Spelling Changes to French Language
Spelling changes will be coming to the French language soon. With the start of the new school year in September the spelling of about 2,400 French words will change . Many hyphens will disappear and the circumflex will be taken out of some words.
Across the country teachers, intellectuals, writers and politicians have protested against the change in spelling. There has also been uproar on social media websites.
Education officials stated that the changes were approved by the Académie Française, the the watchdog council that oversees language changes, back in 1990. They were optional but schoolbooks and newspapers simply ignored them. In 2008 the French education ministry suggested making the changes but nobody really took any notice. Now they are becoming mandatory in schools.
French is considered to be one of the more difficult world languages. The Académie Française says that the new spelling rules should make it simpler. The circumflex will disappear above the "i" and the "u" , where the accent does not change pronunciation or meaning, but will stay where it is needed. Moreover, both spellings will be accepted.
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Words
- accept = here: you can use it
- approve = accept
- circumflex = a sign "∧" over a letter ; it shows that it is spoken differently than a letter without it.
- consider = think
- disappear = go away
- hyphen = the symbol "-" that is used to join to words together
- ignore = not care
- intellectual = well-educated
- mandatory = something that you have to do
- official = person in a high position in the government
- optional = you can choose if you want to do it
- oversee = to make sure something is being done the right way
- politician = a person who works in politics or is a member of the government or parliament
- pronunciation = the way words in a sentence sound
- rule = instruction that tells you how something should be done
- social media = websites that let people communicate with each other or share information and pictures
- state = to say officially
- take notice = pay attention, care about
- uproar = a lot of people are angry or complain about something they don't like
- watchdog council = here: an organization that makes sure rules and laws are kept