Should we defend French?

‘Ne craignons pas d’être un peu puristes‘ keeps saying TV5’s Professor Cerquiglini.’Let’s not fear being purists’.

In this video for example, he has a little rant about the word ‘frontière‘. Although he has interesting things to teach us about language, his criticisms of ‘anglicismes‘  or ‘americanismes‘ (= words or meanings directly imported into French from English or American English) he is very representative of the reactionary attitude of some 60+ people.

Does it really matter to use the word French word ‘frontière‘ with its amercican meaning? The members of  the ‘Défense de la langue française‘ would say, yes! The younger generations, on the other hand, just love mixing things up! The more ‘anglicismes‘ you can fit in your speech, the better. It proves you understand English and are open to the world.

Languages constantly evolve because they are living entities.

The incorporation of English into French is a good sign! It proves that the French language is secure enough to welcome new words and acceptations into its own body. And vice versa: the ladies and gentlemen of the ‘Défense‘ seem to ignore how many French words and expressions are used in English! Or is that the exchange is more acceptable to them that way round?…

In any case, we don’t need to defend French, it’s doing just fine! We should just continue loving it and speaking it alongside other languages.