We French have a knack for doing things differently: we drink quite a bit of wine because it is healthy (the French paradox), we have suits and shirts of unique colors (at least I do - the French fashion statement), etc. And that is totally fine with me.
One thing that I am not cool with though, is our inept, sometimes retarded, narrow mindedness when it comes to the French language and the sacred mission that certain institutions have entrusted themselves with in defending it - at all cost, including bringing total ridicule upon us when inventing new french words that "don't mean no nothing - nottthhhinn'!" to avoid using a well established, commonly used, English term.
The latest victim of the "Commission générale de terminologie et de néologie", aka the Neologism General Commission (check out the second meaning of neologism on this link)? Blogs!
They now have to be called "bloc notes" or "blocs". A "bloc note" is a notepad, so we are sort of missing the online nature of the phenomenon - but that is just a detail.
So now what ? Skyblog (the French equivalent of LiveJournal, with over 2M blogs blocs) is going to be renamed Skybloc ? And bloggueur/bloggueuse (the french adaptation of blogger) becomes bloqueur/bloqueuse (he/she who blocks something) ? Oooh, trackback carries a lot of potential (suivi arriere ?). And blogroll, bloc-rouleau ?
All this agitation come from the 1994 enactment of the Loi Toubon (literally translates as Allgood Law) that had a purpose of removing English words and expressions from the press and corporate vocabulary. And of course, there were (in theory) fines involved in case of non compliance - at least at that time. This led to the introduction of famous terms like marketique (marketing), courriel (email), etc.
Why am I making a fuss here ?
A) because this makes us look downright silly, which is OK in certain cases - but not here.
B) because it shows that we just don't accept that we have lost to English the position of "language of business". And as I am about to attend this week the French Technology Showcase (a great initiative that will see 40 French tech startups present to potential Silicon Valley investors and partners ), I am too often reminded that we were not equipped with the proper English training at school: too little, too late (I started learning English when I was 13, as a second language, because way back when you had to learn German as a first foreign language to have the best teachers - go figure).
Even though I understand that things have changed, and that sometimes kids can learn English in earlier grades, it is critical to grok that we *need* the new generations to be bilingual in order to give them a chance to be competitive in the global marketplace. You don't want your kids to attend all English conferences/meetings or meet interesting non-French speaking people, and completely space out on important concepts because they can't absorb the flow of English. Or can't express themselves.
Even though it feels bizarre, I am glad that my kids tell me that my English accent is funny and that (sometimes) my pronunciation really sucks. At least they won't have that problem.
Oh, yeah. And we are making a point of getting them to learn French as well. Because it is a wonderful language for literature, poetry, etc. And it is part of a cultural heritage we are proud of - just in case you were wondering.
</rant>
Coverage: Loic, BoingBoing, CNET.
Get over it! As an independent American, I think it's wonderful that the French have their own words for things. Partly that's due to my personal belief that American techies [what's the French for "techie"?] do such a truly horrendous job of coming up with terminology (or "jargon").
Please clarify... if you wanted to say "web log" (as opposed to the distasteful "blog"), what would the official French term be?
I admire the French bureaucrats for having the gumption to stand up and thumb their noses at Americans and *their* ridiculous terminology.
BTW, what are the French equivalents for syndicate, aggregate, feed, web feed, RSS, RSS feed, search engine, permalink, and blogosphere?
-- Jack Krupansky
Posted by: Jack Krupansky | May 23, 2005 at 01:27 PM
That's a very good one.
Being French myself, I kind of share your point of view... Finding it ridiculous to say courriel instead of email, bloc instead of blog...
Each language has its specificities, and when it comes to food, you'll use in English, petits choux, croissants, creme brulee...without inventing new words...
Posted by: Celine | May 23, 2005 at 03:49 PM
Jack> "Bloc note" is the official term for "web log", though the actual translation would be "carnet de la toile".
"Techie" also works, though we also use "technologiste" (?).
To be honest, I have been using English as my business language for so long that I don't know many of the french words.
As to the translations you asked for, I would say:
syndiquer, aggreger, fil, fil, RSS, fil RSS, moteur de recherche, permalien, blogosphere (though it should be bloc-osphere now ?
Posted by: Jeff Clavier | May 26, 2005 at 10:16 PM
Hiring the people to come up with alternatives for words around blogging alone should be enough to positively impact the 10% unemployment rate over there...
Posted by: Michael Parekh | June 02, 2005 at 11:32 AM
Ooch, that hurts...
Posted by: Jeff Clavier | June 02, 2005 at 11:52 AM