The French government has banned the use of the word "email" in all its ministries, documents, publications and websites.

　　In the latest step to stem an incursion of English words into the French language, the Culture Ministry says the term should be replaced with "courriel". The ministry's General Commission on Terminology and Neology insists internet surfers in France already use the phrase courrier electronique (electronic mail) instead of email.

　　The commission ruled: "Evocative, with a very French sound, the word courriel is broadly used in the press and competes advantageously with the borrowed mail in English." The commission has links to the Academie Francaise, the prestigious institution that has been one of the top opponents of allowing English terms to seep into French.

　　Some internet industry experts say the decision is artificial and doesn't reflect reality. Marie-Christine Levet, president of French internet service provider Club Internet, said: "The word courriel is not at all actively used. Email has sunk in to our values." She said Club Internet wasn't changing the words it uses, adding: "Protecting the language is normal, but email's so assimilated now that no one thinks of it as American. Courriel would just be a new word to launch."

　　法国政府日前明文规定禁止在政府的文件，出版物及网站上使用“email”这一“外来词”，而要用“courriel”这一法语单词来取代。

　　据法国文化部所言，这是为了阻止法语被英语单词“入侵”。文化部的语言及新用法委员会坚持认为，应该用“courrier electronique”（法语“电子邮件”的正式说法）代替“email”。委员会的规定指出：“‘courriel’一词是纯正的法语发音，比使用‘email’一词更有利于出现在版物中。”委员会已经取得了法兰西学院的支持，该学院是反对英文渗入法语的权威组织之一。不过，一些英特网工业专家就觉得这种做法是多此一举的。法国网络服务俱乐部的主席玛丽·克里丝蒂认为：“‘courriel’一词并不是很常用。‘email’一词已经植入我们的脑海了。”她认为网络俱乐部不会改变词语的用法，“保护语言无可口非，但是已经没有人认为‘email’是美语。‘Courriel’反而是一个新词。”