Being Competent in a Language is Better Than Sounding Cool
Anglicisms In French impede its development
INTRODUCTION
There are those who believe that, as a language evolves over time and reaches modern days, it’s desirable for that language to borrow so-called “loanwords” from another language that may not be a part of the same language subgroup.
On the flip side, there are those who would prefer to see new native words be added to a language in order to keep it current with the knowledge and understandings of the day. I’m part of that camp. In fact, you wouldn’t be wrong to call me a purist, and I’m proud of it.
THE TWO DISTINCT SUBGROUPS THAT FRENCH AND ENGLISH BELONG TO
French, along with the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian languages together make up the Romance (aka Latin) language subgroup of the Indo-European language family.
English, along with German and Dutch, as well as a few other derivatives, together make up the West Germanic language subgroup of the Indo-European language family.
CORNER-CUTTING PLAGUES LANGUAGE MODERNIZATION
If there’s one thing that gets my goat, it’s native French speakers’ incessant and completely unnecessary injections of English loanwords into their speech.
Most native French speakers have inserted English loanwords mid-sentence at one point or another while in conversation. Personally, I don’t see an inherent problem in doing this, as long as it’s only done for words that represent concepts that are so new that they do not yet have an already-recognized and easy to research and find French equivalent.
To me, anything less is just as bad as someone who is so used to abbreviating everything when sending a text message that they begin to speak in the same “short-hand” way. It doesn’t sound good, even in informal conversations. Not to mention the fact that one can’t get better at speaking and writing by cutting corners that way…
Is it done in an effort to try and sound “cool” or simply as a result of intellectual laziness? Either way, those actions do little to keep the language up to date for modern times, and rather have a more likely opposite effect.
FRENCH LEARNERS: FOCUS ON SOUNDING COMPETENT RATHER THAN SOUNDING “COOL”
If you are learning French, study the correct words and grammar first, and ignore the rest of the ”cultural noise”. Everyone will be able to understand you and you will never make a bad impression by speaking proper French.
When I study a foreign language, I purposely avoid seeking out information about slang, insults, and curse words due to their very limited Return On Investment (ROI) to anyone who isn’t already a pretty fluent (think: upper intermediate) speaker. That can come later… much later. No one will miss hearing less of those words, especially coming from a foreigner attempting to speak their language!
A FEW COMMON EXAMPLES
Over the course of my life, I’ve heard my share of anglicisms being used by French speakers, including some who attended my French Language Meetup Group in the USA.
Often, these words are related to technological and other advancements made around the world. And, unsurprisingly, many of them come from American English and culture.
But aren’t those things exactly why native speakers should make a bigger effort to use proper native terminology? In other words, these are precisely what will make you sound like you know what you are talking about regarding a specific a topic when you discuss it with other speakers of your own language.
Anglicism: Proper French word
“ticket”: billet (purchased in a shop called “billetterie”, not ”ticketerie”!)
Note: This is a particularly silly English word to borrow when you consider that there is no English word serving the sole purpose of describing a shop that sells tickets exclusively. The word “ticket” must be collocated and/or qualified with a noun such as, for instance, “ticket agent/counter” or “basketball-ticket seller” or a noun describing the seller based on intent like “scalper”.
“email”: courriel (courrier électronique)
“spam”: pourriel (pourriture électronique)
“networking”: réseautage (“réseau” is French for “network”)
“digital”: numérique (“numériser” is French for “to digitize” -> I.e: To turn into numbers (1s and 0s)
“smartphone”: téléphone intelligent
“manager”: gérant
EXTENDING AN OLIVE BRANCH TO THE SERIAL ANGLICISM USERS
I’ll tell you what… If you can’t help yourself when you feel the urge to interject a bunch of English words mid-French sentences, then I strongly suggest that you at least make sure to use the correct English pronunciation for those words…
CONCLUSION
The topic of native French language speakers using English loanwords in their day-to-day speech is a controversial one among modern linguists and speakers of the language.
I think that it’s important to find the right balance between being proud of your language and also allowing it to grow and adapt in the most suitable way over time. However, cutting corners and practicing intellectual laziness will never pay off in the long run…
Q. Are you a native French speaker or learner of the language? Have you had any experience with this topic?
All the best,
Pascal
PS: Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments and you can also read more about me here.
