Cultural Standoff: French MPs Firm on No English Policy for Paris Olympics

In a resolution passed on Thursday, the lower house of parliament urged the organizers of the 2024 Paris Games, as well as athletes, trainers, and journalists, to use French as much as possible.

The conservative sponsor of the resolution, Annie Genevard, expressed concern to fellow MPs that “the Olympic Games reflect the loss of influence of our language.”

She recalled the much-criticized slogan used for Paris’ original bid for the Games — “Made for Sharing” — as well as other recent government-backed campaigns to promote the country, such as “Choose France” or “Made in France.”

During last year’s competition in France, the French rugby team’s jerseys read “Rugby World Cup” rather than “La Coupe du Monde de Rugby.”

“All of these examples demonstrate that the fight for the French language … is never finished, even in the most official spheres,” Genevard said in a statement.

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The global spread of English has long enraged French governments, which have sought to preserve the purity of their language at home while encouraging its use abroad.

The country has an institution, the Academie Francaise, that has been producing state-sanctioned dictionaries for three centuries, documenting and approving new terms or expressions, often translations of commonly used English words.

“Let’s hope that ‘planche a roulettes’ replaces skateboard and ‘rouleau du cap’ point break (a surfing term), but I have my doubts,” added Genevard.

Language row

The 1994 Toubon Law, passed by French legislators 30 years ago to protect French, made the language mandatory for advertising, product labeling, and public announcements.

It also required radio stations to play at least 40 percent of French-language songs.

However, the cultural influence of English, which has recently been increased by American streaming platforms such as Netflix, means that new terms are constantly infiltrating French, including in sports.

“You can’t overlook the fact that many global sports events that are broadcast globally have chosen to use English for their communication, in their titles, slogans and advertising,” Culture Minister Rachida Dati told parliament.

She emphasized that Thursday’s resolution, which was supported by the ruling centrists and right-wingers but opposed by the left, was not legally binding.

Instructions for foreign visitors to the Olympics from July 26 to August 11 and the Paralympics from August 28 to September 8 would be provided in English as well as other languages, she said.

The Paris Games have already been embroiled in a language controversy following reports that Franco-Malian R&B star Aya Nakamura was set to perform during the opening ceremony on July 26.

The mega-star, the world’s most streamed French artist, incorporates French, Arabic, and West African dialect words into her songs like “Djadja”.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen accused her of “vulgarity” and mispronouncing the French language in a series of highly personal attacks, which Dati condemned as racist at the time.

“France is not and will never be ‘Djadja’,” far-right MP Julien Odoul declared on Thursday.