English rocks French

[Joel S. Berson]

Dennis, may I recommend to your attention an
article from the NYTimes of April 15, "Abroad: A
Lowbrow in High Office Ruffles France", by
Michael Kimmelman.  Perhaps Christine Albanel
should be referred to as Sarko’s Minister of UnCulture.

Joel


At 4/18/2008 06:10 PM, Dennis Baron wrote:
>There's a new post on the Web of Language:
>
>English rocks French
>
>The French government spends millions of Euros every year to promote
>French and discourage English in every corner of French life. And
>French Président Nicolas Sarkozy is one of the French language’s
>biggest fans, when he isn't being distracted by his new bride, the
>Italian singer/songwriter/model Carla Bruni.
>
>But apparently the government-run television network France 3 didn’t
>get the memo calling for all French, all the time, and so five weeks
>ago it selected an English-language song, Sébastien Tellier’s
>“Divine,” to represent the nation in the annual Eurovision song contest.
>
>Sarko’s Minister of Culture, Christine Albanel, who is responsible
>for ensuring that French TV complies with France’s national language
>policy, confessed this week that she had no idea that France 3 had
>done such an unpatriotic thing. Perhaps she didn’t get the memo
>either. . . .  When the news of the latest French capitulation to the
>English juggernaut (a Hindi word meaning 'juggernaut') came to light,
>the response was predictable: an uproar in Parliament and a protest
>from Marc Favre d'Echallens, director of the organization Defense of
>the French Language,
>
>
>read the rest on The Web of Language
>
>
>www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
>
>Dennis Baron
>Professor of English and Linguistics
>Department of English
>University of Illinois
>
>608 S. Wright St.
>Urbana, IL 61801
>
>office: 217-244-0568
>fax: 217-333-4321
>
>www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron
>
>read the Web of Language:
>www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
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