And these guys were picking on us for Freedom Fries?? http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=sto...on_re_eu/france_out_with__e_mail__3&printer=1 French Government Bans Term 'E-Mail' Fri Jul 18,11:05 AM ET By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer PARIS - 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."
lol...i love the french....they also have laws that mandate french radio stations play at least 25% french music.
and laws that criminalize executives working overtime. that's just a little too much government control for me, personally!
Funny, I just came back from France. A few interesting observations: 1. Unlike about a decade ago, French people no longer pretend they don't understand you when you speak English. (OK, a few still do. But most of them are quite friendly to my English.) 2. They have a very different view about wars. (OK, that's not an "interesting observation." Just stating the obvious. ) 3. 4 weeks annual vacation, 38 hours workweek are standard. And they are still striking to get the workweek down to 35 hours. 4. About 70% movies on TV are US made. 5. They have waaay fewer fat women.
Well this isn't anything new. They've been declaring french words for foreign inventions for years. I think it makes a lot more sense in French than it would in English. English is a hodge-podge language, a fusion of Germanic and Romantic languages. With that history, I think it has always been easy -- and the speakers willing -- to just co-opt foreign words. So we add in Spanish words, or Russian or whatever as we need them. The French have a different linguistic history and it has always seemed odd to me to throw foreign words in there when the language is otherwise so uniformly Romantic. "Le email..." never did roll off the tongue well in French.
Juan's right. This is hardly an attack on English speaking countries (as Freedom Fries was, and a hilariously pathetic one at that). It's an attempt to preserve their language and culture. Remember when Tina Fey said of the Freedom Fries thing, "In a related development, the French have begun referring to American cheese as idiot cheese?" That'd be more of an even response. A guy at Rudz recently related this one to me. When ordering freedom fries say to the waitress, "But don't bring me any of that pansy ketchup or anything, just crush em and bring me the oil."
This is just another attempt by the French government to artificially propagate nationalist/superiority sentiment and an anti-american attitude. I'm suprised at some people for coming out with arguments like 'it is a beautiful language after all.' The reason their doing it to decidedly anti-american which seems hardly incomparable to 'Freedom Fries.' The article even refers to this.
I'm glad we don't have a Cultural Ministry here. Btw, France says it's trying to protect is culture, which is fine and good. But then it is trying to stretch it's political and cultural influence across Europe through the EU as much as possibe. Seems a little bit hypocritical.
That was my number one and favorite observation. I really don't remember seeing a fat girl when I was there. I think the lower proportion of fat girls increases the number of hot girls since the fat girls wouldn't be hot because they are fat. That's the only thing the Frenchies have right....no fat women.
France is like a wannabe Italy with higher prices. No I enjoyed France, and I agree, the people there do try to speak English more... Italy and Germany have 6 weeks mandatory vacation. Life is so laid back in Europe, I think we should try and emulate them. Oh yeah they like Rugby in France too. Je jouis au rugby. J'amore le rugby. Man my french is like the rusty nail I stuck my finger on.
I remember having a conversation with a nice fellow in a bar in England. He bought me a beer, I bought him one (and so on) and our conversing moved to differences between the States and Britain. There were many things he admired about us... our wealth, comparatively speaking, for example. And then we got around to vacations. I told him how much I envied the vacation time the British and other Europeans recieved. When I responded to his question about OUR vacation time with, "Oh, we're lucky to get 2 weeks a year... and many companies frown on taking the 2 weeks consecutively" his jaw dropped and he said, "There's more to life than how many cars and TV's you have, mate. After hearing that, I wouldn't trade places with an American for the world. You don't give yourself time to enjoy life. What's the use of having all those things if you're running yourself into the ground to get it??". So true. (and French girls ARE hot!)
Deckard -- agreed entirely...but what if people find happiness in their jobs? telling me i HAVE to stop working after a certain number of hours each week is ridiculous...that's what's done in France.
MM, you're talking to someone who was raised with a father who was a department chair at a major university in Houston for 30 years and LOVED his work. He used to work 70-80 hours a week with appalling regularity... health permitting. My sister and I have talked about how screwed up we are because we think that loving your job is a given (not to mention not seeing enough of the guy). If you don't do work you would do anyway as a hobby, there is something wrong.
For any interested: "In France, the legal working time is 35 actual hours per week or 1,600 hours per year in companies with more than 20 employees. Beyond, any extra time worked is considered as overtime and involves an overtime premium. A limit to overtime is set in the applicable collective agreement. The maximum working time is 10 hours per day and 48 hours per week, with a maximum of 44 hours per week on average over a period of twelve weeks (see working time adjustment ). The 35-hour week does not apply to executives and managers whose work does not directly relate to production. Their maximum working time is set to 13 hours per day and 217 days per year (so-called "day package" system)."
Madmax, you often attack France and the Europeans. I'm not sure exactly why. Vacations are good for people even if they really like to work. Among other things it gives them a chance to travel, if their job doesn't provide that. Travel in other countries can change one's view of other lands such as Europe and perhaps even change how one sees the role of America in the world at large. It is always striking to see how knowledgeable about world affairs and well travelled ordinary Europeans are BTW I doubt there is a law in France that says you can't work an extra job if you want or perhaps even overtime-- just that the standard work week is 38 hours. The 40 hour week in the US does not mean that by law one is forbidden to work in excess of 40 hours.
