www.thebugle.eu ○ THE BUGLE ○ APRIL 2012
NATIONAL NEWS ♦ 7
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Breath test kits compulsory from July
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s reported in January’s edition of The Bugle, breath test kits ('éthylotests') are to become compulsory for motorists and motorcyclists in 2012. Originally, the new law had been expected to come into force in spring, but will now not take effect until 1st July. Under the new law, aimed at reducing the number of road deaths in France, it will be compulsory to have at least one unused and easily accessible breath test kit in your vehicle at all times. Anyone found not carrying this device will face a fine of €11, although a period of grace means that fines will not be enforced until 1st November 2012. According to Transport Ministry officials, the rule will equally be applied to foreign drivers and tourists, and only drivers of motorbikes less than 50cc will be exempt. The single-use kits can be purchased in supermarkets and pharmacies, as well as online and should cost no more than €1.50 each. Although they have been available in France since last November, manufacturers are now rushing to produce enough kits to meet the 1st July deadline. They are valid for up to 2 years and should bear the mark “NF” (Norme Française). Drivers are being advised to carry two in case they need to use one. The Bugle contacted Hertz car rental in Limoges to find out whether these new kits would now be included as standard in all hire cars from the summer, as is currently the case for the other compulsory car equipment (warning triangle, high visibility vest etc). Although unable to officially confirm anything, Hertz indicated that it is very likely that all hire cars would indeed come equipped with the new breathalyser kits. In 2011 there were approximately 4,000 deaths on the roads of France, with little change from 2010. Overall, alcohol is responsible for 31 per cent of all fatal road accidents with this figure rising to 58.7% for weekend night-time accidents. Opinion polls have said two in three voters in France approve of the new law. ■
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Brit poised to join France's elite
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istory could soon be made by a British academic who is hotly tipped to be voted into the Académie Française, the body that maintains the ‘purity’ of the French language. In the 400year history of the Academy, there has never been a Britishborn member, nor a member whose first language was English. The 40 members of the Academy are known as the “immortals” and Professor Michael Edwards hopes to now sit among them. The 73-year-old scholar's first language is English; he was born in Barnes, southwest London and did not speak his first word of French until he was 11. He is today a published poet in both English and French and is a professor at the Collège de France, the prestigious institution just across the road from the Sorbonne in Paris' Latin Quarter.
“From my very first lesson in French at 11 years old, I felt a sense of wonder, a sense of marvel, that there was a completely other way in which people could express themselves,” Professor Edwards said. He has lectured and written on Shakespeare in French and on the classical 17th-century French playwright Racine in English. To understand why his achievement, should he be accepted, is so exceptional, you first need to understand a bit about the history and workings of this venerable French institution. The Académie Française was created in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Its aim was to “fix the French language, giving it rules, rendering it pure and comprehensible by all”. Since then, the body of 40 immortals has met regularly, compiled 9 editions of a dictionary of the French
language and campaigned tirelessly to maintain the purity of French. Membership is for life – unless it is revoked for misconduct (for example, General Pétain was ejected following his Vichy government’s collaboration during the Second World War) – and new members are only elected when a post is freed up by the death of an immortal. Former notable members include Voltaire and Victor Hugo. One of the main roles of the Academy in the modern world is to come up with French words for “AngloSaxon” linguistic invaders like "email" (replaced with courriel). France introduced the “Toubon” law in 1994 making the use of French obligatory in official government publications, in state-funded schools, in advertisements and French workplaces. This means, for example, that all English words on billboards must come with a French
translation in a footnote. Each French ministry also has its own commission of terminology and neologisms, whose job is to track down English terms and offer French alternatives. They send their proposals to the Academy, which debates the new terms and rubber stamps them. Unfortunately for the Académie Française, however, its rulings are only advisory. Once the language of the world's elite, French now ranks as only the eighth most spoken language in the world and its influence is clearly receding. French teenagers and twentysomethings talk of "le buzz", they wear "les leggings" and enjoy "happy hour" in "le pub", immune to the protestations of the Academy. The Academy has also struggled with its image as an elitist club for crusty old men, something that led it to pass a motion last year barring those over 75 from joining – the average age of the immortals is
currently around 78. Professor Edwards hopes that the innate ‘anti-English’ philosophy of the Academy will not count against him and points out that he himself is a staunch defender of the purity and integrity of French. Speaking to The Independent, he said: “This is a moment of crisis for French and it makes sense, I believe, for the Academy to choose someone who comes from, as it were, the opposite camp but has become a champion of the special importance and beauty of the French language.” “The Academy is sometimes mocked abroad and even in France for trying to defend the French language from debasement in the modern world. But the Academy is quite right to do so. Quite right. French is not just a beautiful language. It represents a way of looking at the world, a way of ‘naming the world’, a pattern of thought, which is quite different from our own.” ■