French government bans 'E-mail'.

[Laukev7]

The term 'E-mail', of course. Not the actual medium.

Now it's 'courriel'. A word of our invention.    

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=518&u=/ap/20030718/ap_on_re_eu/france_out_with__e_mail__3&printer=1

[lonodnboi2k3]

I have never heard such rubbish in my life. Well anyway while the rest of the world calls e-mail well erm E-mail (I Guess) the french will always be the frence and be awkward and do thinks against the grain.

But then i suppose the french like antaginising people, Take their Air Controlers for example.  Anyone who lives in England and needs to Fly over France will now exactly what i mean. Amem... nough said

[jasonlane]

The French have resisted thw web in general. Back in the mid to lat e 90's they had a handset based email system (Mintel ?), the French gov was pushing this over email because, well (Mintel?) it was French. they can be like that the French. Don't get  wrong I like the French, there ok, I have no prefference over any nationality. They are funny like that though    :confused:

[Laukev7]

The correct spelling is 'Minitel'. It's a sort of  proprietary, very old telephone terminal with no graphics, developped by France Telecom, and dates from before even BBS. I think Minitel also had an ancient form of websites, as well as e-mail. I heard that FT and BT are widely hated in their respective contries, althout I'm not sure why (correct me if I'm wrong).

France is not the only country that attempts to find native words. Germany, Russia and Iceland are making some efforts as well, I've heard. In German, the word 'disk space' is 'Speicher', and 'saving' is 'speichern'.

[jasonlane]

quote:Originally posted by Laukev7:
The correct spelling is 'Minitel'. It's a sort of  proprietary, very old telephone terminal with no graphics, developped by France Telecom, and dates from before even BBS. I think Minitel also had an ancient form of websites, as well as e-mail. I heard that FT and BT are widely hated in their respective contries, althout I'm not sure why (correct me if I'm wrong).

France is not the only country that attempts to find native words. Germany, Russia and Iceland are making some efforts as well, I've heard. In German, the word 'disk space' is 'Speicher', and 'saving' is 'speichern'.

"Minitel", thanks
       

Yeah, everyone hates BT in the UK. Actually they have recently announced that national rate calls will be the same as local rate, yah we Brits move with the times here Laukev7.

It's very much a love hate relationship with BT, which after all is a state sponsered monopoloy.

I don't actaully think there anything wrong with different nationalities trying to "personalise" their stance on technology. After all it must really piss some people off as to how pervaisive english is now. It's already killed of so many cultures and languages. As to how successful this will actually be is another matter though. Unfortunately.

[ July 20, 2003: Message edited by: Zardoz ]

[ July 20, 2003: Message edited by: Zardoz ]

[Stilly]

does this remind anyone else of freedom fries?

[Laukev7]

Not really, 'french' fries are, in fact, belgian. But seriously, it was time they took example on us. In Qu

[Pissed_Macman]

The whole prevention of English leaking into French is retarded. Jeebus, let people talk how they want. This is how languages are formed anyway. As my old French teacher used to say, "languages are alive, let them evolve."

[lonodnboi2k3]

quote: The whole prevention of English leaking into French is retarded. Jeebus, let people talk how they want. This is how languages are formed anyway. As my old French teacher used to say, "languages are alive, let them evolve."

I agree compleatly, its not for goverments to tell people what words they can and can't use anyway

[Faust]

quote:
101 law -- according to which French must predominate in public

No offense but unless I'm missing something here that's a really stupid law.  For once I find myself in startling agreeance with Macman - the French aren't doing themselves any favours by trying to remove the impact of other cultures.

 

quote:
Actually they have recently announced that national rate calls will be the same as local rate,

Meh he he.  Here in Australia the definition of an area for "local calls" is about the size of Britain.  Come to think of it most of our states are bigger than Britain too.  You guys need some bigger turf.    

[NikS]

quoting
Laukev7
***
France is not the only country that attempts to find native words. Germany, Russia and Iceland are making some efforts as well, I've heard. In German, the word 'disk space' is 'Speicher', and 'saving' is 'speichern'.
***
/quoting

Frankly speaking, most of those "native words" were adapted from English. (Russian PC slang took lots from English, for example, "hard drive" is "hard", "site" is "site", "E-mail" is "E-mail" or "milo" (which, by the way, is translated as "soap"    )) Yeah, we do translate the words, but I never heard of "banning" or anything like that. (Maybe I just need to watch the TV more often   ). To "ban" a word... Sounds weird...   :confused:

[Laukev7]

quote: No offense but unless I'm missing something here that's a really stupid law. For once I find myself in startling agreeance with Macman - the French aren't doing themselves any favours by trying to remove the impact of other cultures.

You don't understand our situation. Fifty years ago, you had to speak English if you wanted a job, and store clerks wouldn't even address to you in French even if they understood the language. The 101 law stipulates that you may display in English or any language of your choice, as long as a French version is clearly visible and predominates. For example, on a signpost, French must be displayed first, then any other languages. And, of course, immigrants who come to Quebec must learn our language if they haven't already learnt English.

It's not about removing the impact of other cultures, and we do occasionally recognise English words as part of our language. What we're trying to prevent is the excessive use of English words which can easily be replaced by native words -- for example, saying 'canceller' when 'annuler' is just as good. (Yes, I know that 'canceller' comes from Old French, but this was just an example).

[TheQuirk]

Hebrew doesn't need any of this rubbish. (I'm kidding, of course.)

Almost everything is called "software". I'm not kidding. You throw a bunch of magnets at your hard drive while pissing on your motherboard? Oh, don't worry. It's a "software problem". (Well, it's not that bad, but it's getting there!)

[Laukev7]

In French, the official term for 'software' is << logiciel >>. Most people, though, just call them << programmes >>.

For French speakers, here is a list of names given for various types of applications:

http://www.leburelain.com/textes/glossaire.htm

[Pissed_Macman]

quote:Originally posted by Faust:

Meh he he.  Here in Australia the definition of an area for "local calls" is about the size of Britain.  Come to think of it most of our states are bigger than Britain too.  You guys need some bigger turf.            

Yeah, I find it hard to believe that a country that can fit inside Wyoming was a mighty empire. Can't they invade Spain and just deport everyone there to Mexico or something?

[ July 21, 2003: Message edited by: Macman: pimpin da streets o seattle ]