Leosghost - 10:41 pm on Oct 31, 2012 (gmt 0)

<OT>Most here think from my accent that I'm American..a few get that it is Irish..and yet when speaking English.. I don't sound Irish, unless around Irish when the accent comes back.. a little..
Speaking English ( with no Irish present ) I have accent-less English..comes from moving around a lot...no regional accent had the chance to develop/imprint..

I have no trouble understanding Quebecois nor Acadian nor Cajun..nor any spoken or written French ( it's all "foreign" ;))..our son ( now 19 ) "metro" born..can't really follow spoken Quebecois, Acadian, nor Cajun..and even less the various versions of Creole ..many "metro" French have the same problem..
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If what "Le Canard" is reporting is accurate..how it will play with the French population will depend entirely on how it is presented by the French TV, if they portray it as defending "French culture" against the American Google ( G has well over 90% search market share here ° it will go down very well with the over 40's..

Most French neither speak nor read English..( and of those who do, their actual level of comprehension of what they hear or read is not good, unless they have lived in English speaking countries, language education here was biased against learning English , and still is in many respects ) so their sources of information are limited to what the French media want them to see and hear..the French media are very much more friendly to the current government than they were to the last one..especially the state run media of the "France TV" group..

French companies ( especially those who import goods and sell to the French people ) and successive French Governments have taken advantage of this lack of international English language skills to keep the population very much in the dark about anything which does not suit them..only France produces TV or radio in French ( what is made in Quebec rarely gets here ) and ( outside ) English language news TV is usually very badly translated ( IMO deliberately )..even non news such as CSI and movies and even comic books such a Grimmy and video games are appallingly badly translated..

And yet France produces superb animators and FX programmers, and programmers in general..( who are very much in demand outside France ) But they can't easily get hired here..until they have worked abroad ( preferably in the USA ) at which point they become "in demand" here..

Most multinationals ( especially those in IT and "web" such as Ebay, G , MS etc ) find dealing with the French administration so complex that they either run their French operations from outside..or hand over control and distribution of "product" to someone here who speaks English and has some offices in Paris..and then stay "hands off" and let their "local agent" or "local office" run their French operation for them ..at which point they often wonder why they are not selling much..but don't realise that the "French office" has added a huge mark up to whatever it was, and so isn't selling as the foreign company anticipated..

That said..it would be nice ( and fair ) if G paid taxes on what they sold here ( ad space ) in the same way as I have to pay taxes here if I sell ad space..even if I invoice from outside France ( which I don't as the French tax authorities would be all over me for doing so )..and it would not be because I live here, but because I have an office / business premises here..as do Google..

It will be interesting to see if the mainstream French media give this any / much coverage and what it will be ..