Franglais

In French (and sometimes so used in English), the term refers to the inappropriate use of anglicisms (English words) for which there are more appropriate French equivalents.

It can also mean a mangled combination of English and French, produced either by poor knowledge of one or the other language or for humorous effect. If you try to speak French and fill in gaps in your knowledge with English words or false friends with their incorrect meaning, the result is Franglais.

The existence of a franglais dialect is the result of the long-lasting coexistence of two linguistic communities inside Quebec and especially the Montreal area. Since the rise of Quebec as a society mainly controlled by its French-speaking majority in the 1960s, franglais is pouring into the dialects of Quebec anglophones who are increasingly bilingual. It is today frequent to hear anglophone Quebecers perform code switching (towards French) in the middle of a sentence like French Canadians used to with English not so long ago.

Alternatively, Franglais can work in reverse to provide less-than-ideal translations.

Examples:

• Moi aussi - I am an Australian.
• Coup de grace - lawn mower
• Pas de deux - father of twins
• J'accuse réception - The secretary did it.

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.

Books published by Miles Kingston include: 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.

Another classic is Jean Loup Chiflet's Sky My Husband! Ciel Mon Mari! which is a literal translation (and a correct one too, for comparison) of French into English. (The title might better have been translated as "Good Heavens! My Husband!" for example).

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Referenced By