Sacre Bleu! Yelp Learns French

Sacre Bleu! Yelp Learns French

Sacre Bleu! Yelp Learns French

Local business reviews site Yelp makes its first foray into non-English-speaking territory with the launch of a French version of the site that allows residents of that country to critique local businesses in their native tongue.

Why France – apart from the culinary capital thing? Part of the reason could be that French law requires various businesses to make use of the French language and culture; for instance, French radio stations are required to play a certain percentage of music in the French language during their broadcasts.

"France is a country steeped in rich culinary, artistic and cultural traditions," said Yelp co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman in a statement. "Considering this heritage, it represents the next logical destination for Yelp, which is all about connecting people with great local businesses."

The French can now write negative reviews of the local McDonalds in their own language on, but this also means that Francophiles living in other countries can toggle the site's interface into French in order to read and write reviews in that language.

That feature is not live yet (in Brooklyn anyway) but for foodies conversant in the language, this offers a new opportunity to drape a velvet rope between themselves and the riff-raff, because they can gather on the French version of the site to exchange their more rarefied opinions.

Can't you just hear it now? "Oh, I only read the French version – I simply find that my taste just doesn't align with reviewers on the English version of the site... stewpid Amahlicons."

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