Toubon Law
Linguistic purist law in France / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Toubon Law?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
The Toubon Law (full name: law 94-665 of 4 August 1994 relating to usage of the French language) is a French law mandating the use of the French language in official government publications, in all advertisements, in all workplaces, in commercial contracts, in some other commercial communication contexts, in all government-financed schools, and some other contexts.[1]
The law does not concern private, non-commercial communications, such as non-commercial web publications by private bodies. It does not concern books, films, public speeches, and other forms of communications not constituting commercial activity. However, the law mandates the use of the French language in all broadcast audiovisual programs, with exceptions for musical works and "original version" films.[2] Broadcast musical works are subject to quota rules under a related law whereby a minimum percentage of television shows and 35%[3] of songs on the radio must be in the French language.[2]
The law takes its common name from Jacques Toubon, who was Minister of Culture when it was passed, and who proposed the law to the National Assembly of France. A nickname is Loi Allgood – "Allgood" is a morpheme-for-morpheme translation of "Toubon" into English ("All Good" being a translation of "Tout bon") – as the law can largely be considered to have been enacted in reaction to the increasing usage of English in advertisements and other areas in France. As the law sought to strengthen French as the dominant language within the country and its territories, the law also ‘came under considerable attack from the European Commission which regarded its provisions as particularly offensive to the concept of free competition across national borders.’[4]