English gaming terms such as streamer, season pass or free-to-play (F2P) are totally established in Germany, but also internationally. Apparently, France has had enough of that.
In today’s gaming world, many elements related to new releases have become indispensable. Many games enter Early Access before they are fully released. Likewise, games often come with a Season Pass that provides players with additional DLCs after release.
There are free games that are free-to-play, but there are also games with unfair financing models that are pay-to-win. Top players make their money as pro gamers, and when you don’t want to play yourself, you watch streamers.
Here in Germany, all of these and many more English terms have long settled into the video game cosmos. You got used to it.
And in France there is now a counter-movement.
This is what’s going on in France: Of course, there is also gambling in France, and the government has noticed that too. However, one does not seem to be completely satisfied here: As the AFP news agency reports, according to the French Ministry of Culture, the many Anglicisms are intended to create a language barrier that non-gamers could find difficult to understand (via theguardian).
Several terms from the gaming sector have now been published in France’s official gazette, for which there are said to be French alternatives. These now have to be used, for example, by public representatives such as authorities and other government institutions.
“Pro-gaming” and “e-sport” are becoming jeu vidéo de compétition
How does it look now? In total, it is a collection of 19 terms that get new translations. You can find the complete list in the official state gazette (via legifrance.gov).
A list of certain terms and their new, official translations were presented there. Depending on your knowledge of French, they can be understood more or less quickly.
The “season pass”, for example, becomes “passe saisonnier”, “early access” is now called “accès anticipé”. It’s still pretty easy on the lips.
It gets more exciting when you look at the word “e-sport”, for example. This should be translated as “jeu vidéo de compétition”, which at least for the less experienced looks quite cumbersome.
Other examples are:
Gaming doesn’t happen the same way everywhere – you can see that, for example, in the current controversy about Diablo Immortal in the Netherlands and Belgium.
From a German point of view, the story with the terms may seem unusual at first, but in France it is not so unusual that Anglicisms or other foreign terms are avoided. Anyone who has ever been to France will have noticed this.
From a state perspective, too, language is always an issue, as can be seen in the example above. This was even institutionalized: the Acádemie française, for example, was originally founded with the purpose of “protecting” the French language.
How do you see the topic? Would you like something like that in Germany – or are you quite satisfied with the terms? Tell us in the comments.
And yes – there are actually a few terms that may not be immediately obvious to you if you are not familiar with the topic. If you want to put your knowledge to the test, here’s a quiz on terms every MMO gamer should know.