France contiues rearguard defense of French speak

BBC:

That the French resent the global supremacy of the English language is nothing new, but as Hugh Schofield finds out, a newly evolved business-speak version is taking over.

They were giving out the annual Prix de la Carpette Anglaise the other day. Literally it means the English Rug Prize, but doormat would be the better translation.

As the citation explains, the award goes to the French person or institution who has given the best display of "fawning servility" to further the insinuation into France of the accursed English language.

Among the runners-up this year: the supermarket company Carrefour ­which changed the name of its Champion chain of stores to Carrefour Market, not using the French word "marche".

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But topping the poll for grave disservices to the mother tongue is France's higher education minister, Valerie Pecresse.

Her crime: proclaiming to the press that she had no intention of speaking French when attending European meetings in Brussels, because, she said, it was quite obvious that English was now the easiest mode of communication.

The rise and rise of the English language is a sensitive subject for many here in France, who believe that French has every bit as much right to be considered a global tongue.

Even conceding to English victory in the war for linguistic supremacy, the French believe that the least they can do is defend their own territory and keep the ghastly invader at a decent remove.

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One of the reasons the French are having so much trouble is that English is a much more dynamic language. There is no stuffy group trying to contain it or the new words that develop. In fact the new words are generally quickly added to the dictionary, whereas in France they waste a lot time trying to think of a French word to replace the new word. The result is that French is becoming something of a dead language like Latin. The German war historian and theorist, von Clausewitz described French as bastardized Latin. It is a dialect that arose from the isolation that followed the fall of the Roman Empire much as Spanish did.

In the US while English is a common language, the dialects of those in Brooklyn are very different from the Valley Girls and Surfer Dudes of California. In Florida you can find natives of Miami who speak with a Brooklyn accent and natives of northern Florida who speak with a Southern accent. It is the radio and TV news achors who set the standard now for American English and it is not the same as that used in the UK, but with some effort they can all communicate.