In France, government and public sector employees must refrain from using video game anglicisms. Citizens, on the other hand, are free to do so.
The Académie francaise in Paris has had one main task since it was founded in 1635: the “unification and maintenance of the French language”. One thorn in its side is gaming jargon, because there are plenty of Anglicisms there.
This is why the committee adopted new recommendations on Monday on the use of French words in the context of video games, the news agency AFP reported. Accordingly, for example, “professional gamer” becomes “joueur professionnel” or “live-streamer” becomes “joueur-animateur en direct”.
Players can still decide for themselves
With this directive, the Academy and the French Ministry of Culture want to simplify the video game language. To AFP, the ministry mentioned that the anglicisms in the video game industry could be a “barrier to understanding” for non-gamers.
However: citizens can still decide for themselves whether or not to heed the Paris Academy’s recommendation. Instead, the new language rules are binding for government employees and public sector workers.
