Ensuring the use of French
All citizens have the democratic right guaranteed by law to receive information and to express themselves in their language. The DGLFLF ensures interdepartmental monitoring and coordination of the application of legislative texts concerning the French language, in particular the law of 4 August 1994 known as the Toubon law, the name of the minister who had it adopted. These provisions help to ensure the health and safety of consumers and employees by requiring the use of French in a large number of everyday circumstances. A report is submitted annually to Parliament on the application of this act.
France has always been a multilingual space where the language of the court has long rubbed shoulders with many regional speakers. In 1539, Francis 1er sign in his castle of Villers-Cotterêts an edict which imposes French instead of Latin for acts of justice and civil status. French unification, begun in the 16th century, accelerated with the French Revolution. Subsequently, “the one and indivisible Republic” saw in the plurality of languages an obstacle to the unity of the French. The war of 1914-1918, by gathering soldiers from all parts of France into the trenches, contributed to the development of French in all walks of life. Since the 1960s, the French language has become established in all areas, thanks to the widespread access to television, which has brought about a unification of language practices. This democratization contributed to the reduction of the divide that had existed until then, among most French people, between the written language and the spoken language.
France has a long tradition of intervention on language. For fifty years, the decline of the nation-state, the development of the European construction, the globalization of trade have led to a relative decline in the importance of French, especially in Europe.
This evolution led the legislator to introduce an important innovation in our law in 1992 with Article 2 of the Constitution which provides that «the language of the Republic is French».
The specificity of France’s language policy is due to its global character: the «right to French» concerns both the consumer sector and that of work, public services or even teaching, advertising etc. This right is based on the Law of 4 August 1994, which is a reference text for the use of our language.
The legal framework
The legal framework is not intended to preserve the purity of French by hunting for foreign words: it concerns the presence of French and not its content. It marks the desire to maintain French as an element of social cohesion and means of international communication, in a France that wants to be open to the outside and a stakeholder of globalization.
The 1994 act sets out the principle that the French language is the language of education, work, exchanges and public services, and “the privileged link between the states that make up the Francophonie community”.
It aims to guarantee our fellow citizens a “right to French”, by allowing them, in particular, to have in their daily lives, at work, for access to knowledge and culture, information in the French language to ensure their safety and health.
The use of French in social life
Consumption
The legal provisions concerning information and consumer protection are the cornerstone of the institutional structure established to guarantee the use of French in social life. They are the subject of particular attention by the administration (the Directorate-General for Consumer Affairs, Competition and the Suppression of Fraud) as approved associations for the defence of the French language.
The world of work
The Law of 4 August 1994 on the use of the French language lays down the principle that French is the language of work. To ensure that the social dialogue in the company is carried out in good conditions, that the safety and health of workers are protected, that employees who do not have skills in other languages are not penalized, the law imposes French in a number of documents.
Since the Law of 4 May 2004 on lifelong vocational training and social dialogue, the Labour Code recognizes the French language as a professional competence. The learning and fight against illiteracy are now eligible for vocational training.
The media and advertising
The Law of 4 August 1994 imposes the use of French in the context of the marketing and promotion, particularly by audiovisual means, of goods and services. In all cases where mentions, announcements and inscriptions are completed with one or more translations, the presentation in French must be as legible, audible and intelligible as that in foreign languages.
The mission of the Professional Advertising Regulatory Authority (ARPP) is to promote fair, truthful and healthy advertising in the interests of consumers, the public and advertising professionals. In order to do so, it has various types of action: development of codes of ethics, compliance of advertising before broadcast or intervention in the event of breaches after broadcast.
The production and transmission of knowledge
Languages in their diversity are vectors of thought and rich in scientific content. Living cultural heritage, they cannot be reduced to mere communication tools. Under the provisions of the Law of 4 August 1994, the language of instruction, examinations and competitions, as well as theses and dissertations in public and private educational institutions, is French.
In addition, in order for knowledge to continue to be conceived and spread in a plurality of languages, the Ministry of Culture has set up a fund to support interpretation in scientific events of international scope taking place in France. The Pascal fund provides an opportunity for all those who have made the effort to learn our language to express themselves and share their knowledge in French.
Beyond that, ensuring the transmission of knowledge through the use of translation, digitization and better referencing of publications resulting from this work in French remains a crucial issue for the intellectual and cultural life of our country.
The Roberval Prize
Its purpose is to promote the dissemination of scientific and technical culture in the French language by distinguishing the authors of works promoting the discovery of technology and scientific knowledge with a view to appropriation and understanding by everyone of the current technological world.
