I love English. But I donโt love ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐บ๐.
The use of anglicisms in ๐๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ต, and particularly in France, has increased quite a bit during the last decades.
I donโt put all of them on the same level, though. Some have made their way through French simply because languages do evolve over the centuries. Nothing unusual or wrong with that.
Hereโs how I personally classify anglicisms.
1. Anglicisms that I would consider "normal"
Iโm thinking about terms which donโt have any equivalent in French that would be as idiomatic.
Two examples:
๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ
There is simply no other way to say it. You can go for ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ , but this still doesnโt refer to the device you use to cook the food.
๐ช๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ-๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ
๐น๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ is used in Quรฉbec (I will talk about Canadian French in a future post) but not in Europe where itโs been part of our vocabulary since the beginning of the 20th century.
๐ Letโs also add ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐-๐๐๐๐, ๐ ๐๐๐๐, ๐ ๐๐๐๐ and so on. These words almost became French because they are the ones you hear when you acquire or learn the language.
2. Anglicisms that I would consider "unnecessary" (aka my bรชte noire ๐น)
Anglicisms that I consider unnecessary (and, truth be told, that make me cringe), are English terms that are used when a perfectly valid and common equivalent exist in French.
Letโs take the below sentences. They could easily be heard or read in France.
Jโai bien aimรฉ la punch line de la vidรฉo du CEO que jโai downloadรฉe.
โฉ What about phrase dโaccroche, PDG and tรฉlรฉchargรฉe ?
Quelques happy few ont pu participer ร lโactivitรฉ outdoor aprรจs avoir bien checkรฉ leur inscription.
โฉ What about privilรฉgiรฉs, en plein air and vรฉrifiรฉ ?
I am not the Acadรฉmie Franรงaiseโs advocate. Iโm just trying to figure out why we would use these (letโs face it, not so beautiful) wordings, if not ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐บ๐.
Many French-speaking people donโt like anglicisms. There seems to be this tendency to think that only Quebecers care about this issue, but thatโs not the case.
๐ธ
As a ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ, how do I cope with anglicisms?
If I donโt receive any specific instructions related to this matter, I will do my best to avoid the use of unnecessary anglicisms in my translations because I know readers usually donโt like it.
If some clients ask me to do otherwise, I will obviously follow their requirements, but I may try explaining to them why it might be a good idea to think about using โrealโ French words instead. Clients always appreciate our input, after all.

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