A new report (via the Guardian) revealed officials in France changed the rules pertaining to English video game jargon for the sake of preserving the purity of the French language. This is something the French have been fighting for centuries to protect.
For example, they found easy translations for terms like “pro-gamer”, turns into “joueur professionnel”. Though there are some that are further from their original English counterpart, such as how “streamer” is translated to “joueur-animateur en direct”.
The culture ministry of France, the folks responsible for these changes, explained the video game sector was rife with anglicisms that could act as “a barrier to understanding” for non-gamers.
The Académie Française, who are a watchdog for the degradation of the French language, had previously warned of the rise of English words in popular culture earlier this year.
These changes were issued into their official journal, thus making them legally binding for their government workers. Other terms that have made their changes are “eSports”, which will now be referred to as “jeu video de competition”, and “cloud gaming”, which is now “jeu video en nuage”.
The ministry stated they had searched video gaming websites and magazines to see if there were already French alternatives in existence. The idea of theses changes are they should allow France’s population to communicate more easily while preserving their language.
