• Being guided by a voice with a Toulouse, Ch'ti or Provençal accent is now possible on the Waze navigation application, which has 17 million users in France.

  • Launched today, these three choices of regional languages, and their typical expressions, have been acclaimed by users.

  • For Elatiana Razafi, sociolinguistics at Jean-Jaurès University in Toulouse, it is important to be able to have visibility of linguistic diversity and deconstruct stereotypes.

"There's danger there, if you don't want to end up in the bartas, watch out."

Goodbye to the almost metallic and monotonous voice that warns you of danger when you are riding.

From now on, Antonin's car can bring a touch of madness to the passenger compartment of a car when its driver decides to launch the Waze application.

Since this Tuesday, the navigation application has offered the Toulouse accent and typical expressions from the banks of the Garonne to thwart the pitfalls of the road.

“To give it to me”, “boudu” or even “branquignole” are now part of the vocabulary of this assistant with a very Occitan driving style.

Pitchoune in Occitania.


Minot in Provence.


Tcho' in the North.



What is the most representative word of your region?


That would almost give us a little idea… 🤔 🤐

— Waze France (@Waze_France) May 25, 2022


Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "

I ACCEPT

", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I ACCEPT

And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.

More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.


But the 17 million French users can also choose to call on Mireille and her Provençal accent to get around traffic jams when there are “tarpin” people on the motorway.

Or ask for Biloute and his inimitable ch'ti accent, so much so that it looks like Dany Boon is sitting in the passenger seat.

“We wanted voices that resemble us”

After the unofficial voices of Homer Simpson or Breton rapper Lorenzo, Waze decided to focus on the local to get closer to its users.

And to determine who would be selected to be on the application, they had their users vote on their social networks.

And it was two southern accents and a northerner who won.

“The two neutral voices did not represent the diversity of the territory, but it is an application by and for motorists.

We wanted voices that looked like us, so we made sure they were authentic and we had them validated by our local map editors, "explains Jérôme Marty, the general manager of Waze France, himself a native of France. Pink city.

For those who would like to hear Catalan or Lorraine, it is always possible to use the “Record your voice” feature and dictate your instructions.

Some thus have a great success even though they are not part of the official Waze catalog.

For the three validated news, there is no question of being caricatural either, “we wanted to stay anchored in reality”, assures the boss of this guidance assistance in the top 10 of the most downloaded.

“To trivialize linguistic diversity”

A way to enhance the accents that are often the subject of remarks, sometimes disparaging, often amused.

But who never leave indifferent those who pronounce words with a different sound.

Elatiana Razafi, lecturer in sociolinguistics at Jean-Jaurès University in Toulouse, has been working on this subject for years and has developed with her students an exhibition on these "linguistic micro-aggressions" which often have more impact than one might believe.

Because if some make their accent a tool for asserting themselves, an identity marker, others will tend to erase it to avoid being stigmatized.

Or be a victim of "glottophobia".

Through this work of mediation through art, she wanted to raise awareness and show a reality: "there are no people without an accent, it's a myth", recalls the teacher-researcher who studies social relations in through the language, and therefore the accents.

For her, the Waze approach has a positive aspect.

"It's important to have visibility of accents, to be exposed to linguistic diversity and to trivialize it," explains Elatiana Razafi, who does not forget that Waze remains a commercial enterprise.

Podcast

News podcast: Tell me what word you use, I'll tell you who you are, with linguist Julie Neveux

Culture

Mathieu Avanzi: "Today, language is the last bastion to defend our identity"

  • Company

  • Toulouse

  • Marseilles

  • Lille

  • Mobile app

  • Geolocation

  • Car

  • Regional languages

  • Occitania

  • Paca