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When you hear French people speak, you can quickly realize that they use anglicisms, aka words borrowed from the English language. Why are there so many anglicisms in French? And if we want to avoid anglicisms, how can we replace them?

What is an anglicism?

An anglicism is a word, term or expression borrowed from the English language by another language. Yes, there can be anglicisms in many foreign languages, for example in Spanish or in German! This is easily explained: as the English language has become one of the main languages for business or science around the world, we end up borrowing many terms from it. For this article, we will focus on the anglicisms that have crept into the French language.

Some anglicisms are so unavoidable in the French language that we don't even notice them anymore, like "airbag" or "pull-over". Moreover, anglicisms do not stop at words borrowed from English: anglicisms can also happen when we use some syntactic constructions specific to the English language.

Syntactic anglicisms

It may seem ironic, but it’s in Quebec, where we try so much to preserve the French language, that syntactic anglicisms are on the rise. A syntactic anglicism is when you copy English syntax on French terms.

For example, we say "ça fait sens" (borrowed from the English "it makes sense") instead of saying "ça a du sens". Or, some people will say "les prochaines trois semaines" (borrowed from the English syntax "the next three weeks"), whereas in French, we say "les trois prochaines semaines". To greet each other, Quebecers say "bon matin", which is actually a copy of "good morning".

Anglicisms in spelling

Sometimes, English slips so well into the French language that we misspell some French words! Have you ever had any doubts when writing the French word "adresse"? In English, we write "address", which can lead to a spelling mistake in French by writing "addresse"...

False anglicisms

Finally, there are false anglicisms, i.e. words that we think we have borrowed from English, when they are, in fact, not used at all. For example, we speak of "brushing" in French when in English it would be "blow-dry".

Should we really avoid anglicisms?

We know that some words in the French language were borrowed a long time ago from certain languages such as Spanish or Arabic. Languages mix together over centuries... So why should we avoid anglicisms at all cost? For some people, it is mainly a question of avoiding excessive anglicisms, especially when there is a perfectly satisfactory French equivalent. For others, it is important to preserve the French language. This is the work of the Académie française (in France) and the Office québécois de la langue française (in Quebec).

Unfortunately, the Académie française does not always react quickly enough when an anglicism appears, or does not propose the right alternative. In her column on France Inter, Laélia Veron even explains that the Académie sometimes goes so far as to invent English origins for certain words, stating for example that "'présentiel' was a clumsy and unsatisfactory copy of the English 'presential’”. She goes on to explain that the word is not often used in English, and at least not in the same context.

Worse, academics sometimes come up with equivalents that fall flat. For example, they want to replace "coming out" by "day of courage" or "follower" by “acolyte des illustres”, “disciple” ou “partisan”...

How to avoid anglicisms?

If you want to avoid anglicisms, the best way is to find out what alternatives exist. The Office québécois de la langue française is quick to create effective alternatives and proposes, for example, the word "divulgâcher" instead of "spoiler" (to spoil a film by revealing the plot).

It’s also interesting to learn about the real meaning of some French words. Are you asked if you are "confident in your ability to lead this team"? Watch out! “Confident”, in French, means "a person who receives someone's most secret thoughts." Better to say “avoir confiance en ses capacités”.

Finally, if you find it too difficult to replace an English word with its French equivalent, you can also change the syntax of your sentence. “Il m’a spoilé la fin du film” = “Il m’a gâché le film en me racontant la fin”.

Are you a fan of anglicisms? Are you using anglicisms without knowing it? You could learn a new language  like Spanish or Chinese and borrow some words from it too!