17 Februari, 2007 - Published 17:57 GMT

Perancis protes bahasa Inggris

Leading the charge of the French language brigade in its latest skirmish was French MP Jacques Miyar. Unusually for a man of the right, the troops following him into battle are trade unionists and language pressure groups, united in a new French resistance. The enemy is the English language. It's colonised French screens, infiltrated French music and now it's conquering the French workplace - in e-mails, or 'le mail' and 'sur le web' on 'l'internet' and even on 'les news'. All this has to stop, says Mr Miyar.

JACQUES MIYAR:

I think this is very dangerous because you know French language is the spirit of France. It will be a big mistake that those enterprises who want to make business in France impose their own cultural way. We French have been imperialists long before them, you know, and we know how it works. So I do believe that it is now time to react and say 'stop your nonsense, respect people, learn French, learn German, learn Chinese and Arabic as well as English'.

The French did legislate against English on the radio but it keeps creeping back by other routes. Seven percent of French firms use it as their main language, while multi-nationals send e-mails to their French workers in English, regardless of whether they understand them or not. All this is clearly a huge blow to French pride, although nobody here is willing to admit defeat even as 'les business' and 'les managers' continue to help the enemy's advance.

Caroline Wyatt, BBC News, Paris

skirmish
debat singkat, adu argumentasi ringan, pertentangan kecil

a man of the right
orang yang pandangan politiknya konservatif bukannya liberal atau sayap kiri

colonised
mengambil alih kendali politik atas suatu wilayah atau negara, tapi di sini, mengambil alih kendali politik atas film yang diputar di bioskop

infiltrated
menyusup, menjadi bagian dari sesuatu secara bertahap, atau tanpa menarik perhatian, agar bisa mengubah atau membahayakannya - di sini bahasa Inggris menjadi bagian dari musik Perancis

enterprises
perusahaan, organisasi, firma, bisnis

impose
memaksa orang lain menerima cara, keyakinan atau gagasan

imperialists
negara-negara yang merebut kendali politik, ekonomi dan budaya wilayah atau negara lain yang lebih miskin atau lebij lemah daripada mereka sendiri

creeping back
pelahan-lahan kembali, berangsur-angsur muncul kembali

multi-nationals
perusahaan atau bisnis yang beroperasi di lebih dari satu negara

a huge blow
kekecewan besar, kekecewaan mendalam, kemunduran besar