English? Non merci, French minister tells fellow citizens

French culture minister Franck Riester arrives at the Elysee Palace for the weekly cabinet meeting in Paris, France.

France’s culture minister has urged people to cut down on their increasing use of English, in the latest effort to protect the French language, even though President Emmanuel Macron himself often slips English idioms into his speech.

France has long been proud of its culture and language, and has constantly sought to defend it against the encroachment of the English language and the habits of the United States, which are often dismissively referred to as “Les Anglo-Saxons”.