French language advocates sue Notre Dame over English translations

Activists argue that translating cathedral signs into English promotes the dominance of that language.

French language advocates are suing Notre Dame Cathedral for only translating signs into English.

They filed a complaint against the monument in a Paris court on Monday, March 20, International Francophonie Day, an annual celebration of the French language and Francophone culture.

The association at the origin of the complaint, the protection of the French language, only the translation of signs into English promotes the international dominance of the language.

He had already managed to enforce changes to another Parisian monument: he filed the same complaint against the Eiffel Tower. Spanish symbols will now be introduced alongside English and French symbols.

Their campaign is on the side of the law. A 1994 French regulation requires all public buildings to translate signs into at least two languages.

Following a devastating fire in 2019, several panels explaining the reconstruction work at Notre-Dame are written in English and French.

This is not the first time that the use of the English language has caused controversy.

Historically, it was not only the translation of the marks into English that was controversial in France, but also the use of English.

An example was in 2019 when the mayor of Marennes-Hiers-Brouage in Charente-Maritime, Mickaël Vallet, led a personal counterattack. Anglicism And telecom giant Orange banned the ad campaign until it renamed its Orange truck after its city. Orange truck.

He went so far as to say that the British were attacking French citizens.

British attack on civilians. @GroupeLaPoste @Orange And other big companies are collapsing and dishonoring their history. Here is my letter explaining my refusal to recognize the “Orange Truck” in the Commune’s public domain. pic.twitter.com/JD5J2JJ34M

— Michael Vallet (@mickaelvallet) November 6, 2019

Eventually, Orange agreed to rebrand its truck as the “Fiber-Truck”, which it was very proud of.

Welcome to the “Fiber Truck”. @Orange A @MarennesHB
January 20 informational meeting @thurai17 at very high speed.
As in, all you have to do is, we have in common: listen and be aware of the language. https://t.co/G8rEZYzisv

— Michael Vallet (@mickaelvallet) January 15, 2020

In addition to the ongoing cases with Notre-Dame, the French language association’s defense is also targeting 20 public bodies, including the national postal company La Poste, under the name “Ma French Bank” for its banking service.

You can learn more about the association (in French) on their website Here.