5 ms·

It will be obviously rejected. It is too English-y. Better use good French-sounding words like "jogging" and "parking". Have you heard how we are supposed to c

by jraph 5y ago

It will be obviously rejected. It is too English-y. Better use good French-sounding words like "jogging" and "parking". Have you heard how we are supposed to call a follower (on Twitter)? "Acolyte des illustres" This is not a joke, see for yourself this post dated "not a 1st of April": https://www.academie-francaise.fr/followers https://www.academie-francaise.fr/followers

leephillips 5y ago
In Spanish they use seguidores: literally followers. Why can’t they do something like that in French?
- jraph 5y ago
  "suiveur", in French, is connoted pejoratively and means "someone without initiative". So I guess most people would find it uncomfortable to use this term in this context. But there's a word that works great for this in French and that everybody who needs it already understands well: follower. It's borrowed from English, like so many other words. It's only fair, a big part of the English vocabulary directly comes from the French.
  - stan_rogers 5y ago
    "Follower" had the same connotation in English before its use in relation to social media.
    - jraph 5y ago
      I believe you, and I can't explain why it did work for English speakers and not for the French ones. Maybe I'm wrong in my hypothesis by the way, that's just how I feel it. Follower does not bear this pejorative meaning for French people. Maybe Twitter did push for this word in English and it worked? And then people who translated Twitter's interface in French and decided to leave follower "untranslated" actually sealed the destiny of this word in the French language?
      - leephillips 5y ago
        Although it can have that connotation in English, it has to be activated by context: “Jim is not a leader, he’s a follower”. But in phrases like “a follower of the Chicago school of economics” it’s neutral. Maybe in French the negative connotation is more tightly bound to the word.
        jraph 5y ago
        Interesting. No, indeed, we can't use suiveur neutrally like this in French as far as I know. We'd probably say un étudiant or une étudiante (a student) in this specific case. Or un membre (a member). But we actually can follow a lesson (suivre un cours) without it being pejorative, so while the noun is probably always pejorative, the verb is generally not if not activated by context, as you say.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]

by jraph 5y ago

leephillips 5y ago

In Spanish they use seguidores: literally followers. Why can’t they do something like that in French?

jraph 5y ago
"suiveur", in French, is connoted pejoratively and means "someone without initiative". So I guess most people would find it uncomfortable to use this term in this context. But there's a word that works great for this in French and that everybody who needs it already understands well: follower. It's borrowed from English, like so many other words. It's only fair, a big part of the English vocabulary directly comes from the French.
- stan_rogers 5y ago
  "Follower" had the same connotation in English before its use in relation to social media.
  - jraph 5y ago
    I believe you, and I can't explain why it did work for English speakers and not for the French ones. Maybe I'm wrong in my hypothesis by the way, that's just how I feel it. Follower does not bear this pejorative meaning for French people. Maybe Twitter did push for this word in English and it worked? And then people who translated Twitter's interface in French and decided to leave follower "untranslated" actually sealed the destiny of this word in the French language?
    - leephillips 5y ago
      Although it can have that connotation in English, it has to be activated by context: “Jim is not a leader, he’s a follower”. But in phrases like “a follower of the Chicago school of economics” it’s neutral. Maybe in French the negative connotation is more tightly bound to the word.
      - jraph 5y ago
        Interesting. No, indeed, we can't use suiveur neutrally like this in French as far as I know. We'd probably say un étudiant or une étudiante (a student) in this specific case. Or un membre (a member). But we actually can follow a lesson (suivre un cours) without it being pejorative, so while the noun is probably always pejorative, the verb is generally not if not activated by context, as you say.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]