Among the challenging aspects of a professional translator’s work is how to, if at all, translate newly coined terms, many of which first emerge in English. While some languages readily create equivalents for terms such as bitcoin and clickbait, others simply embed the original English term into the vernacular.

Much of the process is organic — often driven in no small part by translators — but governments, at times, feel the need to lend the local language a helping hand.

One government famous for linguistic interventionism is that of France, which has approved another 18 translations of English terms into French for use in laws and decrees, including the official terms for “fake news” and “podcast.”

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