Why is everything now being spoken in English instead of French?

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Apparently, in recent years, Disneyland Resort Paris has been slowly dispensing French as the main language of the resort in favor of English. Many things nowadays are spoken in both French and English or even just English. Shouldn't French be used more often? I'm sure it must pain the French to know that their language is being ignored, and I'm pretty sure that this is not helping the park's relentlessly shaky reputation. But why is French being dispensed? in favor of English?
 

LondonTom

Well-Known Member
Apparently, in recent years, Disneyland Resort Paris has been slowly dispensing French as the main language of the resort in favor of English. Many things nowadays are spoken in both French and English or even just English. Shouldn't French be used more often? I'm sure it must pain the French to know that their language is being ignored, and I'm pretty sure that this is not helping the park's relentlessly shaky reputation. But why is French being dispensed? in favor of English?
Tell that to Star Tours!


Odd if anything I feel like its got more French over my few years of going, I think the 50/50 splits are the best idea for attractions/shows as you have a lot of other languages spoken there, and a sizeable amount of guests from the UK (but there may be some bias there!)
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tell that to Star Tours!


Odd if anything I feel like its got more French over my few years of going, I think the 50/50 splits are the best idea for attractions/shows as you have a lot of other languages spoken there, and a sizeable amount of guests from the UK (but there may be some bias there!)
What about Avengers Campus? Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't that entirely in English?
 

cjkeating

Well-Known Member
What about Avengers Campus? Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't that entirely in English?
You clearly haven’t seen the treat that is Tom Holland dubbed into French while there is a computer voice in English!

I’d say the balance is still around 50/50. Sometimes a show or ride will feel a bit imbalanced but overall it’s still a mix.

Don’t forget most people in Europe have a good to decent grasp of English which the Spanish/Italian/Dutch/German etc. guests will understand more than French.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You clearly haven’t seen the treat that is Tom Holland dubbed into French while there is a computer voice in English!

I’d say the balance is still around 50/50. Sometimes a show or ride will feel a bit imbalanced but overall it’s still a mix.

Don’t forget most people in Europe have a good to decent grasp of English which the Spanish/Italian/Dutch/German etc. guests will understand more than French.
But wouldn't that reinforce the old criticism of Disneyland Resort Paris as an invasion of French culture, which was one big reason why the resort had struggled to begin with?
 

mrflo

Well-Known Member
I think the 'cultural invasion' was more a topic of the French media, local farmers, some French intellectuals, etc. before the park even opened. Disney had to adjust culturally to things like breakfast offerings and alcohol servings. But the financial struggles were mainly due to a recession combined with too many hotel rooms and a huge debt to begin with.

To me DLP seemed more European in the 90s with more international Cast Members and attractions offered in many European languages. I think today it is more French than ever including the language spoken, Marketing & Management. In order for DLP's business to work it also needs to appeal to European visitors outside of France. In terms of ambition, quality & language these days DLP is acting too often like a local French theme park rather than the European flagship resort of the Disney empire.
 

Ripken10

Well-Known Member
It was explained to us that the reason for the 50/50 split was that Paris is the most visited city in the world. More people from around the world visit Paris then anywhere. The most universal language they could use that the most individuals could understand was English. So they used French and English as the primary languages. I doubt they are removing the French language.

I just remember waiting for the fireworks and hearing the "Disney's nighttime entertainment will begin in 10 minutes..." - they would go through more languages for this message than anything else at the resort, but by the time they finished going through that message they almost immediately had to start the next message "Disney's nighttime entertainment will begin in 5 minutes..."
 

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
I just remember waiting for the fireworks and hearing the "Disney's nighttime entertainment will begin in 10 minutes..." - they would go through more languages for this message than anything else at the resort, but by the time they finished going through that message they almost immediately had to start the next message "Disney's nighttime entertainment will begin in 5 minutes..."

I don't know if this is still true, but there used to be 6 official languages at DLP, which is why the main park announcements are all done in English and French, plus German, Spanish and others.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Another question: why, at Disney Studios Paris, are the displayed movie posters the original American ones and not the French-language ones?
 

Haymarket

Well-Known Member
I'm sure it must pain the French to know that their language is being ignored, and I'm pretty sure that this is not helping the park's relentlessly shaky reputation. But why is French being dispensed? in favor of English?
There are a few incorrect, unsubstantiated assumptions here. I'm not sure where you derive your certainty about the state of each of these things.

1) It doesn't "pain the French": ask suburban and urban French people younger than 40 or so. It's really not an issue.

2) The French language is not being ignored (see, e.g., the video of Avengers Campus above)

3) Exactly what do you mean by a "shaky reputation," and what makes you think that whatever that means has been "relentless?"
  • Theme parks are still stigmatized in France quite a bit compared to how Americans and in particular East Asians (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans) view theme parks, but Disneyland Park (Paris) is no more stigmatized among the French than any other European theme park. In fact, it's seen as a premium experience, as far as theme parks go. Walt Disney Studios Park has an inferior reputation, but that's just because it's an inferior park for a major-name European theme park, which any European theme park fan will tell you.
Do you know any French people under 40? Ask them: in the last 15 years or so, the average educated French person has come to understand most of what's being said in English, and it's largely been because of YouTube.

The French have succumbed to Globish, basically, at about 80% the level it's taken over Scandinavia. The 1990s were 30 years ago; things change.

Mainstream French (i.e., middle-class consumers and higher-income professionals) generally aren't insecure and touchy about the survival and use of their language anymore. That's now largely a Quebec thing.
 
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DCLcruiser

Well-Known Member
When we went to DLP/WDSP in 2015, we appreciated that a lot was in both French and English. We obviously speak English (some form lol) and my wife and I can read/speak enough French to get by (ok, she can, I'm remedial).

That being said, if they want tourists from all of Europe, and east, English is the universal language today (not French). So, I get it.

But, I would be remiss if French was removed.

***

On the topic of movie posters, we got a kick out of the fact that Inside Out in France is titled Vice Versa. Those posters were all over actual Paris when we visited.
 

Kevin_W

Well-Known Member
The shows that are 50/50 are interesting to me (e.g. the magician speaks in English and Mickey responds in French). I guess the idea is that if you only know 1 language, half of the conversation plus the tone/visual queues is enough to understand what's going on. (It worked for me - I've been studying French, but am very poor and conversational French goes by much to quickly for my brain.)
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
Admittedly I haven't been since 2019, but I always felt they managed to balance the languages exceptionally well. It felt like a French park catering to an international market which is probably the ideal. The Cast Members are particularly incredible at switching between languages.

My sense living in Europe is that people are used to dealing with languages that they don't understand, but that English is one language that people feel they should have some working knowledge of if they are going to travel abroad. I also don't get the sense that the French are allergic to English, they just (understandably) don't like people expecting them to speak English in France.
 

Jordan dby

Well-Known Member
I'm part of a bilingual family and it never ceases to amaze me how well all cast members can converse in English and French and often others too.

We have one child who prefers to speak French and two who prefer English. The poor face characters, especially at auberge de cendrillon, end up speaking to one in french and 2 in English at the same table. The characters voices and mannerisms also change between the 2 languages (e.g. Ariel in English is a bit headstrong and rebellious, in french she's a bit more in awe of the world around her) they also nail this perfectly, which is jisy incredible. I've often caught these actresses then speak Spanish at the next table!

I think the park manages both lnaguages fantastically. In reality the park clientele is probably 70% English (either first language or preferred 2nd ahead of French) during holidays and 90% french the rest of the time. It's difficult to manage this balance as the park needs to be successful all year round.

They clearly tailor the entertainment, either split language shows (stitch), mixed language (mickey and the magician) or where possible avoid spoken dialect altogether and focus on the music (rhythm of the pridelands) but I don't think the park suffers as a result.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Apparently, in recent years, Disneyland Resort Paris has been slowly dispensing French as the main language of the resort in favor of English.
Phantom Manor - bilingual
Pirates of the Caribbean - French
Peter Pans Flight - French
Snow Whites Scary Adventures - French
Pinocchio’s Daring Journey - French
Small World - obvious
Buzz Lightyear - French
SMM2 - French
Star Tours - French
Philharmagic - alternating
Tower of `terror - bilingual
Rat - French
Tram Tour - bilingual
Spiderman WEB - French / bilingual
Flight Force - Bilingual

So, apparently not.
 

TomboyJanet

Well-Known Member
Idk when I was there it seemed mostly French. I was surprised there was any English at all and pleasantly so. I Enjoyed my time there, but there was a lot of cultural things I didn't grasp like the lack of personal space, and the curtness of speech. I did however manage to have someone direct me not to the bus going to the hotel but to how to WALK to the hotel a very long distance and didn't realize until I was like a half hour into walking in pouring rain. So Yeah....weird.

But as for the rides I was disappointed at least once because I heard you could ask for an English Star Tours and I did so and he said he'd try to get it to work but it didn't. Again not blaming him I guess there is some aspect of randomization that may override whatever he was trying. I'm not exactly sure how Star Tours works in that regard. I did see Philharmagic for the first time in French, and Ratatouille for the first time in French as it was not yet built in Epcot, but I understood what was going on mostly.
 

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