French Language notes - October 2018

One hears grumblings amongst certain aggrieved natives that there are far too many Anglicisms (or Americanisms) infiltrating the French language. But is this protest a case of pure snobisme (this is an actual word by the way)?

Actually, no. This is a clear case of le fake news, because statistics recently quoted by Le Figaro tell the contrary: according, it said, to the Académie Française – the esteemed guardians of correct communication in the French language – the threat of a linguistic invasion from Blighty is mere myth. Viz: the percentage of English words in its official dictionary has dropped from 2.5% in 1990 to 1.76% today, with many of these infiltrators being niche words in specialised fields such as science.

This is not to say, even if it does annoy purists, that you should not be armed with a handy sprinkling of acceptably incorporated English words, even if you need to pronounce them in what might seem an unnatural accent. Some commonly heard nouns, such as le weekend, le business, le marketing and le smartphone are fair game and do not jar to an English ear.

Some verbs are odder to hear, especially as when conjugated they sound a little forced: ie. chatter (to chat) and liker (to like, on social media posts). The latest is spoiler, to give spoilers about a film plot.

Look out for other words in French using English stems, even if they make no sense: relooking (makeover), lifting (facelift), un pull (sweater) and le basket (basketball or trainers (footwear)).

Finally, before we all get too snob about the number of English words in use in French, it is worth noting that, according to some estimates, up to 45% of English words have a French origin. Touché!