An organisation, which if its name were to be rendered in English – mon dieu! – would be the Association for the Defence of the French Language, has sued Notre-Dame Cathedral for displaying signs regarding its ongoing reconstruction work in English, alongside French. Claiming that translating public signs only in the mother tongue of perfidious Albion serves to increase the ‘international dominance’ of that language, a spokesperson for the association lamented, ‘If there is a foreign language, it is always Anglo-American.’ He, of course, said this in French.
Earlier, the organisation had filed a complaint against that other iconic Parisian landmark, the Eiffel Tower, on similar grounds and threatened the monument with legal action, causing it to add Spanish to its signage, along with French and English. According to the 1994 Toubon Law, which made French the language of administrative correspondence under Article 2 of the country’s constitution, which stipulates that ‘French is the language of the Republic’, all public notifications must be in Francais, and in at least one other language.
Armed with this legislative ammunition, the association is also pursuing legal action against 20 other public institutions, including the national post office, the banking service of which is called ‘Ma French Bank.’ ‘The law protects French because it promotes linguistic pluralism,’ said the association spokesperson, justifying the organisation’s opposition to English enjoying a monopoly under the two-language ruling.
In Francophone echoes of the Hindi heartland’s recurrent clarion calls of ‘Angrezi hatao!’, the august 400-year-old Academie Francaise, the traditional custodian of the French language founded by Louis 13th, has joined the fray and called upon the prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, to scrap the country’s 2021 biometric identity card – the equivalent of our Aadhar card – for its ‘excessive’ and ‘unconstitutional’ use of English by incorporating terms like ‘Given name’, and ‘Date of birth’.
President Emmanuel Macron’s administration, already facing nationwide protests about the raising of the working age from 62 to 64, is also under attack from the far Right for its alleged failure to safeguard against the ‘erasing of French culture’ and identity, and allowing the EU flag to be flown on the Arc de Triomphe.
Marine Le Pen, presidential candidate for the right-wing National Rally Party, backed the Academie for ‘defending our language in the face of continued invasion of English,’ adding the time has come to ‘elect a president proud of French and French culture’. Language politics can be a war by other means, and if Le Pen has her way, Macron might become toast. Of the French variety, naturellement. Alors, c’est la guerre. Meanwhile, back at the Rialto, in la bella Italia, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s ruling Brothers of Italy party has declared open season on the use of foreign languages, specifically targeting la lingua inglese. Under new legislation introduced by a party member, and backed by the PM, Italians nabbed using English and other staniero words could face fines of up to 100,000.
Italy’s linguistic ire is particularly directed at ‘Anglomania’, as represented by the use of English words, which ‘demeans and mortifies’ the language of Dante, who may well have concurred with the infernal caveat, ‘Abandon inglese all ye who enter here.’ The issue has been compounded by Brexit, and the banning of Made-in-Britain verbalisation might also be a way of saying ‘EU’ll be made to pay for your desertion.’
The bill also requires any holder of public office to have ‘written and oral knowledge and mastery of the Italian language’. Under the mooted legislation, the culture ministry would set up a committee dedicated to ensuring the correct use of the Italian language and its pronunciation in schools, media, commerce, and advertising. As an example of lingual solecism, a report cites that if the popular Italian snack of bruschetta is pronounced ‘breshetta’ instead of the kosher ‘bru-sketta’ it would constitute a punishable offence.
Will such linguistic jingoism in Europe fan the flames of Angrezi hatao movements not only in India but also, perhaps, in a foreign field that might one day be forever Hindi? Who knows? It may well happen Sunak rather than later.
