Anglicisms

Anglicisms are words, expressions or even orthographs that are considered as errors or are not actual French words or are French words used incorrectly.  While many words translate quite directly between English and French, some do not, and this is not always self evident.  It is part of learning the French vocabulary and can only come through trial and error, provided someone tells you.  Here we have aimed to speed that process up and show common anglicisms and are tricks found in testing for both grammar and oral testing.

Anglicisms or questions with an anglicism nexus will account for usually 4-10 questions on the grammar test and avoiding them as much as possible will help showcase your speaking ability on the oral test boosting your score there as well.  Knowing them and avoiding them on the oral exam is critical to achieving a C or E in speaking.  We’ve even seen cases of persons who grew up speaking a second language being downgraded by one level because they used too many anglicisms or slang.

Here are some resources that can help you expand your vocabulary and, with a bit of research, spot the anglicisms you may use and find French alternatives.

1. Any French dictionary : if you are unsure if a word is correctly used or an expression is accepted in French, you can use the dictionary to help you make the best choice of words. When reading the definition, ask yourself if it matches the meaning you give this word in the sentence.  The mere fact that a word exists in French does not guarantee it fits in your sentence.

Example 1 :

« Je vais définitivement réfléchir à ta proposition./I will definitey think about your proposition. »

Definition in the Larousse dictionary of the word “définitivement” : adverbe. De manière definitive, irrévocablement; pour toujours. Synonymes : irrémédiablement – irrévocablement.

You can see that the meaning of the word in this sentence does not match the definition given in the dictionary. We mean “definitely” in this sentence, not “definitively”. Some dictionaries, like the Multidictionnaire sometimes warn readers about potential anglicisms and try to give alternative words. In this case, we could say « Je vais certainement réfléchir à ta proposition ».

2. La Banque de dépannage linguistique (BDL) is a website created by the Office québécois de la langue française. On it, you can see a list of many anglicisms (by types) or, when in doubt about a particular word, you could search that word or expression in Google/Bing with the letters BDL after and it might direct you to a page about that word and weather it is an Anglicism you might want to avoid.

Example 2 :

“Mon médecin m’a conseillé de prendre une marche quotidienne./My doctor advised me I should take a walk every day.”

When searching the words “prendre une marche BDL” in Google, the first result is a page in the Banque de dépannage linguistique explaining that the expression “prendre une marche” is advised against, because it is a direct translation of the English expression “to take a walk”.  The webpage then gives many alternatives, like “faire une promenade”, “faire une marche” and « se promener », among which you could choose a suitable way to replace the Anglicism in that sentence.

It is impossible to list all anglicisms that are frowned upon in French at this time, but here is a list of some that are commonly used and that you may avoid going forward.  Doing a little research into this is relatively easy, lists are available on many websites as well, some more elaborate than others.

Trick to watch:  One trick to watch is when the exam switches an z for a s.  For instance, réorganization and réorganisation, the latter being the correct answer.