WHAT DID THEY SAY?!

That’s what I hear day in, day out on the French national radio, France Inter. What does it tell you? That even educated, media-savvy people in France cannot speak English, even at the most basic level. 

It is a subject of constant banter and jokes among presenters on the station. Personally, it makes me cringe, and I cannot understand why on a national radio, the standards are so low. 

Actually, only 28% of French people can speak English. So, why do global brands insist on keeping their taglines in English? 

What they don’t get is “la difference culturelle” and the kind of resistance, conscious or not, to the Anglo-Saxon influence. And the further South you go, the less this influence is perceptible. The king of mispronunciation when it comes to English on France Inter is indeed someone originating from the South West of France.

But we are facing an even greater misunderstanding when it comes to the subject of AI. AI is entirely based on Anglo-Saxon sources with an inbuilt bias. And it’s going to be harder and harder to get tailored advertising destined to the French market from global brands. The disconnect between the message and the target will consequently get worse.

So what to do? Hire a French copywriter and transcreator who will transform your tagline and content in English into intelligible French and a message that all French people will be able to understand and identify with.