NEWS: Iranian leader bans usage of foreign words

[Tragic Rabbit]

[Don't even get me started on the 'usage' of 'usage', but the idea of banning words struck me as fascinating. Creepy but fascinating. Of course, many Americans get pissy over the use of languages that aren't English, so I'm not sure our hands are clean, either. Likely the same intent is behind both but banning words, removing words from circulation like money, well, just a tad too Orwellian for this bunny's morning. And, no, this is NOT from an Andy Borowitz column! ~TR]

Iranian leader bans usage of foreign words Sat Jul 29, 9:31 AM ET

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and cultural bodies to use modified Persian words to replace foreign words that have crept into the language, such as "pizzas" which will now be known as "elastic loaves," state media reported Saturday.

The presidential decree, issued earlier this week, orders all governmental agencies, newspapers and publications to use words deemed more appropriate by the official language watchdog, the Farhangestan Zaban e Farsi, or Persian Academy, the Irna official news agency reported.

The academy has introduced more than 2,000 words as alternatives for some of the foreign words that have become commonly used in Iran, mostly from Western languages. The government is less sensitive about Arabic words, because the Quran is written in Arabic.

Among other changes, a "chat" will become a "short talk" and a "cabin" will be renamed a "small room," according to official Web site of the academy.

Copyright ? 2006 The Associated Press.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060729/ap_on_...n_foreign_words

[E.J.]

The Iranians are not the first to try this:

French stick to plan to ban English

Colin Randall, Paris

July 24, 2006

FRANCE'S battle to repel the invasion of English words and phrases has seen the French try to produce a new batch of official alternatives destined to be ignored.

At the Ministry of Finance in Paris, 40 experts discussed terms the French should be encouraged to use.

They were not concerned with such lost causes of Franglais as le weekend, le fast-food or le marketing. Aided by economic journalists, the Commission for Economic and Financial Terminology and Neology discussed options for a range of phrases, such as whether golden parachute should translate to parachute d'ore or parachute en or.

Eyebrows were apparently raised by the commission's suggestions for tougher constructions for a funded credit alternative ? already a challenge in English? derive de credit finance.

In the event, no agreement could be reached. The commission will have to reflect further before coming up with a list that then needs the endorsement of France's cultural watchdog, the Academie Francaise.

One report said that even when a phrase obtained fast-track approval ? telechargement pour baladeur for podcasting ? it was usually too late to stop the French sticking with the English version.

French terms the commission previously approved but were widely ignored include la bonne heure (happy hour), bloc-notes (blog) and dialogue en ligne (chat line).

Academie Francaise's Jean-Mathieu Pascalin says English is the language of business, but "the challenge is not to set ourselves against that but to preserve for French the capacity to find names for new notions. If the language loses that capacity, it will become cut off from reality".

TELEGRAPH

Copyright ? 2006. The Age Company Ltd

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/french...3593211519.html

[Tragic Rabbit]

The Iranians are not the first to try this:

French stick to plan to ban English

Colin Randall, Paris

July 24, 2006

FRANCE'S battle to repel the invasion of English words and phrases  

Thus is the Battle of Hastings avenged...

TR

[Tanuki Racoon]

French stick to plan to ban English

Colin Randall, Paris

July 24, 2006

FRANCE'S battle to repel the invasion of English words and phrases has seen the French try to produce a new batch of official alternatives destined to be ignored.

One must remember language in France is legislated. That means they pass words into "law" and that's what all official documents use. What the PEOPLE use is a different mater.

Many French words that are law are barely used. Let's take l'encha?nement which is quite literally the "Web" -- but if you actually use it few if any Frenchmen will have any clue what you mean unless you're discussing spiders. They simply say "Le Web" and disregard any legal wrangling in being understood. Whereas I remember when the word for computer "l'ordinateur" was officially introduced and it IS widely used.

[blue]

Heh, L'Acad?mie Fran?aise is bad about doing that, and yes, it's silly. French speakers use plenty of English loan-words, and they're not likely to stop because of the Academy's rulings. Language change rarely works by decree, but by common usage. English borrows words regularly, and so does Japanese, I've heard.