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[[Image:Sacre Coeur.jpg|thumb|Le Sacre Coeur.]]
[[Image:Sacre Coeur.jpg|thumb|Le Sacre Coeur.]]
The French language is controlled by the French Academy (''L'Académie française''). Members of the Academy are appointed for life so there is a very conservative approach to the changing demands on the language even going as far as banning words with an English origin. The French people (and other French speakers) often ignore the "correct" French and adopt modern English words. This can cause an even wider gap opening up between the cultural elite, who prefer to follow the official French even if it is many years and even decades out of date, and ordinary French speakers who prefer to have a more useful language. There have even been arguments between the government and the Academy over the introduction of "foreign" French words from countries like Belgium and Canada which the government is keen to use. Some even say that this painfully slow and traditional organization is strangling the French language.
The French language is controlled by the French Academy (''L'Académie française''). Members of the Academy are appointed for life so there is a very conservative approach to the changing demands on the language even going as far as banning words with an English origin. The French people (and other French speakers) often ignore the "correct" French and adopt modern English words. This can cause an even wider gap opening up between the cultural elite, who prefer to follow the official French even if it is many years and even decades out of date, and ordinary French speakers who prefer to have a more useful language. There have even been arguments between the government and the Academy over the introduction of "foreign" French words from countries like Belgium and Canada which the government is keen to use. Some even say that this painfully slow and traditional organization is strangling the French language.
=== Other French government efforts to protect French culture ===
In 2014, the website WorldPolicy.org reported:
{{Cquote|The concept of “Exception Culturelle” (cultural exception) was a term first introduced by France during the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiations in 1993. It refers to the fact that cultural goods and services should not be treated as regular goods in trade agreements and at the World Trade Organization. This concept allows countries to implement indirect trade barriers, such as quotas for the diffusion of foreign artistic work or subsidies to the local cultural sector. If it was initially meant to protect French culture from the foreign—mostly English language—content flooding the market, it is truly outdated and needs to evolve.
The tensions between a protectionist French government and the Hollywood film industry sums up two radically different views: the U.S. considers arts as an industry making profits, whereas Europe considers culture as the product of ideas that extend beyond strict commercial value. Jack Valenti, former head of the Motion Picture Association of America, once said during the Uruguay round, “Culture is like chewing-gum, a product like any other.” Contrastingly, French President Francois Mitterrand once said, “The mind’s creations are no mere commodities and can’t be treated as such.” Moreover, the notion of cultural diversity, a rich intellectual and artistic debate without profit-making consideration, is crucial in Europe...
The future of the French cultural exception is uncertain. On the positive side, the unexpected success of the Korean film industry should inspire European leaders.<ref>[https://worldpolicy.org/2014/11/03/france-ending-the-cultural-exception/ FRANCE: ENDING THE CULTURAL EXCEPTION], WorldPolicy.org</ref>}}
In 1996, the ''New York Times'' reported:
{{Cquote|The French Government, on a crusade to safeguard the country's culture from marauding forces of commercialism, has risen yet again to defend the national patrimony, setting up a foundation to involve the citizens directly in trying to protect some of the things that make France French.
Legislation to create the foundation was first introduced several years ago, as reports spread that Italian and Russian organized crime barons were buying up villas and other handsome properties in southern France.
The plans were approved last week by the Cabinet and are expected to be passed by the Parliament this spring, speeded by the news that a Japanse real estate magnate had bought nine castles in northern France, stripped some of their furnishings and, claiming bankruptcy, allowed all of them to decay.
The Culture Ministry says the aim of the new Heritage Foundation, which would begin its work next year, is to protect or manage those parts of the national patrimony that do not already have Government protection -- not the great cathedrals, palaces and mansions, but France's many chapels, mills, markets, country inns and landscapes. The ministry calculates that there may be 400,000 such spots.<ref>[France to Form New Body To Further Protect Culture], ''New York Times'', 1996</ref>}}
=== French cuisine ===
=== French cuisine ===