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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!jmlang
From: jmlang@water.UUCP
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Re: can.franglais
Message-ID: <1013@water.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 25-Jun-87 11:20:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: water.1013
Posted: Thu Jun 25 11:20:25 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Jun-87 02:57:48 EDT
References: <1987Jun24.013852.13984@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu>
Reply-To: jmlang@water.UUCP (Jerome M Lang)
Distribution: can
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 57
Keywords: Hopeless in both official languages

In article <1987Jun24.013852.13984@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> gbs@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Gideon Sheps) writes:
>
>Several comments...
>I propose that people post in the language of THEIR choice, and reserve
>the effort of a good translation to times when your intended audience
>speaks the other and you want to make sure you are clear. C'est simple.

I agree 100%.
>Translating jargon is probably a waste of time, it won't be used next year
>anyhow, thats the nature of it... but seriously, for specialized words
>whats wrong with borrowing them?

Nothing wrong with borrowing them when alternatives do not already
exists. Sometimes however, the word that deserves to be borrowed is
impossible to pronounce in French. A lot of English sounds simply do
not exist in French (the two "TH" for instance.. [as in 'the' and 'both']).
Think about the trouble you have getting words like 'lune' right.

>
>As for trying to add in accents.. can you do without? In Hebrew, where all
>vowels (well, almost) are sprinkled above and below the words, even in print
>they leave them out and read the word correctly from context. The Hebrew
>vowels make a bigger difference to the word than the French accents (which,
>after all, get left off of capital letters already)
>
I'd like to get rid of the accents, but it is so ingrained in the language
it is pathetic. It is much faster to read text with proper accents,
even if they follow the letters, than to read unaccented words. Imagine
reading English written solely in capital letters -- it is possible, but slows
you down tremendously. The Hebrew analogy is not valid in my opinion.
Their written language does not use vowels (at least used not to). That's
the way they are used to read it. Similarly in English:
how do you read the letters "ough"? [sample : bought, though, bough, rough
etc...]. English and French used to be written without space between
words. It was probably quite readable back then. Not so now. My point
is that French is written with accents just about everywhere. If somebody
does not conform to usage it slows the reader down considerably. Mind you,
if the reason you ask whether we can do without is because you never
remember where to put them, well please post your messages without them.
In that sense, we can do without. You will not become 'red face' by making
silly mistakes, and we shall still be able to read what you are saying,
only a little slower.
>Bon Fete to those in Que.
>
And I trust that you also include people outside of Que'bec.
>
>
>C'est fun - no ?
Oui.
>-- 
>Gideon Sheps   (or Cheops, as my Egyptian relatives spell it)


-- 
Je'ro^me M. Lang	   ||    jmlang@water.bitnet        jmlang@water.uucp
Dept of Applied Math       ||			  jmlang%water@waterloo.csnet
U of Waterloo		   ||  	 jmlang%water%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa