Focus on France Ian Sparks reports from Paris

EURO-REPORT

FOCUS ON... France

Ian Sparks reports from Paris on more challenges to the French way of life.

France’s language police have called for an end to the use of English words and phrases which are invading the French workplace.

The French Culture Ministry has posted a list of English expressions on its website which it would like those working in French industry and offices to stop using, and replace with French words instead. Many are new English phrases that have emerged with the rise of the Internet and technology – and that Gallic ministers believe are eroding their mother tongue.

They include ‘startup’, which they say should be replaced with ‘jeune pousse’; ‘pop-up’, which should be replaced with ‘fenetre intruse’; and ‘hacker’, which should be changed to ‘fouineur’.

The ministry has also given French phrases for exit strategy, venture capital, crowdfunding and smiley – all of which are regularly used in English by the French.

The drive to purify workplace French comes after the Culture Ministry put up another list of words on its website two years ago which it said had slipped into common usage and should be banned. These included ‘email’, ‘blog’, ‘supermodel’, ‘take-away’ and ‘lowcost airline’.

Even such obscure terms as ‘shadowboxing’ and ‘detachable motor caravan’ and ‘multifunctional industrial building’ were blacklisted over 65 pages of forbidden vocabulary on the website.

Senior French government adviser Herve Bourges warned at the time that the global domination of Anglo-Saxon culture had plunged the future of the French language into ‘deep crisis’. In a damning report commissioned by French ministers, he said French was being ‘besieged’ by the growing numbers of English speakers around the world.

He said: “English speakers have a vision of the so-called English-speaking world, but an equivalent concept does not seem to exist in France. Despite having 200 million French speakers on earth, the idea of a French-speaking world is becoming obsolete.

“France is failing to promote its own language, and there seems to be very little interest in doing so.”

Hotels and bistros up in arms

The French restaurant industry has also demanded action this month against the sharp rise of home chefs offering gourmet meals for diners in their own homes.

The main restaurateurs’ union Synhorcat claims traditional eateries could be put out of business by websites that put their customers directly in touch with private cooks eager to cash in on their kitchen skills.

Synhorcat says private chefs are able to drastically undercut roadside bistros and brasseries because they do not have to pay the same taxes and social charges on staff wages, nor are what they call ‘underground restaurants’ subject to the same food safety and hygiene controls.

The union’s president Didier Chenet said: “There are people out there offering a service which is identical to restaurants: a choice of starters, main courses, desserts, wine, the works. But they pay no rent, no staff, no taxes – it is completely illegal.

“And if you want to set up a real restaurant, you need qualifications: how to deal with allergens; how to deal with alcohol. Do these people realise that if a customer drink-drives after a meal, they, the chefs, are partly responsible? Today many restaurants in France are on a knife-edge because of the economic crisis. Losing just half a dozen customers can spell disaster.”

Mr Chenet said he feared the same fate could await the restaurant industry that has hit the hotel sector with the advent of the Airbnb home letting website. Earlier this year, the bosses of Paris’s luxury hotels demanded that the French government clamp down on Airbnb, which they claim is stealing their wealthiest clients. Three years ago there were just 7000 properties for rent on the property site across the whole of France. But today there are 50,000 flats and houses to let on the site in Paris alone, making the city the world’s top Airbnb destination. The site is also increasingly attracting wealthy renters, and currently offers around 400 Paris apartments at over 500 euros a night and, of those, about 40 charge over 1000 euros. Didier le Calvez, managing director of the French capital’s famed Bristol Hotel, said: “Airbnb is a menace that enjoys an unfair advantage. The Paris market is going to get very difficult.” François Delahaye, managing director of the Plaza Athenee, said: “It’s a tax attack on our livelihoods. Although Airbnb landlords should declare any income for tax purposes, they do not face the other tax and social charges that a business such as a hotel has to pay.”

Airbnb has insisted that it is not in competition with the French capital’s hotels. A spokeswoman for the website said: “We offer a totally different thing. These residences are chosen for the unique experience they offer, but which remain very different from what a luxury hotel can propose.” But it is likely that hotel owners will not get the legislation they are demanding and will simply have to up their game instead after Paris’s deputy mayor Bruno Julliard agreed: “I don’t think that for us to win, anybody has to lose. Airbnb chiefly serves as an alternative for those who struggle to find low cost accommodation and who would otherwise not be able to afford visiting Paris.

“Airbnb has become an essential offering for accommodation in Paris, especially for younger tourists. Whatever anyone says, it has only boosted the number of visitors to Paris, and for us that is a good thing.” n