The Guardian reports that French officials have overhauled the rules on English gamer terms in a bid to preserve the purity of the language and allow the population to communicate more easily. France’s culture ministry told AFP the video game sector was rife with English terminology that could act as “a barrier to understanding” for non-gamers. Some translations are pretty obvious: “pro-gamer” is now “joueur professionnel,” but “streamer” is now the much more cumbersome “joueur-animateur en direct.” Elsewhere, “cloud gaming” becomes “jeu video en nuage,” “eSports” is now “jeu video de competition,” and “retro gaming” has turned into “retrojeu video,” or simply “rétrojeu.”
French president Emmanuel Macron, probably not a big fan of jeu video de competition The issue of the French Language being anglicized has been around for years in France. It’s gained prominence recently as more English words and phrases make their way into everyday speech, especially in tech and social media settings. Language watchdog the Académie Française previously warned of a “degradation that must not be seen as inevitable,” highlighting terms such as “big data” and “drive-in.” The agency’s previous attempts at introducing new French terms have not been welcomed with open arms. The most notorious example was its desire to replace “le Wifi” with “l’access sans fil à internet,” which translates as “wireless access to the internet.” But this week’s changes were issued in the official journal, meaning they are now binding on government workers. According to The Local France, the ministry said experts had searched video game websites and magazines to see if French terms already existed. The French government previously changed “email” to “courriel” in 2003 while “autotune” became “Ajustement automatique d’intonation” in 2020.
