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November 30, 2006

Legislating Cyber Lingo in France

I
just received an email from a correspondent in France thanking me for my "courriel."

At first I thought it was a typo; "courrier" is the French word for mail. But it turns out that "courriel" is actually the Académie Française-approved word for "email." That august body rejected the words already commonly in use -- "email," "mail," and "mél" -- as insufficiently French.

Language from the top down.

But I don't think it's working. The Académie Française decreed the use of the word "courriel" in 2003, and this is the first time I've seen it used in correspondence with people in France (which I have with some frequency). And this most recent message came from a French government agency, where maybe you run the risk of adverse job action if you don't use the decreed words.

I kind of like "courriel," actually -- but I sort of doubt it'll prevail in the linguistic marketplace.

Posted by Eric at November 30, 2006 8:18 AM

Comments

I used to work in France as a webmaster. When people asked me what I did I said, "Je suis une maitresse du web..." and they all said, "Non, non, vous etes un webmaster."

Meanwhile French law professor Cedric Manara recommends "jurnal" for "blawg."

Posted by: Cathy at November 30, 2006 3:21 PM

As far as I can tell the AF-approved 'courriel' is hardly ever used in France-- but, for some reason, it's the standard word in Quebec, which has no such body (and really couldn't, since Montreal French and English cannibalize words from each other so freely).

Posted by: Jacob T. Levy at December 3, 2006 6:14 PM

"Courriel" is a word invented in Quebec. It's a kind of contraction for "courrier électronique" (electronic mail). It's unusual that the Académie Française would look to Quebec for its linguistic ex cathedra pronouncements. But Jacob is right: hardly anyone uses the term in France. It's "mél" or "email". I was in France when the AF made that pronouncement; it caused a small stir. However, they're fighting a losing battle: the French love to use loanwords from English (un parking, un blogue, un webmaster, etc). On the other hand, the Québecois are much more defensive about the status of the French language and try to enforce its use (e.g. Bill 101). I guess the French don't worry so much about their language disappearing.

Posted by: Ranjan at December 16, 2006 4:42 AM