French activists launch legal case over English-only translations at Notre Dame

[Still Waters]

A group of French-language activists has launched a legal action over signs at Notre Dame Cathedral being translated only into English and not any other language.

The association, which won a similar case brought against the Eiffel Tower, believes failing to include other foreign languages leads to the increasing global domination of English.

Louis Maisonneuve, a spokesperson for the Défense de la langue française (Defence of the French language), said the legal complaint was lodged with the Paris court on Monday, which was international French-speaker day.

While campaigners are more generally opposed to the use of English words and terms in French documents, communications, signs and advertisements – among others – they say the signs at Notre Dame and other public buildings contravene the 1994 regulation requiring all public buildings to translate their signs and information into at least two other languages.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/22/french-language-activists-sue-over-notre-dame-signs

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230321-french-language-purists-sue-notre-dame-cathedral-for-english-only-translations

[odas]

Why don't we all post signes only in Bosnian so that the whole world understands it?

[pellinore]

1 hour ago, odas said:

Why don't we all post signes only in Bosnian so that the whole world understands it?

I only recently realised that all international airline pilots have to all be able to speak, read and write English proficiently, regardless of their country of origin.

It's not something us native English-speakers have to think about. We can be understood by anyone anywhere around the world, simply by speaking slowly, and putting our right index finger to our head, twisting it, and rolling our eyes to indicate that they must have got a screw loose if they can't understand the world's universal language.

 

 

[odas]

15 minutes ago, pellinore said:

I only recently realised that all international airline pilots have to all be able to speak, read and write English proficiently, regardless of their country of origin.

It's not something us native English-speakers have to think about. We can be understood by anyone anywhere around the world, simply by speaking slowly, and putting our right index finger to our head, twisting it, and rolling our eyes to indicate that they must have got a screw loose if they can't understand the world's universal language.

 

 

While yes, everyone wants to be respected, it only makes sense that English is used everywhere. It is the easiest langaguage to learn to speak ( not the grammar though, way out of controll).

Btw. The post about bosnian was just an ongoing sarcastic joke about the three southslavic languages, bosnian, croatian and serbian. Honestly, noone gives a crapp about those languages so we have to lift ourselves up somehow.

[+and-then]

If the use of English-only in translations is breaking a law, they need to be held accountable.  In the grand scheme though, I think the world has enough to be getting along with.

[+Hammerclaw]

They never got over losing Canada.

[acute]

It's true that the French have laws against written Franglais, but English is the Lingua Franca of the world, so they really should get over it.