The Committee for the Enrichment of the French Language presented in the Official Gazette about twenty translations of English terms used regularly in the world of video games.
“Streamer”, “cloud gaming” and “e-sport”: Several English words have entered the common vocabulary of video games and audiovisual gadgets in recent years. The Commission for the Enrichment of the French Language, which is responsible for proposing translations and definitions of foreign expressions, has considered this environment and has just made Published in the Official Gazette A list of about twenty translations.
The translation of words such as “free-to-play”, “retrogaming” or even “pro-gamer” has been replaced, respectively, by the words “video game in free access”, “video game retro” and “professional player-she”. More fun, ‘cloud games’ (playing online video games without downloading them) are rejected in ‘cloud video games’.
“Esports” is translated as “competitive video game”. In its observations on this matter, the Committee specifies that the term “esports” is not recommended.
The term “streamer” refers to users of streaming platforms, including Amazon’s Twitch, which is most popular. This term has been replaced by “player, -euse-animator, live -trice, player, live -euse”. Translating can be a bit simplified, as the video game activities on the platform have gone beyond.
Administrative use
However, do not panic: the French language police will not arrest those who continue to use the word “strimmer”. These translations are intended “for administration and government institutions, and serve as a reference, particularly for technical writers and translators”.
“The primary task of the system of enrichment of the French language is to create new terms and expressions in order to fill the gaps in our vocabulary and to designate concepts and facts that appear under foreign names in the French language,” the commission notes on its website.
The commission is in particular, for example, at the origin of the term “disclosure”, which became official in 2020, which refers to “spoilers” in the audiovisual world, that is, the fact of revealing elements of a plot before watching a movie or series.
