For many years, the French have been striving to maintain the culture of the language at the highest level, to which one of the organizations was committed – this time officials looked at the gaming industry. In order to block the increasingly popular use of phrases such as “streamer” or “e-sport”, local equivalents have been prepared. All thanks to the project of the Ministry of Culture.
Language is part of a culture that is constantly evolving and changing under the influence of various factors – especially in the era of mass media and globalization, some words from different regions of the world have become permanently imprinted in people’s consciousness. The French intend to fight for the purity of the language through a Ministry of Culture project that prohibits the use of certain game-related terms. As representatives of the ministry point out, the gaming industry is full of anglicisms, which constitute an “incomprehensible barrier” for people not associated with video games.
In France, there is the language guard of the Académie Française, which issued a warning in February about the “degradation of the language” and condemned the increase in the use of Anglicisms in public life. Currently, the authorities have gone a step further – on Monday, changes applicable to public sector employees were added in the official journal.
As a result, the French should not use English phrases like “cloud gaming” or “e-sport” in their documents – instead, French equivalents have been developed: “jeu video en nuage” and “jeu video de competition”. The streamer should be described as “joueur-animateur en direct” and the pro-gamer is “joueur professionnel”.
The general idea behind the ministry is to enable citizens to “communicate more efficiently”. Analyzing video game websites and magazines, experts concluded that some common words could be replaced with French equivalents.
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