Une menace à la langue française ? Une observation sur le gouvernement français et son rapport avec sa langue

Abstract

French and English have a long history of barrowing words and phrases from each other. During the Second World War the United States became a major social, political, and economic power, making English the lingua franca of the world. Due to this, the French government became worried that English would render French obsolete. Through the Loi Toubon, various websites to try and promote French words over English, and “The Week of the Francophonie,” the French government tried to promote the French language and culture. While this sounds good in theory, weak implementation of the Loi Toubon, a weak promotion of using French over English, and a general disorganization of the websites questions the efficacy of these efforts by the French government.