25th March 2021.

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/official-french-dictionary-now-includes-worldwide-french-usage/5824848.html When I read this web article it reminded me the new French words emerged as the Covid-19 crisis: “confinement”… It is interesting how a language can evolve.

The Dictionnaire des francophones is one of the emblematic measures of the French presidential plan for the French language and multilingualism unveiled in 2018. It is presented as part of French Language and Francophonie Week.

https://www.institutfrancais.com/en/close-up/launch-of-the-dictionnaire-des-francophones

A new online dictionary, called the French speakers’ dictionary, includes new French words from around the world. It was released on March 18, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron proposed the idea of the dictionary in 2018. It now contains about 600,000 terms.

Roselyne Bachelot is the French Culture Minister. She said the dictionary is not just for France’s 67 million citizens, but for the 300 million French speakers worldwide. The aim, supporters say, is to recognize the way language changes. Words and expressions included in the dictionary come from over 50 countries – even from the United States. Some people in the southern U.S. state of Louisiana speak French.

People can see the dictionary on a website or with an app. Users can also send in new words they think should be included. Official dictionaries produced by the French Academy in Paris were first published hundreds of years ago and are regularly updated.

Introducing the project in 2018, Macron said France needed to understand that it did “not carry the destiny of the French language on its own.” He added that France is “a country among others” that learns, speaks and writes in French. Other French dictionaries are changing, too. But this is the first time a dictionary supported by the French government has included words that are not often used in France.

#lingomix #languages #languagelearning #France #french