fcking ww2, almost 1 century ago... , we fought countless of wars all by ourselves for more than a freaking millenia and I'm starting to get tired of internet tough guys with their nonsense all the time... as for this "ban" it's only symbolic and I support it as a french, since it's only "banned" on official texts, nothing more, we'll still use them in the everyday life and nobody will give a fck...

 

[Xex360]

Rubbish they didn't ban these words, rather new words are to be used officially.

Were it not for the fact that so many other nation's soldiers being willing to fight and die on French soil, (speaking their native tongues), France would be a German colony, and German would be the "official language".

You mean "Democratic Republic", as in 43 it was just a matter of time before the Soviets finish liberating Europe from Nazism. But again it was Stalin pushing the other allies to open a western front. So they escaped that faith as well.

 

[captaincranky]

, we fought countless of wars all by ourselves for more than a freaking millenia and I'm starting to get tired of internet tough guys with their nonsense all the time..

Very true. In fact, the Normans conquered England in 1066 CE at the battle of Hastings..

More recently, France sold the "Exocet" missiles to Argentina which sunk the HMS Sheffield in the war over the Falkland Islands.

However, if me going back a hundred years pisses you off, why go back 1200 years to dispute a common meme?

Fact of the matter is, more Americans died defending France in WWII, than French died in our war of Independence. But then the French have always hated Britain, so I'm sure they viewed our war against England as as much of an "opportunity", as opposed to a burden.

The actual "funny", (not really funny), part of France's defeat in WWII, is the unmitigated disaster that the Maginot line proved itself to be.

Going back in history, I believe that Richard II (the Lion Hearted ?), was killed by an arrow from a French teenager.

In fact, Monty Python made a huge joke out of that in,"The search for the Holy Grail", and they're British" Throughout the movie, there was a Frenchman shouting curses at the grail hunters from atop a castle

 

[Uncle Al]

Each language has it's own limits but banning words is a losing battle because the young will always use the words they want to so while it may be banned, it will be impossible to regulate .....

 

[captaincranky]

You mean "Democratic Republic", as in 43 it was just a matter of time before the Soviets finish liberating Europe from Nazism.

Yes, but not without Stalin's ulterior motives to form the USSR..

I think the meme that attaches to that is, "our of the frying pan, into the fire".

 

[captaincranky]

Each language has it's own limits but banning words is a losing battle because the young will always use the words they want to so while it may be banned, it will be impossible to regulate .....

Well, there has to be a commonality of terms, otherwise competitors from different countries would have to learn quite a bit more of the language of the countriy's language in which they're competing.

Speaking for myself, I do fairly well with my native tongue, (American English). However, I falter with Afro-American English. The only part of that I frequent is excessive use of the "F-Bomb".

 

[Puiu]

Meh. It's just some crazy "elites" who don't even know what a streamer is.

 

[captaincranky]

Meh. It's just some crazy "elites" who don't even know what a streamer is.

Basically, I think the French are just pissed off, because many new California wines are now as good as, or better than, theirs

 

[Puiu]

Basically, I think the French are just pissed off, because many new California wines are now as good as, or better than, theirs

Maybe

 

[mrSister]

Actually while I'm sure it does happen in Spain too, for us in Latin America the Spaniards are often a source of ridicule (Much like the French in this article) precisely *because* their silly resistance to adopt terms generated and created by other countries, mostly English ones.

Seriously many of our running jokes about Spain are about how we just name popular American properties what they are while people in Spain go out of their way to force the foreign words into their version of Spanish, all the while historically and currently, they do not exactly do a good job at respecting the language and culture of people who speak say, Catalán and let's not even get into the treatment your countries have towards Latin American vernacular or Haitian Creole among others in the case of France.

Oh well in my experience, the war between Spain Spanish and Latin American Spanish seems to go both ways. Just search for any Simpsons clip in Youtube and you will see both sides starting the flamewar about how LATAM Spanish suck or how Spain Spanish suck.

As for the Cataluña thing is usually the other way around. It is in Cataluña where you get fined if you label the signs of your business in Spanish (which of course is an official language in Cataluña too) or where you can get the eye if yo get into a store and try to speak Spanish to the clerk. But I suposse these things happen when nationalists are in power. This is unheard of in other places of Spain where they have their own languages like Galicia or Pais Vasco xD

 

[Vulcanproject]

Nothing annoys the French more than knowing the reality that Anglophone nations have dominated the world the past 200 years and they feel it should have been them instead. Better luck next time Napoleon!

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Government bureaucrats once again proving how useless their jobs are and reminding us that the smaller the government the better.