French radio presenters have a problem with podcasting -- but it's nothing to do with technology, bandwidth or copyright.

No, the problem they have is with the word itself. Podcasting, you see, isn't French.

Defending the language from foreign invasion is something of a cause célébre in France, it has to be said, but the disdain for podcasting is not about national pride: it's about being understood. If listeners can't tell what they're being offered, they're unlikely to head for the station's Web site to subscribe to new feeds.

Although the arrival of podcasting in the French language is something of a fait accompli, that didn't stop the French government from passing a decree in March to encourage the use of an alternative term: "la diffusion pour baladeur." Baladeur is French for portable music player, and spares the French from erroneously referring to any such device as an "iPod" or "Walkman," regardless of the actual brand, as native English speakers tend to do.

In some ways, "diffusion pour baladeur" makes more sense than the English word, and it lends itself quite well to other grammatical forms such as a podcast (une diffusion pour baladeur) or to podcast ("diffuser pour baladeur"). It might even catch on, as the government-mandated term for e-mail ("courriel", from "courrier," mail, and "électronique," electronic) has done.

The French government doesn't just pluck new words like that out of thin air. The words are created by a panel of industrialists and savants, either from scratch or based on observations of evolving usage. The Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry has set up a Special Commission on Terminology and Neologisms in Electronic Communications to carry out such work. There are similar commissions for other domains, including computing, petrochemicals and medicine.

One of the reasons these panels exist is to ensure that everyone bidding for public works contracts calls a spade a spade, and not, for example, a human-powered hand-held digging implement. The consistent use of terminology is important to avoid misunderstandings that might lead to cost overruns.

I learned all this when I was invited to observe one of the commission's gatherings last week.

In a rather grand meeting room on the seventh floor of the ministry, overlooking the River Seine, about 30 English and French speakers sat down to exchange a few words over lunch.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.