self with the least number of characters, making use of pure reliance on sounds, abbreviations,
and acronyms to convey a message. Beware that it is customary not to use accents in text mes-
sages. Consider the following examples of French abbreviations and acronyms used in text
Written French: Making transitions and written correspondence
433
A2m1
À demain.
See you tomorrow.
FDS
le week-end
weekend
ALP
À la prochaine.
See you soon.
G
j’ai
I have
auj
aujourd’hui
today
Je t’M
Je t’aime.
I love you.
BAL
boîte aux lettres
mailbox
KDO cadeau
gift
BCP
beaucoup
a lot
Koi29
Quoi de neuf?
What’s new?
Bjr
Bonjour.
Hello.
Mr6
Merci.
Thanks.
C
c’est
it is
Pkoi
Pourquoi?
Why?
CPG
C’est pas grave.
It does not matter.
rdv
rendez-vous
date/appointment
DSL
Désolé(e).
Sorry.
STP
S’il te plaît.
Please.
DQP
Dès que possible. As soon as possible.
Common abbreviations used in informal communication
Along with the previously mentioned shortcuts in written communication, there are many other
words in French that are commonly abbreviated in written and spoken communication. Here are
a few examples:
un apart
un appartement
an apartment
cet aprem
cet après-midi
this afternoon
le ciné
le cinéma
the movie theater
un/une coloc
un/une colocataire
a cotenant
dac d’accord OK
la fac
la faculté
the school (
university or college)
le foot
le football
soccer
le frigo
le réfrigérateur
the fridge
impec impeccable terrific
le petit dej
le petit déjeuner
breakfast
une promo
une promotion
a promotion
un/une proprio
un/une propriétaire
an owner
un resto
un restaurant
a restaurant
30·18
EXERCICE
Write a text message to a friend. Thank her/him for a birthday gift that you like a lot. Also
ask if she/he wants to go to the movies. Set the time for the date at eight o’clock.
285-646_EM_Heminway.indd 433
5/29/18 9:29 AM
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Verb transfers
The concept of language transfer, borrowed from the psychology of learning,
refers to a technique, conscious or unconscious, that falls back on acquired knowl-
edge to construct a phrase in the target language.
This transfer can be either positive or negative. Here’s an example of positive
transfer: An English speaker is deciphering a French text. No vocabulary prob-
lems, except for the word idée, which the reader, after some hesitation, recognizes
as idea. Since English and French share an enormous number of cognates and
even some identical words with similar meanings, positive transfers can greatly
facilitate language acquisition within a language family.
Faux amis
Unfortunately, transfers can also go awry, pointing the learner in the wrong
direction. How does a negative transfer work? The engine that powers negative
transfers, so to speak, is our belief in a mythical parallelism of form and content
across language boundaries. If the word illusion means pretty much the same
thing in English, why shouldn’t all shared words be equally accommodating?
Well, they are not, because each language relies on a unique alchemy of form and
meaning, which explains why the friendly looking word location does not mean
location in English. Linguists have named these problematic pairings
false friends,
or faux amis, because they offer nothing but false hope and confusion.
The purpose of this chapter is to debunk the myth that false friends are an
unavoidable fact of life. Nothing could be further from the truth. Systematic study,
enriched by relevant exercises and pertinent examples, enables you to grasp
underlying patterns. For example, take the phrase, “I have made my decision.”
You probably recognize that this phrase would transfer poorly into French, where
a decision is taken, not made. You may analyze the different mental processes
underlying the challenge of decision making in both languages. For example,
while the English speaker takes full ownership of the process, in French, it seems
that making the right decision is perceived as a question of choosing between
several possibilities—in other words, picking or taking the right one.
What makes this chapter unique is its emphasis on verbs, which usually play
second fiddle in faux amis discussions—usually the emphasis is on nouns. Unlike
nouns, verbs express movement, processes, developments, in other words: change.
Under these circumstances, it is safe to say that verb transfers present an extraor-
dinary challenge for the learner.
Readers may find themselves uncomfortable with the following left-to-
right English-to-French format—a departure from our usual format so far in
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