Increasingly I hear about people who are reading British newspapers because: 1. people can read news online and 2. British newspapers are in English. The Internet has ratcheted English up another notch as a lingua franca.
In France, the preposterous Academie Francaise (think of the DMV run by philosophy professors) is fighting a losing battle against the rise of English. It creates mandated alternative words for things like ‘le Walkman’ (‘le Baladeur’), which nobody really uses and enforces laws which dictate that websites in France must not be only in English.
Preservation of cultural diversity is a noble cause, but global heterogeneity does not stem from enforced regional homogeneity. i.e. instead of artificially propping up a language, how about promoting French culture and ideas?
At this time more than ever it is important that France communicates its views to a wider audience – and on the web that means English versions of French newspapers. France will suffer badly in the long run if it does not provide English versions of its online media.
Liberation – in French only.
Le Monde – in French only.
Le Figaro – in French only.