Est-ce que c’est le email ou le courriel? Have you heard that the French government has banned the use of the word “email” (too American) in official documents? Instead, the phrase “courrier electronique” or courriel for short is to be used.
I checked in with Renan Ayrault, a French colleague and friend who is Director, Product Management for CarFax to get his spin on this linguistically sensitive topic. He replied: “Courriel is not a bad word if you ask me, but I don’t think it will become the predominant word. I have seen it used in magazines and newspaper for letters to the editor, but never heard friends or family using it. I just checked on four Web sites: auchan.fr (one of the largest grocery stores / hypermarket chain in France), renault.fr, wanadoo.fr (largest ISP), and fnac.fr (largest bookstore chain in France). All were using email or e-mail …so I stand by my comments.”
Zut, alors. Just goes to show that the Internet is a force of nature not even the French government can regulate.
OK, it’s obvious I have a new addiction. First it was email (still is; spend way too much time on it). Now it’s blogging. Last post for today… Eammon Fitzgerald writes intelligently on how we (the U.S.) should be dealing with the military dictatorship that has Burma (Myanmar) in a stranglehold. I traveled to Myanmar in February of this year and was profoundly affected by the beauty of the country and the gentleness of the people. Buddhism suffuses the daily rhythms of life in a way that is hard to ignore - and tempting to embrace. You can read my comment at the end of Eammon’s blog entry.
Good interview by Eamonn Fitzgerald with German e-business consultant and blogger Martin Roell that explains it clearly. It’s in English. I met Martin at the ClickZ blogging conference. He’s very young and very smart. Note the little country flags in the upper right-hand corner of his blog. Click on one to translate from German into English, French, Spanish, etc. Clever, huh?!
Most useful comment I picked up yesterday at the annual NEPA conference here in Washington DC was from a senior UK publisher of business information. “Americans don’t get it when it comes to marketing products online to Europeans,” he said (very politely, BTW). “If you want us to buy, tell us how much your product costs in £’s (UK pounds) or €’s (Euros).”
Hmmm… makes total sense, doesn’t it? Why expect a potential customer to go through the mental gyration of translating your USD’s into local currency. It’s easier to delete your offer - and move on.
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