France bans English gamer slang in favour of much wordier French alternatives

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As part of France's ongoing effort to preserve the purity of its language, the government is banning a slew of anglicised gamer slang in favour of French alternatives.

As reported by The Guardian, the ministry of culture cited "a barrier to understanding" for non-gamers as a reason behind swapping the loanwords in favour of more traditional French ones. Pro gamer gets a pretty straightforward translation to "joueur professionnel," which translates to "professional player." Cloud gaming becomes "jeu video en nuage," the translation remaining pretty much identical to the source material.

Others are a bit jankier. The word streamer is now "joueur-animateur en direct," loosely translating to "direct live player" which doesn't quite have the same ring to it. Esports also gets an alternative term, now referred to as "jeu video de competition," translating to "competitive videogame." 

It's worth noting that technically the new terms are only binding for government workers, with the changes being issued earlier this week. Whether the terms will end up spreading to the wider population remains to be seen. Considering many French people still use terms like "email" instead of the government-mandated "courriel," it seems fairly unlikely. 

Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.