My Goodness, How I Love L'Academie Francaise

What about "webcomics"? What are the French going to do with that?!?

While the thorough committee process in that article *is* rather hilarious, I'd like to point out that there's a difference between "kindergarten"/"sushi" and saying every other word in english when theoretically you're actually trying to speak a different language. I am originally Russian, and the amount of english present in modern Russian speech is sort of ridiculous, especially on TV.
Though I guess both the problem and the solution lie mostly in what the people of the country think is cool, not in some academy or committee.

We get the WSJ at work, and I find at least one thing that's interesting in section A every day.

Not interesting enough to subscribe at home, but . . .

As you see, French went from an important language for world diplomacy into one that English speakers laugh at for one reason or another. I think it is a fine idea that they are fighting to keep it in good shape.

There are Spanish speakers in the US that will say things like "Como se dice en inglese 'ice cream'?" and that is the sort of thing the academy wants to prevent.

When we all move to having to use Chinese for everything, lets see how much we fight back.

It is a very funny strip, but Asterix would have been more appropriate than Tin Tin in the final panel. Tin Tin is a Belgian comic, not French.

That's what's so absurd about L'Academie Francaise, is that whatever they decide isn't necessarily what the French people will use. Language remains one of the more obvious anarchic institutions of modern society. This doesn't mean we will necessarily have a modern Tower of Babel, because people use language to communicate with other people, and will have to find common ground to work with. It does mean, however, that there are endless variants and dialects possible, as some people will want to separate their particular social or business group from others, and a distinct language or slang is one way to do that.
In short, everyone's "bi-lingual" to the extent that tney know a standard or common version of their language, and also that they know some slang or dialect that they use with their social peers or group.

But Tin tin was written in French, even if it didn't come from France. And I only have my limited experience to go off of, but I think Tin Tin is much more familiar to American audiences - using Asterix would require a footnote explaining what it was, which weakens the overall joke of the strip. IMHO, anyway.

I hadn't considered that. Asterix is at least as well known as Tin Tin here in Britain, possibly more.

I had Asterix books when I was a kid, and didn't really know anything about Tin-tin until I was an adult. Even though one of my Asterix books had a Tin-tin reference!
But the line in the strip could also be interpreted another way: [If you want something outside of France, ] is Tin-Tin not good enough for you?

At least in France they are serious about encouraging the use of the French language. Far too many British organisations are forced to waste vast amounts of cash translating official documents etc into a squillion different languages so that immigrants into the UK don't have to do anything difficult like actually learning the language of the country in which they have chosen to arrive.

Vive la France (well, anyway vive l'Academie which deserves admiration for recognising the genius of Marcel Pagnol, if for no other reason)

Seasonings Greetings, everybody ~
Pardon for resurrecting an olde topic (I've been out of it for a while & trying to catch up), but I found this particular subject / discussion & accompanying strip particularly interesting, especially being that my girlfriend brought it to my attention over the weekend.
ANYway,...well...I guess I don't really have anything worthwhile to add ~ except for maybe the fact that I just so happened to be gnawinig on an old French baguette at the time of my viewing...fascinating, huh...?
O_o
Indeed, though ~ seems to be yet another instance when truth is stranger than fiction!
(or, at least, pretty darn close)