niedziela, 14 grudnia 2014

French anglicisms and Stromae

This week I would like to share with you remarks about some of French anglicisms.

As we know, French neologisms are verified quite attentively by linguistic prescriptivist Académie française that recognize them officially or not. However, that is only official side of the phenomenon. The other side is an everyday language. Some words are just used and others not and there is no precise rule that might determine it. Just look at some of anglicisms and their French equivalents:

un week-end   -   une fin de la semaine
un dancefloor   -  une piste de danse
un e-mail   -  un courriel (éléctronique)

Those equivalents were made up to replace English words but it now both forms are in use! And it is not the case of those three ones. Interesting thing, “week-end” even figures in well-known CNRTL dictionary.
Another group of anglicisms are those concerning for example economy, that came into French in one specialized meaning (definitions from wiktionnaire), for example:
un meeting - (Travail) (Anglicisme) Réunion ou assemblée publique

un establishment - (Anglicisme) Groupe social oligarchique

 The next one concerns social networks, Internet portals and all sorts of sites about fashion, beauty etc. This is impressively  big group of the most recent anglicisms, for example:

un buzz, un look, un star, oversized, un shopping, un total look, un newsletter, un eye-liner, un hashtag


It is very easy to find expressions such as:
les looks que l’on aime – the looks we like
le look du jour – the look of the day
looks des stars – looks of stars

At the end I want to share with you a song of Stromae, a French-language singer that you certainly have heard of. The lyrics is about contemporary relationships between young people, and especially love, so it is not by accident that the song is entitled “Carmen”.  The first couplet is particularly worth reading because there are English words that young French surely recognize, even if official dictionaries not...





[couplet 1]

L'amour est comme l'oiseau de Twitter
On est bleu de lui, seulement pour 48h
D'abord on s'affilie, ensuite on se follow
On en devient fêlé, et on finit solo
Prends garde à toi
Et à tous ceux qui vous like
Les sourires en plastique sont souvent des coups d'hashtag
Prends garde à toi
Ah les amis, les potes ou les followers
Vous faites erreurs, vous avez juste la côte

Translation:
Love is like Twitter
You’re in love with  it only for 48 hours.
First you’re associated with it, and afterwards you follow
It becomes cracked and you end up alone.
Beware!
And beware of those who you like
Their plastic smiles are often hits by hashtag.
Beware!
Ah, friends, buddies, and followers
You’re making a mistake. It’s only a false popularity.
(lyricstranslate.com)



3 komentarze:

  1. Thanks, that makes my life a bit easier, though I'm not sure what my French teacher would say about some of these English words ;) As for Stromae - I like his music a lot! Note one thing, though: apparently he is not French, but Belgian, which perhaps explains his more relaxed approach to the French language ;)

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  2. The lyrics is obviously a slight exaggeration, but those words that figure in French dictionaries may be used by all means :) (thanks for the remark - I had meant his language, not nationality - I corrected this)

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  3. Love Stromae and love that song. It's a current spin on the "Habanera", the famous aria from George Bizet's opera, "Carmen". The lyrics "L'amour est un oiseau de Twitter" (translation - "love is like the bird of Twitter") are an obious mockery on human relationships - love in particular - as understood by the younger generations today, and is a parallel tothe original lyrics in the opera, "l'amour est un oiseau rebelle" (a metaphor "love is a rebellous bird"). I think both metaphores reflect the instability of people's feelings - mostly those driven by lust and whim.

    Here's the aria, I couldn't resist posting it, it's so beautiful I need to share it!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2snTkaD64U

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