[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.89″ background_layout=”light” box_shadow_style=”preset6″]<\/p>\n
English translation of Chapter 22 of Les trucs d’anglais qu’on a oubli\u00e9 de vous enseigner<\/em>, by Anglocom president Grant\u00a0Hamilton, Certified Translator<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.89″ background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n People are used to bemoaning all the anglicisms that work their way into French, but did you know that it\u2019s a two-way street? French has a huge impact on English too! In fact, following the Norman conquest in 1066, the English nobility actually spoke French for centuries. In 1908, renowned British linguist H.W. Fowler deplored the glut of French words and phrases that peppered the pages of London\u2019s Times<\/em>. These handoffs from French are called gallicisms, and they exist in a variety of forms.<\/p>\n What could be more chic<\/em> than a French word? It\u2019s a way to show how culturally sophisticated you are\u2026or your audience is. Think of raison d\u2019\u00eatre<\/em>, apr\u00e8s-ski<\/em>, apropos<\/em>, roman \u00e0 clef<\/em>, soup\u00e7on<\/em>, t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate <\/em>(the reference to amour <\/em>makes it extra chic<\/em>!), rendezvous <\/em>(almost always in terms of a date), je ne sais quoi<\/em>, d\u00e9tente <\/em>(in the political sense) and savoir-faire <\/em>(which, funnily enough, tends to be used in English to mean what the French would call savoir-vivre<\/em>). Although long part of the English language, these phrases are still pronounced with a hint of a French accent!<\/p>\n They don\u2019t speak much French in the Land of the Free, but that doesn\u2019t mean the French weren\u2019t successful in leaving their mark. They are responsible for naming Detroit and Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan, Eau Claire in Wisconsin, and the capitals of Iowa (Des Moines), Louisiana (Baton Rouge), South Dakota (Pierre), Vermont (Montpelier), and Idaho (Boise).<\/p>\n We see these all the time in Quebec. They are words used by anglophones who are in contact with a predominantly francophone visual environment. For example, autoroute<\/em> instead of highway<\/em> or expressway<\/em>: Anglophone Quebecers use the word because it is easy to pronounce, the two elements that make it up (auto<\/em> and route<\/em>) are also English words, and it appears on signs throughout the province. Other examples include c\u00e9gep <\/em>(a junior\/vocational college), m\u00e9tro <\/em>(the subway) and CLSC <\/em>(an acronym for \u201clocal community service center\u201d). Sometimes French words are borrowed and then altered, such as d\u00e9panneur <\/em>(convenience store), <\/em>which anglophone Montrealers often simply call a dep<\/em>.<\/p>\n Although these words are commonly used in Quebec, it\u2019s better to avoid them elsewhere or when addressing people from other places.<\/p>\n The name says it all: the word seems friendly enough, so you slip it into the conversation, but once there it betrays you, misleading all those who encounter it. False friends resemble French words, but don\u2019t have the same meaning.<\/p>\n Take the word r\u00e9ellement<\/em>. You might think it means really<\/em>, but it doesn\u2019t. It actually means actually<\/em>! Hold on a second, you say to yourself, then what does actuellement<\/em> mean? Actuellement<\/em> is the French equivalent of currently<\/em>. To complicate things even further, couramment<\/em> has nothing at all to do with currently<\/em>. It means commonly<\/em>! Clearly, going by appearances can be dangerous!<\/p>\n Anglophones who spend a lot of time with francophones are particularly at risk of falling into this trap. We call these gallicisms hidden because, although they look like English, they are in fact French expressions masquerading as English. For example, close the light<\/em>. Separately, these three words are fine, but together they sound rather strange. In English, you turn off the light<\/em>; close the light<\/em> comes directly from the French expression fermer la lumi\u00e8re<\/em>.<\/p>\n These are the most difficult ones to weed out. They make translations stilted and wreak havoc on the eloquence of the source text. They can be caused by keeping ideas abstract when they are better expressed concretely in English; choosing an uncommon English word to translate a frequently used French word (or vice versa); following French syntax without paying attention to how it reads in English; or simply by neglecting to put the text in a cultural context that the reader will understand.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" English translation of Chapter 22 of \u201cLes trucs d\u2019anglais qu\u2019on a oubli\u00e9 de vous enseigner,\u201d by Anglocom president Grant Hamilton, Certified Translator<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" Quoi de plus chic qu\u2019un mot fran\u00e7ais! On laisse ainsi transpara\u00eetre sa culture, son raffinement et son respect pour l\u2019\u00e9rudition de son auditoire. Parmi les plus r\u00e9pandus des gallicismes BCBG, notons raison d\u2019\u00eatre<\/em>, apr\u00e8s-ski<\/em>, apropos<\/em>, roman \u00e0 clef<\/em>, soup\u00e7on<\/em>, t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate<\/em> (le lien avec l\u2019amour fait extra chic!), rendezvous<\/em> (presque toujours au sens de rendez-vous galant), je ne sais quoi<\/em>, d\u00e9tente<\/em> (dans le sens politique) et savoir-faire<\/em> (dont le sens anglais, assez curieusement, se rapproche davantage de savoir-vivre<\/em>). Bien que ces locutions soient depuis fort longtemps pass\u00e9es dans la langue anglaise, on les prononce toujours avec un soup\u00e7on d\u2019accent fran\u00e7ais!<\/p> Le fran\u00e7ais n\u2019est pas beaucoup parl\u00e9 au pays de l\u2019Oncle Sam, mais les Fran\u00e7ais n\u2019ont pas manqu\u00e9 d\u2019y laisser leurs traces. On leur doit le nom des villes de D\u00e9troit et de Sault- Ste-Marie, au Michigan, ainsi que d\u2019Eau Claire, au Wisconsin, de m\u00eame que le nom des capitales des \u00c9tats de l\u2019Iowa (Des Moines), de la Louisiane (Baton Rouge), du Dakota du Sud (Pierre), du Vermont (Montpelier) et de l\u2019Idaho (Boise).<\/p> Voil\u00e0 une b\u00eate qu\u2019on retrouve tr\u00e8s souvent au Qu\u00e9bec. Il s\u2019agit d\u2019un mot utilis\u00e9 par des anglophones qui sont en contact avec un environnement visuel fran\u00e7ais. Un exemple? Autoroute<\/em> plut\u00f4t que highway<\/em> ou expressway<\/em> : les Anglo-Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois utilisent ce mot parce qu\u2019il est facile \u00e0 prononcer, parce que ses deux composantes (auto<\/em> et route<\/em>) sont aussi des mots anglais et parce qu\u2019il figure sur les panneaux indicateurs. On pourrait aussi mentionner c\u00e9gep<\/em>, m\u00e9tro<\/em> et CLSC<\/em> (acronyme qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois pour le centre local de services communautaires). Il arrive m\u00eame qu\u2019on emprunte un mot au fran\u00e7ais pour ensuite le modifier, comme dans le cas de d\u00e9panneur<\/em> devenu dep<\/em> dans la bouche d\u2019un Anglo-Montr\u00e9alais.<\/p> Si on peut employer ces mots sans crainte au Qu\u00e9bec, il vaut mieux s\u2019en abstenir lorsqu\u2019on est \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tranger ou lorsqu\u2019on s\u2019adresse \u00e0 des gens venant d\u2019ailleurs.<\/p> Son nom dit tout : il vous a l\u2019air familier, m\u00eame intime. Anodin, il se glisse facilement dans la conversation. Mais, une fois sorti de la bouche, il vous trahit, induisant votre interlocuteur en erreur. Le faux ami ressemble \u00e0 un mot fran\u00e7ais, mais il n\u2019a pas le m\u00eame sens.<\/p> Prenons un exemple : currently<\/em>. Vous pensez peut-\u00eatre qu\u2019il \u00e9quivaut \u00e0 couramment, mais il n\u2019en est rien. Il veut dire actuellement<\/em>. Mais tiens donc, vous dites-vous, actually<\/em>, il signifie quoi, alors ? En fait, actually<\/em>, c\u2019est la traduction anglaise de r\u00e9ellement<\/em>. Et pour compliquer davantage les choses, really<\/em> ne se rapporte pas \u00e0 r\u00e9ellement<\/em>, mais plut\u00f4t \u00e0 vraiment<\/em>. Se fier aux apparences s\u2019av\u00e8re donc p\u00e9rilleux! Un article futur proposera d\u2019autres exemples de faux amis.<\/p> Les anglophones qui c\u00f4toient r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement les francophones risquent tout particuli\u00e8rement de tomber dans le pi\u00e8ge de ce gallicisme. On le dit cach\u00e9 parce que, malgr\u00e9 ses apparences anglaises, il s\u2019agit d\u2019une expression fran\u00e7aise d\u00e9guis\u00e9e. Par exemple, close the light<\/em>. Voil\u00e0 trois mots qui paraissent bien, mais ils forment un trio plut\u00f4t mal assorti. En anglais correct, il faut dire turn off the light<\/em>; close the light<\/em> vient tout droit de fermer la lumi\u00e8re<\/em>.<\/p> C\u2019est bien le plus difficile \u00e0 dompter, celui qui vient alourdir les traductions anglaises en les privant de l\u2019\u00e9loquence de la version originale. Ses causes? Maintenir une id\u00e9e dans l\u2019abstraction alors qu\u2019elle s\u2019exprime mieux en anglais de fa\u00e7on concr\u00e8te; choisir un mot anglais rare pour traduire un mot fran\u00e7ais fr\u00e9quent (ou vice versa); suivre la syntaxe fran\u00e7aise sans \u00e9gard \u00e0 la beaut\u00e9 de la phrase anglaise; ou tout simplement n\u00e9gliger de situer un texte dans un contexte culturel que le lecteur comprendra.<\/p> \u00a0<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","content-type":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTr\u00e8s chic gallicisms<\/h3>\n
Geographic gallicisms<\/h3>\n
Visual gallicisms<\/h3>\n
False friends<\/h3>\n
Hidden gallicisms<\/h3>\n
Nefarious Gallicisms<\/h3>\n
Gallicisme BCBG<\/span><\/h3>
Gallicisme g\u00e9ographique<\/span><\/h3>
Gallicisme administratif<\/span><\/h3>
Le faux ami<\/span><\/h3>
Le gallicisme cach\u00e9<\/span><\/h3>
Le gallicisme pernicieux<\/span><\/h3>