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© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019.France's culture minister urges citizens to cut down on English use
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David Varnes
You know, I think in the realm of my life, I'm not worried about learning French all that much.
I'll stick to the 4 languages I do speak, and work on a 5th in the meantime. They're more useful than French anyways.
Jimizo
Just give it up and start speaking English - it’s more convenient ;)
Bintaro
And that's why France ranks among the worst inside the EU in English proficiency.
French is a living language, it will evolve, as it did for centuries, whether the dinosaurs of the government and the Academie Francaise want it or not.
The other countries that teach English to their kids from a young age didn't lose their language or identity, and neither will young French people. This article just shows the backward thinking of the country's leaders.
Scrote
Mr Riester is quite right: it's about time the French came up with their own words for "cafe", "restaurant", "croissant" etc., instead of just using the English words for these things.
Madverts
Nique l'académie française....
Laws to protect " talent" in the French "music" industry worked so well for is.
A language is a living breathing thing...
Raw Beer
I agree. I can't stand the way the French speak their language, continually inserting English words. The Japanese also do that, albeit to a lesser extent.
The Quebecois speak a much better French.
vinarius@pm.catv.ne.jp
Do u mean the president of france do not speak English ???.In the most remote islands of Sumatra, even the taxi drivers speaks English. What a joke ???.
Toasted Heretic
Languages are in a constant state of flux. One day we'll all be speaking like the Belters in The Expanse ;-)
Kag
Lots of people used to learn French cause it used to be an upcoming economy but not anymore.
Even China emphasize on English cause it is the international language for business.
Tom
If the population want to use english, because it's easier & it prefer it, why is it necessary to prevent its use?
I'm french and I really hate to listen to radio because of the stupid law where they must play at least 40% of french songs. It's really easy to see how they struggle, there are so few good songs that people of all ages like. It quickly goes to bad or even terrible tracks. Plus they need fresh stuff, which is rare, so they broadcast sometimes right after a french rap or pop song a really old one & that's cringy.
French is also one of the hardest language to learn in the world. We have so many ridiculous exceptions, particular cases that even us in some situation don't know.
It's really funny to see when I talk to my friends that when I use an english word instead of a french one they understand it faster. Ex: "C'est plus safe" instead of "C'est plus sûr"
To continue, especially due to internet and social network we're constantly connected to the rest of the world, so we use international words such as "Smiley". But the french government prefer us to use "Frimousse" which sound really bad. Almost no one even know the existence of this word.
And to finish instead of the ban, a privation to our liberty to choose what we want, they should question themselves of why we do that of why do we prefer to use another language than our native one that "we normally should be proud of"