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LEARNING FRENCH

16 crucial phrases for summer 2021 in France

Now that France is welcoming back tourists who are fully vaccinated or who are travelling from green list countries, here are some phrases you might need for a visit this summer.

Published: 14 July 2021 15:00 CEST
Updated: 17 July 2021 11:06 CEST
16 crucial phrases for summer 2021 in France
You'll need to know how to order ice cream in France this summer. Photo: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP.

From health passes to extended terraces, much of France in 2021 will be unrecognisable to somebody who last visited before the Covid pandemic.

But some things never change, like beaches, ice cream and the inevitable traffic jams in August. Here are the phrases you will need to navigate familiar and unknown territory in France this summer.

READ ALSO Where in France can you get away from the crowds this summer?

Pass sanitaire – Health passport. Large gatherings in France, including outdoor festivals, cruises and nightclubs, require you to show a health pass, proving that you have either been vaccinated, have recently tested negative for Covid, or have recovered from the virus. From July 21st, the pass will be required to access leisure venues hosting more than 50 people like cinemas and museums, and from August, this will be extended to cafés, restaurants, bars, trains and long-distance coaches. If unsure, you can ask, “Faut-il le pass sanitaire ?” (Do you need a health pass?), or check out The Local’s guide to the pass HERE.

Masque obligatoire – Mask required. In response to the threat posed by the delta variant of Covid, a number of mayors in popular tourist destinations including Nice and Saint-Malo have brought back mandatory mask wearing for certain streets. And you still need to wear a mask in many enclosed spaces like shops and public transportation – failure to do so can net you une amende de €135 – a €135 fine.

Jauge – Capacity. This word literally means “gauge”, but these days it’s commonly used to refer to capacity limits in venues. Since the beginning of July, bars, restaurants and cinemas no longer have to respect a particular jauge, and can welcome as many people as they like, but with case numbers rising in France, the government could choose to limit numbers again at any moment.

Centre de dépistage – Testing centre. Many countries, including the UK, USA and Canada, require their citizens to take a Covid test before travelling home after a holiday in France, even if they are fully vaccinated. You can take a PCR test at one of France’s many testing centres, or buy an antigen test from a pharmacy.

READ ALSO How tourists and visitors can get a Covid test in France

That’s enough about the health crisis now, although if you need them we do have vocabulary guides to getting a Covid test and for in case you fall ill.

Juilletiste / Aoûtiens – July / August holiday goers. As The Local explains, there is a traditional rivalry in France between those who go on holiday in July, and those who leave in August. Whether you’re a juilletiste or an aoûtien, be prepared to defend your choice!

Journée noire – Black day. This refers to a day when there are extreme amounts of traffic on France’s roads. There is often one samedi noir (black Saturday) per year when most people are either driving to their holiday destinations or returning home, often at the beginning of August, but there can be more than one in the same year. The term comes from the classification system used by national forecaster Bison Futé, which it is wise to check before setting off.

READ ALSO Seven French expressions to help you complain about the heat

Fête nationale – National Holiday. In English we refer to France’s national celebration on July 14th as Bastille Day, after the storming of the Bastille in 1789. But in France, they simply call it the fête nationale, or the quatorze juillet. It’s a big party every year, and a great event to take part in if you happen to be in France at the time.

Feu d’artifice – Fireworks. This is the highlight of every July 14th, as towns all over the country put on fireworks displays. They will be going ahead this year in most places, but check first whether you need the pass sanitaire.

Glace à l’italienne – Soft-serve ice cream. This is a hugely popular summer treat in France, sold by the beach, in ice cream shops, and often outside chocolate shops. But don’t be fooled – despite the name, it’s nothing like an Italian gelato. It’s actually a soft-serve ice cream, or a 99 if you’re from the UK.

Granité – Granita. This one is closer to its Italian counterpart, often referred to as a “slushy” in English. You’ll find stalls offering a large variety of flavours of this icy beverage, perfect for cooling down after a day spent in the sun.

Attraper un coup de soleil – To get sunburnt. Literally a “hit of sun“, hopefully you won’t be needing to use this one too often.

Le soleil tape fort – The sun is strong. You can tell the French are used to heatwaves, because this is another expression which imagines the sun is a boxer. Literally “the sun is hitting hard”, it shows a healthy respect for the destructive power of its rays.

Rester à l’ombre – To stay in the shade. If you’re not used to the heat, or if you’re feeling particularly pale after eighteen months of télétravail (remote working), this is probably a good idea.

Se (faire) dorer la pilule – To get a tan. Alternatively, you may want to wind down after the difficult time we’ve all been through by basking in the sun. In France, you can use this expression, which comes from the phrase dorer la pilule (to brown / sugarcoat the pill). That expression has the same origins as its English equivalent – the act of making medicine more appealing to swallow – and can also be used figuratively. But se dorer la pilule (to brown your pill) is a synonym for bronzer (to tan).

Barbeuc – Barbecue. Technically, the French word is the same as in English, but you’ll commonly hear people shorten it to barbeuc. It’s a popular summer activity in France, especially when combined with spicy merguez sausages, and with people looking to avoid large crowds, barbecues could become even more popular this year. “On fait un barbeuc demain ?” (“Should we have a BBQ tomorrow?”)

Manger en terrasse – To eat outside. With restaurants remaining open this summer, and with cities like Paris allowing them to extend their terraces into the street, eating outside is a great opportunity to breathe after a difficult year. When you request a table, the waiter might ask, “Vous préférez en salle ou en terrasse ?” (“Do you prefer inside or outside?”)

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LEARNING FRENCH

Is the English language really just ‘badly pronounced French’?

A French linguist has been making waves with his boldly-titled book 'The English language does not exist - it's just badly pronounced French', but does the professor actually have a point?

Published: 23 April 2024 14:35 CEST
Is the English language really just 'badly pronounced French'?

The French linguist Bernard Cerquiglini is clear that the title of his book should be taken with humour and a pinch of salt, beginning his work by explaining that it is a ‘bad faith proposition’.

Clearly, the English language does exist and equally clearly the French are a little uneasy about it – with numerous laws, national bodies and local initiatives attempting to fight back against the anglicisms that now litter everyday speech, from ‘c’est cool’ to ‘un job’. 

But Cerquiglini argues that the supposed ‘influx’ of English words that are now used in France, especially tech-related terms, is nothing compared to what happened when French literally invaded English in the Middle Ages.

And the close similarity that the two languages enjoy today – around 30 percent of English words are of French origin – speaks to this entwined history.

“You can also see my book as an homage to the English language, which has been able to adopt so many words… Viking, Danish, French, it’s astonishing,” he told AFP.

The history

The key date in the blending of English and French is the Norman conquest of 1066, when Duke William of Normandy invaded England with a small group of Norman knights and made himself the English king William the Conqueror.

What happened next was a radical re-ordering of society in which English nobles were displaced and William’s knights were installed as a new French-speaking (or at least Norman-speaking) ruling class. 

The use of French by the ruling classes continued into the 13th and 14th centuries, by which time French was the official language of the royal courts, diplomacy, the law, administration and trade – meaning that ambitious English people had no choice but to learn French in order to take part in official or legal processes. 

Cerquiglini says that half of all English’s borrowings from French took place between 1260-1400, with a heavy slant towards words related to nobility, trade, administration or the law.

But a large group of non-native speakers meant that the French spoken in England was already starting to evolve, and the French words ended up with different pronunciations or even a different meaning. 

As early as 1175, the records show a Frenchman in England snootily remarking that: “My language is good, because I was born in France”. 

English and French started to part ways from the mid-1400s, by which time the two countries no longer shared royalty (the last English possession in France, the port of Calais, was lost to the French in 1558) and gradually systems such as the law courts and trade began to be conducted in English.

French remained widely spoken as a second language by the nobility and the elite right up until the early 20th century and French is still the most widely-taught language in UK schools.

The similarities

It’s not always easy to distinguish between English words that have a French root and those that have a Latin root, but linguists estimate that around 29 percent of English words come from French, another 29 percent from Latin, 26 percent from German and the rest from other languages.

But many of the English words that do have a clear French root are related to nobility, administration, politics and the law.

For example the French words gouvernement, parlement, autorité and peuple are clearly recognisable to English speakers. Likewise budget, revenus, enterprise and taxe, plus avocat, cour, juge, magistrat and evidence.

Amusingly, the French and the English obviously found time to share many insults, including bâtard [bastard], crétin, imbecile, brute and stupide.

Adaptation

But most of the people in England who were speaking French did not have it as their mother tongue, so the language began to adapt. For example the French à cause de literally translates into English as ‘by cause of’ which over time became the English word ‘because’.

There are also words that started out the same but changed their meaning over time – for example the English word ‘clock’ comes from the French ‘cloche’ (bell), because in the Middle Ages church bells were the most common method of keeping track of the time for most people.

When the mechanical clock began to appear from the 14th century onwards, the French used a new term – une horloge – but the English stuck with the original.

The differences

One of the big differences between English and French is that English simply has more words – there are roughly 170,000 words in the English language, compared to about 135,000 in French.

And at least part of this comes from English being a ‘blended’ language – that English people hung on to their original words and simply added the French ones, which is why you often get several different English words that have the same translation in French eg clever and intelligent both translate into French as ‘intelligent’.

Another difference represents the class divide that the Norman invasion imposed between the French nobles and the English labourers.

For example the words pig and cow both have Anglo-Saxon roots, while pork and beef come from French (porc and boeuf) – so when the animal is in the field being looked after by English peasants it has an Anglo-Saxon name, but by the time it is on the plate being eaten by posh people, it becomes French.

There’s also a tendency in English for the more everyday words to have Anglo-Saxon origins while the fancier words have French origins – eg to build (English) versus to construct (French). In French construire is used for both. Or to feed (English) versus to nourish (French) – in French both are nourrir.

Faux amis

One consequence of English and French being so closely linked in the bane of every language-learner’s life – les faux amis (false friends).

These are words that look and sound very similar, but have a completely different meaning. If you don’t know the French word for something you can have a stab at saying the English word with a French pronunciation – and often you will be right.

But sometimes you will be wrong, and sometimes it will be embarrassing.

READ ALSO The 18 most embarrassing French ‘false friends’

Often, faux amis are words that have changed their meaning in one language but not the other – for example the French word sensible means sensitive, not sensible – which is why you can buy products for peau sensible (sensitive skin).

But it once meant sensitive in English too – for example in the title of Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility – over time the meaning of the English word adapted but the French one stayed the same.

The title

And a word on that title – La langue anglaise n’existe pas, C’est du français mal prononcé (the English language does not exist, it’s just badly pronounced French) is actually a quote from former French prime minister Georges Clemenceau.

He did apparently speak English, but doesn’t appear to have been very fond of England itself – his other well-known quote on the topic is: “L’angleterre n’est qu’une colonie français qui a mal tourné” – England is just a French colony gone wrong.  

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