Comment Re:Technically... (Score 2, Insightful) 554
The English language, sadly, is not standardised, which is why we have differences like “kerb” and “curb”, “lorry” and “truck”, “lift” and “elevator”, and so on, and so forth.
French, on the other hand, has L’Académie française, an institute that actually does define a standard French language. Québec also has their own OQLF (who will have none of that bastard English in their French, merci beaucoups) and they’re both happily ignored by the Acadians and northern Québécois, who speak their own dialects and who are almost completely incomprehensible by people who speak real French (Joual in particular is nasty; it’s barely considered French).
Okay, so having a standardised version of French hasn’t exactly helped matters, but there is a Defined French Language, unlike English. That’s what happens when there are two major world powers, both speaking the same language, neither of whom will bow to other in such affairs!