Ampère. Becquerel. Curie. Descartes. Pasteur. The French are not only proud of their language, but of their important contributions to science and technology. However, French linguists have quite a challenge on their hands. With English continuing to dominate the world of business, science and technology, how can they preserve the French language while embracing modern terminology? In particular, the speed in which terminology is created and globally adopted presents a unique dilemma for a country dedicated to the purity of the French language.
In France, and to the French-speaking world “cloud computing” is called “informatique en nuage.” This specific attempt to preserve and enrich French with translated information-related words has quickly caught on among upper level sectors of business and technology – one online search of the term will prove its validity. However, the term has not been adopted among the broader French population. While “informatique en nuage” hasn’t stuck, perhaps once it receives sufficient exposure the general population will adopt it to their everyday conversations like they have with “mot-dièse” since hashtag was banned.
In the meantime, here’s a list of some popular computer terms approved by the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication.
- A browser = “Un navigateur”
- A font = “Une police de caractère”
- An (email) attachment = “Une pièce jointe”
- Blog = “Un blog”
- Blog post= “Un billet”
- Bookmark = “Le marque-page”
- Database = “Une base de données”
- File = “Le fichier”
- Follow = “Suivre”
- Following = “Abonné”
- Hacker = “Fouiner”
- Hard drive = “Un disque dur”
- LOL = “MDR” (mort de rire)
- Mouse = “Une souris”
- Password = “Un mot de passe”
- Retweet = “Retweeter”
- Scroll bar = “Une barre de defilement”
- Search engine = “Un moteur de recherche”
- Shareware = “Un partagiciel” (literal), or “un logiciel à contribution”
- Software = “Un logiciel”
- Software library = “Une logithèque”
- Spamming = “Arrosage”
- To crash = “Planter”
- Tweet = “Tweeter”
- Unfollowing = “Se désabonner”
- Web = “Le web”
- Wifi = “Le or la WiFi” (pronounced wee fee)