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Franglais, or Frenglish , a portmanteau combining the French words "français" ("French") and "anglais" ("English"), is a slang term for an interlanguage, although the word has different overtones in French and English. A portmanteau (IPA: ) is a word or morpheme that fuses two or more words or word parts to give a combined or loaded meaning. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... For other uses, see Slang (disambiguation). ... An interlanguage is an emerging linguistic system that has been developed by a learner of a second language who has not become fully proficient yet, but is only approximating the target language: preserving some features of their first language in speaking or writing the target language and creating innovations. ...

English sense

In English, Franglais means a mangled combination of English and French, produced either by poor knowledge of one or the other language or for humorous effect. Franglais usually consists of filling in gaps in one's knowledge of French with English words or false cognates with their incorrect meaning, or speaking French in such a manner which, though ostensibly "French", would be incomprehensible to a French-speaker who does not also have a knowledge of English, for example word for word translations of English idiomatic phrases. The term false cognate is sometimes used incorrectly for false friend. ...

Examples:

• Longtemps, pas voir. — Long time, no see.
• Je vais driver downtown. — I'm going to drive downtown.
• Je suis tired. — I am tired.
• Je ne care pas. — I don't care.
• J'agree. — I agree.

Franglais may also mean a diplomatic compromise such as the abbreviation UTC for Co-ordinated Universal Time. UTC may mean Coordinated Universal Time University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Union Treiziste Catalane Universal Terran Church United Technologies Corporation United Trading Company This is a disambiguation page — a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

In English humour

Chaucer's Prioress knew nothing of the French of Paris, but only that of Stratford-atte-Bow ('Cockney French'). Similar mixtures occur in the later stages of Law French, such as the famous defendant who "ject un brickbat a le dit Justice, que narrowly mist". An early modern literary example of the delight in mélange occurs in Robert Surtees' Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities: Chaucer redirects here. ... The Prioress Tale follows The Shipmans Tale in Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... Bow, historically Stratford-le-Bow [1], is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ... St Mary-le-Bow The term cockney is often used to refer to working-class people of London, particularly east London, and the slang used by these people. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Robert Smith Surtees (1803 - March 16, 1864) was an English editor, novelist and sporting writer, was the second son of Anthony Surtees of Hamsterley Hall, a member of an old County Durham family. ...

"You shall manger cinq fois every day," said she; "cinq fois," she repeated.--"Humph!" said Mr. Jorrocks to himself, "what can that mean?--cank four--four times five's twenty--eat twenty times a day--not possible!" "Oui, Monsieur, cinq fois," repeated the Countess, telling the number off on her fingers--"Café at nine of the matin, déjeuner à la fourchette at onze o'clock, diner at cinq heure, café at six hour, and souper at neuf hour."

The 19th century American writer Mark Twain, in Innocents Abroad, included the following letter to a Parisian landlord:^[1] Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humanist,[2] humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. ... Innocents Abroad cover Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims Progress was published by American author Mark Twain in 1869. ...

The humorist Miles Kington wrote a regular column Parlez vous Franglais which, for a number of years starting in the late 1970s, appeared in the magazine Punch. These columns were collected into a series of books: Let's Parler Franglais, Let's Parler Franglais Again!, Parlez-vous Franglais?, Let's Parler Franglais One More Temps, The Franglais Lieutenant's Woman and Other Literary Masterpieces. Miles Kington (born 1941) is a British journalist, jazz musician and broadcaster. ... Punch was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire published from 1841 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2002. ...

Another classic is Jean Loup Chiflet's Sky My Husband! Ciel Mon Mari! which is a literal translation of French into English. However, the correct translation of Ciel is Heavens! in this context.

Perhaps the oldest example of Franglais in English literature is found in Henry V by William Shakespeare. A French princess is trying to learn English, but unfortunately, "foot" as pronounced by her maid sounds too much like foutre (French, "fuck") and "gown" like con (French "cunt", also used to mean "idiot"). She decides English is too obscene a language. The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S... Title page of the first quarto (1600) Henry V, also known as The Cronicle History of Henry the fift, is a play by William Shakespeare based on the life of King Henry V of England. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Cunt is an English language vulgarism most commonly used in reference to vulva or vagina and, more generally, the pubis, from the mons veneris to the perineum. ...

French sense

In French, Franglais refers to the use of English words for which there are French equivalents; the most notorious of these anglicisms, which are sometimes regarded as unwelcome imports or as bad slang, is le week-end. The term also refers to nouns created on Anglo-Saxon roots, often by adding "ing" at the end of a popular word, e.g. un parking (a car park or parking lot), un camping (a campsite), le marketing, un smoking (a tuxedo), le shampooing (shampoo, pronounced [ʃɑ̃pwɛ̃] and not [ʃɑ̃puiŋ]). A few words that have entered use in French are derived from English roots but are never found at all in English, such as un relooking (a makeover), un déstockage (a clearance sale). Others are based on mistaken ideas of English words e.g. "le footing" (jogging, not a pediment), grammar e.g. "un pin's" (a lapel badge, for which there was a collecting craze in the 1990s) or word order e.g. "talkie-walkie" (walkie-talkie, a hand-held two-way radio). For those who don't speak English, those words are believed to be real. (In Québec, "talkie-walkie", "footing" and "relooking" are not in use, among other differences) An anglicism, as most often defined, is a word borrowed from English into another language. ... Parking lot is the American English term that refers to a cleared area that is more or less level and is intended for parking vehicles. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A walkie-talkie is a portable, bi-directional radio transceiver, first developed for military use. ...

Owing to the worldwide popularity of the internet, relatively new English words have been introduced into French, e.g. e-mail and mail (an e-mail or an e-mail address). The French and Quebec governments have proposed the use of an alternative derived from French roots: courriel (courrier électronique), which is indeed widely used. (The Académie française has suggested the use of the less popular mél.) Another example from Canadian French is look. The verb "to look" in French is regarder, but the noun "a look" (i.e. the way that something looks), is look. So the sentence, "This Pepsi can has a new look", in French would be Cette cannette de Pepsi a un nouveau look. This is obviously a borrowed word as native French words, like all Romance languages, do not have the letter k (or w). The Académie française In the French educational system an académie LAcadémie française, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. ... Canadian French is an umbrella term for the dialects or varieties of French found in Canada [1] and areas of French Canadian settlement in the United States. ... The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family that comprises all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ...

France

After World War II, a backlash began in France over the increasing use of Franglais there. Corruption of the national language was perceived by some to be tantamount to an attack on the identity of the country itself. During this period imports of large amounts of United States products led to increasingly widespread use of some English phrases throughout French culture. Measures taken to slow this trend included government censorship of comic strips and financial support for the French film and French language dubbing industries. Despite public policies against the spread of English, the use of Franglais is increasing in both written and oral expression. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... For other uses, see Censor. ... This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ... In filmmaking, dubbing or looping is the process of recording or replacing voices for a motion picture. ...

In recent years English expressions are increasingly present in French mass media:

• TV reality shows generally use English titles such as Loft Story (Big Brother), Star Academy (or Star Ac') and Popstars.
• The leading national newspaper Le Monde publishes a weekly article selection of The New York Times entirely in English and uses anglicisms such as newsletter, chat, and e-mail instead of substitutions ("bavardage" for "chat" or "courriel" for "e-mail").
  • Note that saying "bavardage" to a French person instead of Internet "chat" will baffle him or her, since "bavardage" is never used in an Internet context. In fact, many English technical words have a very restricted domain in French. However, "chat" can be confusing in that sense as well, because it means "cat" in standard French (only when written, because they are pronounced differently)
• NRJ (pronounced énergie), the leading radio station, which targets a young audience, is known for a massive use of Franglais expressions.
• In James Huth's blockbuster movie Brice de Nice (to be pronounced as if it was English), Franglais is used in a satirical way to make fun of the teens and other trendy people who use English words to sound cool.

Almost all telecommunication and Internet service providers generally use English and Franglais expressions in their product names and advertising campaigns. The leading operator France Télécom has dropped the accents in its corporate logo. In recent years it has changed its product names with smart sounding expressions such as "Business Talk", "Live-Zoom", "Family Talk". France Telecom's mobile telecommunications subsidiary Orange runs a franchise retail network called mobistores. Its Internet subsidiary, formerly known as Wanadoo (inspired by the American slang expression "wanna do"), provides a popular triple play service through its Livebox. The second largest Internet service provider in France is Free and proposes its freebox. Set-top boxes offered by many providers followed the trend (neuf-box, alice-box...) and the word box taken as is gradually ends up referring to those set-top boxes, in the Internet context. For the song by the Thievery Corporation, see Le Monde (song). ... The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ... NRJ (or energy) is a radio company and brand of commercial radio stations in Europe. ... Blockbuster, as applied to film or theater, denotes a very popular and/or successful production. ... Brice de Nice is a 2005 French film, directed by James Huth. ... France Télécom (Euronext: FTE, NYSE: FTE) (often spelled France Telecom, without the accents, in non-French text) is the main telecommunication company in France. ... Orange SA IPA: is a mobile network operator and an internet service provider that is a subsidiary of France Télécom. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Orange SA. (Discuss) Wanadoo logo Wanadoo is the former name of the ISP division of Orange SA. , which is a subsidiary of France Télécom. ... Free is a French Internet Service Provider (ISP), which is a subsidiary of the Iliad Group. ...

SNCF, the state-owned railway company, has recently introduced a customer fidelity program called S'Miles, at the same time Air France renamed its frequent flyer program Fréquence Plus as Flying Blue. The Paris Transportation Authority (RATP), recently introduced a handfree pass system called NaviGO. SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français) (French National Railway Company) is a French public enterprise. ... This is the top-level page of WikiProject trains Rail tracks Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. ... Air France (formally Société Air France) is Europes largest airline company. ... A Frequent Flyer Program is a service offered by many airlines to reward customer loyalty. ... Typical RATP métro access turnstiles The Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP/Autonomous Transport Region of Paris) is the major transit authority responsible for public transportation in Paris and its environs. ...

The Académie Française (French Academy) and public authorities such as the High Council for the French Language (Conseil supérieur de la langue française) generally propose alternative words for Anglicisms. The acceptance of these proposals varies a lot : "ordinateur" and "logiciel" existed before the English words "computer" and "software" reached France, so they obviously are accepted (even outside of French in the case of "ordinateur"). On the other hand, "vacancelle" failed to replace "weekend", as did "fin de semaine", which did catch on in Canada. The word "courriel", a translation of "e-mail" initially proposed by the Office québécois de la langue française, is slowly coming into use in written French. However, most of French Internet users generally speak about "mail" without the prefix "e-". Note that English words are often much faster to say, and they are usually coined first (with the French alternatives being thought of only after the original word has been coined, and are debated at length), which is partly why they tend to stay. The Académie française In the French educational system an académie LAcadémie française, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. ... The Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) (Quebec Office of the French language) was established on March 24, 1961 along with the Quebec ministry of Cultural affairs. ... This article is about monetary coins. ...

Alternative words proposed by the Académie Française are sometimes poorly received by an aware (often technical) audience and unclear to a non-technical audience. The proposed terms may be ambiguous, often because they are artificially created based on phonetics, thus hiding their etymology, which results in "nonsense", e.g. cédéroms réinscriptibles for CD-RW (literally "rewritable CD-ROMs", despite that "ROM" means read-only memory). Some words sound weird, often because of a convoluted source, e.g. spam became pourriel, which comes from pourri (rotten) and courriel, itself a portmanteau). Others are uncool, e.g. adding the initial T to "chat" to form tchat, in accord with French phonetics. DVD is rendered dévédé, reproducing the French pronunciation of the letters D, V & D. Compact Disc ReWritable (CD-RW) is a rewritable optical disc format. ... Look up spam, SPAM in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A portmanteau (IPA: ) is a word or morpheme that fuses two or more words or word parts to give a combined or loaded meaning. ...

The use of English expressions is very common in the youth language, which combines them with verlan and expressions of Arabic origin. The letter J is often prononced in the English way in words like jeunes (young). The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... In the French language, verlan is the inversion of syllables in a word which is found in slang and youth language. ... Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ...

Canada

Quebec French and English

Franglais should not be confused with Quebec French, which has a number of longstanding borrowings from English as the result of the historical coexistence of two linguistic communities inside Quebec and especially the Montreal area. Likewise, Quebec English, i.e. the language spoken by the anglophone minority there, has borrowed many French words such as dépanneur (corner store), autoroute (highway), PAB (from préposé aux bénéficiaires, a nurse's assistant), stage (internship), metro (subway), and many more examples here. These are permanent and longstanding features of local usage rather than the incorrect speech improvised by any given individual user with poor knowledge of the other language. Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... This article is about the Canadian province. ... Nickname: Motto: Concordia Salus (well-being through harmony) Coordinates: , Country Province Region Montréal Founded 1642 Established 1832 Government  - Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area [1][2][3]  - City 365. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... A dépanneur (French, from dépanner, meaning to help out of difficulty; often nicknamed a dep) is a convenience store in the province of Quebec, in Canada. ... Drawing of a self-service store. ... An autoroute. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

They have mainly become part of a common tongue born out of mutual concession to one another.^{[citation needed]} In fact, the substantial fluently bilingual community in and around Montreal will occasionally refer to "Franglais", usually after it is pointed out that someone has used a variety of French and English words, expressions, or propositions in a 'correct' fashion in the same sentence or point, a surprisingly common occurrence.^{[citation needed]}

Other regions

Franglais can refer to the long-standing and stable mixes of English and French spoken in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and northern Maine (see chiac and Acadian French), Manitoba, some parts of Northern Ontario, and even certain towns on the west coast of Newfoundland. This mix uses approximately equal proportions of each language (except in Newfoundland), although it is more likely to be understood by a francophone, since it usually uses English words in French pronunciation and grammar. This article is about the Canadian province. ... Motto: Munit Hae et Altera Vincit (Latin: One defends and the other conquers) Capital Halifax Largest city Halifax Regional Municipality Largest metro Halifax Regional Municipality Official languages English (de facto), French Government Lieutenant-Governor Mayann E. Francis Premier Rodney MacDonald (PC) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 11 Senate... Official language(s) None (English and French de facto) Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area  Ranked 39th  - Total 33,414 sq mi (86,542 km²)  - Width 210 miles (338 km)  - Length 320 miles (515 km)  - % water 13. ... Chiac is an Acadian French vernacular mixed with English, spoken in the south-east Canada, especially among youth near Moncton, Memramcook and Shediac. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Motto: Gloriosus et Liber (Latin: Glorious and free) Capital Winnipeg Largest city Winnipeg Official languages English French (de facto) Government Lieutenant-Governor John Harvard Premier Gary Doer (NDP) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 14 Senate seats 6 Confederation July 15, 1870 (5th) Area  Ranked 8th Total 647,797... Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario, Canada, which lies north of Lake Huron, Georgian Bay, the French River and Lake Nipissing. ... This article is about the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Incorrect and unstable usages

Franglais, in the sense of incorrect usages by second language speakers, occurs across Canada because of immersion programs. A good example of an anglicism turned Franglais is the unintentional translation of English phrases into French by students unaware of the correct Canadian French term. One such example is mistranslating a hot dog as "chien chaud" (literally a dog that is hot) when in fact the correct translation is simply "hot dog". In some ways, confusion over which expression is more correct, and the emphasis many immersion schools place on eliminating anglicisms from students' vocabulary, has promoted the use of Franglais.^{[citation needed]} Franglais can also slowly creep into use from mispronunciations and misspellings by many bilingual Canadians. Common mistakes that immersion or bilingual students propagate and tend to repeat beyond their student life include incorrect inflection and stresses on syllables, incorrect doubling of consonants, strange vowel combinations in their spelling, and using combinations of prefixes and suffixes from the other language. A second language (L2) is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue (L1). ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Canadian French is an umbrella term for the dialects or varieties of French found in Canada [1] and areas of French Canadian settlement in the United States. ... This article contains a trivia section. ...

Recently, Canadian youth culture, especially in British Columbia and southern and eastern Ontario, purposely uses Franglais for its comical or euphemistic characteristics, for example in replacing English swearwords with French ones. Some Anglophone Canadians euphemistically use the Québecois sacres (religious words such as sacrament, used as expletives) instead of swearing in English. A euphemism is the substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener;[1] or in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker. ... Humorous cartoon from the French newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné, featuring Jacques Chirac and his wife discussing Quebec French profanity. ... The word expletive is currently used in three senses: syntactic expletives, expletive attributives, and bad language. The word expletive comes from the Latin verb explere, meaning to fill, via expletivus, filling out. It was introduced into English in the seventeenth century to refer to various kinds of padding — the padding...

Cameroon

Main article: Camfranglais

Cameroon has substantial English- and French-speaking populations as a legacy of its colonial past as British Southern Cameroons and French Cameroun. Despite linguistically segregated education since independence, many younger Cameroonians in urban centres have formed a version of Franglais/Franglish from English, French and Cameroonian Pidgin English known as Camfranglais or Frananglais. Many educational authorities disapprove of Frananglais in Cameroon and have banned it in their schools. Nevertheless, the language has gained in popularity and has a growing music scene.^[2] Camfranglais, Frananglais, or Franglais is a language from Cameroon, consisting of a mixture of French, English and the creole language Cameroonian Pidgin English. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... French (français, langue française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered in speakers only by Spanish and Portuguese. ... Cameroons was a British Mandate territory in West Africa, now divided between Nigeria and Cameroon. ... Cameroon over time  German Kamerun  British Cameroons  French Cameroun  Republic of Cameroon This article is about the historical French colony. ... Cameroonian Pidgin English, or Cameroonian Creole, is a linguistic entity of Cameroon. ...

Other bilingual communities

Frenglish also occurs in other communities where imperfect English-French bilingualism is common. UN officials in Geneva often speak of "the UN Office at Geneva", rather than "in Geneva", in an imitation the French "à Genève". UN redirects here. ... For other uses, see Geneva (disambiguation). ...

Another example is provided by the civil servants in European Union institutions (European Parliament, European Commission, European Court of Justice), based in French-speaking Brussels and Luxembourg City. They often work in English, but are surrounded by a French-speaking environment, which influences their English (e.g. "There's a soirée on the Grand Place"; "I'm a stagiaire at the Commission and I'm looking for another stage in a consultancy".) Established 1952, as the Common Assembly President Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP) Since 16 January 2007 Vice-Presidents 14 Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou (EPP) Alejo Vidal-Quadras (EPP) Gérard Onesta (Greens – EFA) Edward McMillan-Scott (ED) Mario Mauro (EPP) Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez (PES) Luigi Cocilovo (ALDE) Mechtild... Berlaymont, the Commissions seat The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive branch of the European Union. ... Official emblem of the ECJ The Court of Justice of the European Communities, usually called the European Court of Justice (ECJ), is the highest court in the European Union (EU). ... This article is about the settlement itself. ... The Old town, seen from the ground Luxembourg City, population 82,268 (2002), is the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. ...

Some well educated English-speaking people interlard their conversation with French words and expressions, some of which they misunderstand, e.g. using "to look at some one de haut en bas" to mean "to look them over from head to toe", whereas the French expression means "to look at them as from on high", as from a superior to an inferior^{[original research?]}, while "de bas en haut" would be the correct use.

See also

• List of dialects of the English language
• Other interlanguages such as Portuñol, Namlish, Englog and Singlish
• Cultural identity and Cultural imperialism
• "I went to the market, mon p'tit panier sous mon bras", a song by Gilles Vigneault
• Code switching
• Macaronic, mixing languages for literary effect

This is a list of varieties of the English language. ... Portuñol (also Portunhol), a portmanteau of the words Português (Portuguese) and Español (Spanish), is a mixed language based on Spanish and Portuguese. ... Namlish, a portmanteau of the words Namibian and English, is a form of English spoken in Namibia. ... 58. ... Singlish is an English-based creole language native to Singapore. ... Cultural identity is the (feeling of) identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as he is influenced by his belonging to a group or culture. ... Cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting, distinguishing, separating, artificially injecting of the culture or language of one nation in another. ... Gilles Vigneault (born 27 October 1928) is a poet, publisher and singer-songwriter from Quebec, and well-known Quebec nationalist and sovereigntist. ... Code-switching is a term in linguistics referring to using more than one language or dialect in conversation. ... Macaronic refers to text spoken or written using a mixture of languages. ...

External links

• La petite lesson en Franglais

1. ^ Twain, Mark. The Innocents Abroad. 1869. (at Project Gutenberg)
2. ^ BBC NEWS | World | Africa | New language for divided Cameroon