The French government is struggling to translate “subprime” into simple French.

Its Commission of Economic & Financial Terminology says previous translations of the term are not good enough.

“Therefore, the Commission advises French people to use the expression prets hypothecaires a haut risque [high-risk mortgage loans] which is a term already used by the banking industry,” it said in a statement this week.

But there have been few signs of that phrase in the French media, where the snappier “sub-prime” rules when talk is of risky property loans that have caused widespread banking losses. Rising defaults among sub-prime loans given to customers with a poor credit history has led to the near disappearance of investors willing to buy the loans.

France has mounted a stout defence of its native language in the face of the increasing use of American and English terms in everyday French life.

It often turns to the Academie Francaise, set up in 1635, to maintain linguistic standards. — Reuters/AP