French technology: A union on the card attacks the state for using brands in English

Choose France, La French Tech, The Next 40, French Influence: Are These Public Brands Created in Recent Years Being Illegally Used? This is what the Francophonie Avenir (Afrav) association, based in Manduelle in Cordé, is insisting, which is attacking the state in the administrative court of Paris on Thursday, September 22. Reason: Use of these English sections would be inconsistent with the 1994 Touban Act on the Use of the French Language.

“Linguistic Submission and Mental Colonization.”

“Article 14 of this law indicates that when a public body creates a sign, this sign must be in French” Regis Rawat, chairman of Afra, explains. For Afra, the stakes are real. “People don’t think that you can be colonized by language, that a language flows naturally. But it doesn’t. English is ubiquitous in high technology, in advertising. We’ve come to a process of linguistic submission and mental colonization. It’s never been higher.”

Emmanuel Macron, Americanized “Young Leader”

According to Afra, this process “It accelerated under Nicolas Sarkozy” It has strengthened since the election of Emmanuel Macron. “He is a young leader who benefited in 2012 from a grant from the French American Foundation”American system for identifying emerging personalities. “He’s completely Americanized.”Regis Ravat insists. “Yet, as president, he is a guarantee of the French constitution, his article 2 indicates that the language of the republic is French. How can he explain that he allows English scores to be made? He is not doing his job.”

Afrau has already won legal battles to protect the French. “We were created in 1989, at that time free radio stations began to bear English names: NRJ, Fun Radio, Sky Rock. In the beginning, we wrote well-polished letters that ended up in the basket. From 2008, we started to sue.”

A victory against the municipality of Nimes

One of their first targets was the municipality of Nîmes and its catalogs presenting historical monuments, later written in French and English. “If public lists are translated, they are illegal because the Touban Act says they must be in at least two languages.” Today, these tourist signs are written in French, English and Italian.

Another win, against the University of Paris of PSL letters, forced a withdrawal “Research University” Against its signature and, most recently, higher education minister Dominique Vidal’s decree, every student at the licensure level must obtain a certificate in English. “The Council of State overturned this mandate. Tests, that’s what bends our decision makers.” Regis Rawat insists.