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| Speaking
French |
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A view of the French
Academy, seen from the Seine
Credit
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| The French and their language |
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They are not French... |
- The
French love their language ! It may sound obvious - but French is
the language taught in French schools!!! (this weird question
was asked more than once to webmaster's wife Harriet Welty Rochefort
in her conferences on French Toast and French Fried!). Correct
spelling is highly emphasized and one of the most popular shows
on national TV is "la dictée de Bernard
Pivot" (dictations with abominably complicated words)
with selections, semi-finals, etc... and a national final which
is one of the most popular shows of the year (300,000 entrants,
7 million people watching). Pivot gave his last one (after 20
years) in November 2005 and the whole country is in despair.
- Language in France is seen as
the key element of French identity and an integral part
of French culture. In 1994 the Culture Ministry waged a campaign
to ban "franglais", the use of English words when there
is a French equivalent. This law (Loi
Toubon,Aug.4, 1994) was criticized and sometimes ridiculed
in the Anglo-Saxon press but when you read it, you see that many
of its provisions are pure common sense to put an end to the
use of English in cases where the American society would not
tolerate the same situation (for instance how about a labor contract
in Chinese for the American branch of a Chinese company ?). See
more about it.
- Within the European Community,
English is the language which is studied the most (89%) with
French coming in second (32%). In France 85% of high school students
choose to study English. More about languages
in Europe...
- Most people now choose a language
because of economic, not cultural reasons. English is seen as
being the most beneficial language to learn.
- On the Web, English is first,
followed by German and Japanese. French is fourth, followed by
Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.
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France is of course the biggest
French-speaking country, but it is not the only one. Many artist
are widely considered French when the are not : they are Canadian,
Belgian, Swiss, etc...
Among them :
- (in the past) : Frédéric
Chopin and Marie Curie (Polish), Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch), Pablo
Picasso (Spanish), etc... who lived and worked mostly in France
- Singers : Jacques Brel (Belgian),
Céline Dion or Robert Charlebois (see singers from Québec), etc...
- Writers : Henri Michaux (Belgian),
etc...
- Painters : James Ensor, René
Magritte or Paul Delvaux (Belgians) etc..
- Movie directors : Jean-Luc Godard
(Swiss), etc..
- and many others..
DID YOU KNOW
THAT the French call French mixed with English words "Franglais".
The best book about it was written by French academic Etiemble
("Parlez vous franglais"), a very funny and very wise
book. "Globish" (for global English) is the 1500-word
language which is spoken everywhere, and increasingly by the
French
USEFUL TIPS
....There are always exceptions but many French people do not
like to be blunt and say things outright in order to leave an
escape route open to the other person. In this respect, they're
almost Japanese. When in France, it's important to understand
what ISN'T being said (le non-dit).... This why, very
often, the French will be considered imprecise by Americans when
they sincerely think that they have been very clear..
DID YOU KNOW THAT… ? All French words ending with « ….ou » make their plural with « ….ouS », except five rather common words which make it with « …ouX ». If you want to impress a Frenchman, list them casually : he/she will be flabbergasted because he/she learned them in school but when asked to list the five, one always forgets one of them. The words are : choux, hiboux, poux, genoux and cailloux. |
- The Google project of
digitizing millions of books (in English) is considered in Europe
a threat to cultural
diversity and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France
advocated for an additional European project.
- French
is spoken everywhere in France, but a few regional langages
are largely spoken : among them Alsatian (650,000 speak it daily
with their parents, according to a recent study : Enquête
Famille INSEE, 1999), Occitan (600,000), various langues
d'oïl : Picard, Normand, Lorrain, Vendéen (550,000),
Breton and Gallo (280,000), Corsican (80,000), Basque (50,000),
Auvergnat, Limousin, Gascon and Catalan (80,000) which successfully
survived the domination of the French language. Some of them
are taught in high school and can be taken in official exams
: mainly Occitan, Corsican, Breton, Alsatian, Basque.
- Young people, particularly in
the suburbs surrounding large cities, speak slang French (called
: "verlan") which is very difficult to understand.
- Although the study of foreign
languages is required in school, almost one out of two Frenchmen
does not speak a foreign language.
- France maintains a close relationship with countries
where French is the (or an) official language : it is called
"la Francophonie" and concerns 52 countries worldwide
: Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Canada, North-African countries,
many Western and Central African countries, Lebanon, etc....
(Spain has the same policy with "la Hispanidad"
and Britain somehow with the "Commonwealth").
The largest French-speaking countries are : France 63 million,
Congo 24, Algeria 16, Ivory Coast 13, Canada 12 and Morocco 10.
The members of La Francophonie share TV5, a TV channel
broadcasted worldwide with the best of the French-speaking TV
channels. More about literature
in French by non-Franch writers and about French diplomacy.
- An interesting book by two Canadian
authors (The Story of the French, by Benoit Nadeau &
Julie Barlow, St.Martin's Press, 2006) explains why their language
is so important to the French and why it will resist the rising
influence of English.
- More to come
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French words with a highly symbolic meaning...
In French, like in any language,
many commonly used words reflect the value system of the
society, more than their literal meaning. To better understand,
clik on the word for a more detailed explanation :
Improve you vocabulary
- " privatization
" is a bad word in French : it means dirty private money
(as opposed to good public money) : no French politician would
say " we shall privatize something " : he/she will
say " we shall reduce the influence of the state on something
" ; used without precaution, the word sounds as bad as "
pedophilia ". See about the French and the state.
- " libéral, libéralisme
" connotes being in favour of free entreprise and market
economy : for the Left (around 50% in France), it is an insult
and it means selfish, heartless, hard on the poor, etc ; saying
" I am liberal " means : " I am an enemy of the
working class "
- More to come....
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| Glossary |
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Learning French |
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Below
is a list of terms or phrases you won't find in an ordinary French
- English dictionary, nuances obligent! Even if you've
learned perfect grammatical French in school, you still may not
know the REAL meanings of these phrases which are used in everyday
life in France. However, do not take it too seriously !
This is just to give you an idea of the French humor : second
degree and exageration ! Here goes!
Some of these expressions come
from a hilarious book, The Parisians, by French journalist
Alain Schifres published by J.C. Lattes, 1990, Paris and from
Sky my Husband-Ciel mon mari by Jean-Loup Chiflet (John-Wolf
Whistle), Hermé 1985, Paris (Guide de l'Anglais courant-Guide
of the Running English!).
| when they say ... |
its literal meaning is... |
but in fact it means... |
| "il
ne fait pas chaud" |
it
is not hot |
it
is terribly cold |
| "il
n'est pas grand" |
he
is not big |
he
is small and cute (for a baby) |
| "cher
ami" |
dear friend |
drop dead,
pal |
| "une
ambiance d'enfer" |
"an atmosphere
from hell" |
"a fantastic
(or : hot) atmosphere" |
| "à très bientôt" |
see you very
soon |
I hope I'll
never see you again |
| "ce n'est
pas mal" |
it's not bad |
it's
wonderful |
| "elle n'est pas épaisse" |
she's not
thick |
she's skinny
as a rail |
| "il est
brave" |
he is courageous |
he is totally
stupid |
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A
few useful links :
- Alliance Française
has a very comprehensive
site in English, with many useful tips on life in Paris ;
Alliance Française, 101 blvd Raspail 75006 Paris, tel.
01 45 44 38 28 , or 2819 Ordway Street NW Washington DC 20008
tel 202-966 9740 www.afusa.org (read a funny piece about it in
Barrie Kerper's book).
More about Alliance Française and the French cultural
policy.
- Join a conversation group
:
- Adrian Leeds and ParlerParlor is highly recommended
- Learn French guide,
all about how to learn and how to speak French
- For women : Bagatelle-Amitié
01 46 37 44 92
- For groups of students, contact
FIAP
- Learn French at home
:
- an excellent site to learn French
online using skype
- Learn French at Home (teaching FLE)
- Forget CNN or BBC, Watch
TV and try to read a French newspaper : you'll improve your
French and understand better the French if you don't look at
them through other people's eyes
- Listen to French songs, after
copying the lyrics
- And more :
|
| "au plaisir" |
I'll
be happy to see you again |
next
time, I'll cross the street |
| "il
est gentil" |
he's
nice |
he's
not very smart |
| "je
l'ai lu, il y a des choses" |
I
read it, there are some interesting things in it |
I
read it, it's really bad |
| "Non" (typically
shopkeepers according to Polly Platt) |
no |
try to convince me or : tell me something less boring |
| "ça n'existe pas" (same source) |
it doesn't exist |
it's down
in the storeroom |
| "impossible" (same source) |
impossible |
I'm tired
or I'm busy or the way you put your request doesn't intrigue
me enough to bother with it |
| "PFFFFTTTTT" |
with a shrugging
of shoulders, raising of elbows and a scowl |
I don't know |
| "j'ai mal au coeur" |
I have a pain
in my heart |
I am going
to puke |
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USEFUL
TIPS : Frequently used acronyms : AOC (Appelation d'Origine
Contrôlée = certified wine or food), ASSEDIC (unemployment
insurance scheme), CDI or CDD (Contrat à Durée
Indéterminée/Déterminée = unlimited
time/limited time job contract), CRS (Compagnie Républicaine
de Sécurité = riot police), DOM-TOM (Département/Territoire
d'Outre-mer = French overseas regions), EDF (French electricity
company), ENA (Ecole Nationale d'Administration
= school for public administration), HLM (Habitation à
Loyer Modéré = public housing), HS (Hors Service=Out
of Order, IVG (Interruption Volontaire
de grossesse = legal abortion), ISF (impot sur la fortune = tax on wealth),
PJ (police judiciaire = state police), RATP (Paris public transport
system), RIB (relevé d'identité bancaire = bank
account number document), RMI (Revenu Minimum d'Insertion, the minimum
allocation of around 400 Euros/month for anybody who does not
qualify for anything else), RTT (Réduction du Temps de
Travail = days off resulting from the legal constraint of the
35-hour week), SDF (Sans Domicile Fixe = homeless), SMIC (Salaire
Minimum Interprofessionnel de Croissance = minimum salary), SECU
(Social Security), SVP (s'il vous plait = please), TGV (Train
à Grande Vitesse = high-speed train), TVA (value added
tax), etc... For political parties : UMP (gaullist, center right),
PS (socialist, center left), UDF (christian democrat), PC (communist),
FN & MPF (extreme right), LO & LCR (trotskyist), etc... |
| "ça
ne mange pas de pain" |
it doesn't
eat bread |
it is not
important |
| "flanquer un pain" |
to hit with
bread |
to punch out |
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In France, animals speak
French... |
| when you (American) say... |
a literal translation of ... |
the French understand... |
| "je
suis plein" (or : "je suis pleine") |
I am full |
- I am drunk (if you are a man)
- I am pregnant (if you are a
woman)
|
| "je
suis excité" (or : je suis excitée") |
I
am excited |
I am horny |
| "laissez
moi vous introduire" |
let me introduce
you |
let me sodomize
you |
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In France, animals do not
speak English and may be hard to understand :
- Cats do miaou (mee-aow)
- Dogs bark with Ouah Ouah
(always twice)
- Donkeys say Hi Han (Hee
Hangh)
- Roosters say Cocorico
, chicken cot cot , ducks coin-coin and birds Cui
Cui (quee quee, a sound which has nothing to do with the
English "chirp")
- Cows go Meuh
- Sheeps say bèèèè
(bayhhhhhh)
- More to come
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| Strange French expressions
(if translated literally...) |
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DID
YOU KNOW THAT .....? The longest word in French is the adverb
"anticonstitutionnellement" (against the Constitution).
Since 1905, every year in fall, before school starts, the new
edition of the most popular dictionary, the Petit Larousse Illustré
is largely discussed in the medias. Sociologists and linguists
comment the newly admitted and newly eliminated words. |
| when they say ... |
its literal meaning is... |
but in fact it means... |
| On n'a
pas gardé les cochons ensemble |
we
never kept the pigs together |
don't
be too familiar with me |
| Est-ce
que je te demande si ta grand-mère fait du vélo |
did
I ask you if you granma rides a bike |
don't
be indiscreet |
| Il m'a tiré
les vers du nez |
he pulled
the worms out of my nose |
he led me
to speak |
| Le jour où
les cons voleront, tu seras chef d'escadrille |
if one day
assholes can fly, you'll be squadron leader |
you are really
stupid |
| J'ai pris
mon pied |
I took my
foot |
I had a great
time |
| Entre chien
et loup |
between dog
and wolf |
at dusk |
DID YOU KNOW
THAT....? Between French and English, one word, two meanings
: built on the same word (to do = faire), a " doer "
is positive in English (somebody who gets things done) and "un
faiseur " is negative in French (somebody who shows off)
DID YOU KNOWTHAT.....?
Some "faux amis" in politics : in French, a
"liberal" is a right-wing supporter of market (as opposed
to a "dirigiste" who supports state-owned companies),
a "radical" or a "radical-socialiste" belongs
to a center-right party (which was a left-wing party a century
ago!).... |
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If you want to express your feelings
phonetically, it may also be different :
- In French, yum-yum is
"miam-miam"
- Ouch is "aïe" (like eye)
- Yuk is pouah or "beurk"
- Wow is "Oh-La-La"
- Whatever is "bof"
- More to come
DID YOU KNOW
that the French Academy was founded by Richelieu in 1635
as the protector of the French language? It's still going strong
- even though French has definitely been supplanted by English
as the universal language. It is one of the five "academies"
which constitute the Institut de France (with Académie
des Sciences, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Académie
des Sciences Morales et Politiques, Académie des Inscriptions
et Belles Lettres). The Académie Française has forty members, known
as "les Immortels". They meet every Thursday morning
to give the "correct definition" of words and review
the Dictionnary of the Académie, which is published every
50 or 60 years ! They are currently working on the letter "p"...
Help us complete this page and
see Harriet Welty Rochefort's chapter on Politesse in French Toast for more examples
of the unwritten codes and nuances of the French language. Do
you know what "mot de
Cambronne" means ? Have you made any major booboos in
French? Read
our page on intercultural differences |
| To related pages : French literature,
education, etc... |
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Harriet Welty
Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French.
Order her books:
- "French Toast, An American in Paris
Celebrates The Maddening Mysteries of the French", St.Martin's Press,
New York, 1999
- "French Fried, The Culinary Capers
of An American in Paris", St.Martin's Press, New York, 2001
More on Harriet's
books
(excerpts, upcoming events, testimonials, etc..)
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