email has become courriel (in French)

It has always vexed me that we don't call countries (in any language)
by the name its citizens call it. In English is it so hard to refer to
Italia, Hellas, Nippon, Duetschland, Espana, etc? And we should spell
Brasil rather than Brazil. Likewise the United States would be what we call
it in Spain, Germany, France, Japan, etc. Simplifies things if we all refer
to the same place by the same name.

Dave
"Tony Vella" wrote in message
e.rogers.com...
When in Maltese I used the word "tastiera" for keyboard my cousin in Malta
had no idea what I was talking about. That is how I discovered that in
Maltese keyboard is "kibord". In a limited language like Maltese where
already 50 percent if not more of the words are corruptedly adopted from
Italian or English, I can understand why in technology the English words
are
adopted. In the major languages however, I see no reason why new words
should not be developed as needed. I recently translated a document into
Italian for a friend. When I mailed it to her she pointed out to me that
in
Italian mouse is mouse, computer is computer, CD is CD, file is file and
email is email. This I instinctively disagree with.
--
Tony Vella
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

"Tony Vella" wrote in message
e.rogers.com...
snip
I recently translated a document into
Italian for a friend. When I mailed it to her she pointed out to me that
in
Italian mouse is mouse, computer is computer, CD is CD, file is file and
email is email. This I instinctively disagree with.
--
Tony Vella
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

I wonder why do you disagree. Do you really prefer the long "posta
elletronica" (or something like this) to the short "e-mail", for a word that
was actually invented in the States?

How do you say to "pizza" in English? Instinctively, in the US, like in
Italy, I have asked for "pizza" in restaurants, and I have always got what I
have expected, at least as product's type :-)

BTW, was the pizza shown on some stamps?

Victor Manta

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philatelic Webmasters Organization: http://pwmo.org
1900 Links Online: http://pwmo.org/weblinks/links.asp
Art on Stamps: http://values.ch
Romania Shown by Its Stamps: http://marci-postale.com
Spanish Africa: http://www.values.ch/sna-site/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mette

The French Ministry of Culture recently ordered the
replacement of the English term "e-mail" with its
French equivalent, "courriel," in all government
documents, publications, and Web sites. The new
term is a blend of courrier "mail" + el from electronique
"electronic". The order originated in the General
Commission on Terminology and Neology which is
closely allied the Académie Française (French
Academy), long-time overseer of the purity of the
French language. It now seems to have earned
the support of the French government.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/

Rather better than many of the official French "inventions", but very
few of them ever catch on or are used outside official documents.

Michael

Michael Meadowcroft
Waterloo Lodge
72 Waterloo Lane
Leeds LS13 2JF
GB
Tel: +44 (0)113 257 6232

And of course PC is also short for "Politically Correct"
Just thought I would throw that into the mix
Shell


"Eric Bustad" wrote in message
news
A.M.Heindorff wrote:
Although Danish is certainly not a major language, we
have "danified" a lot of technical expressions, yet without
developing new terms. In Danish a mouse is "mus", computer
is "pc" ...

So do Danes call computers that are not PCs "pc"?
In English, "PC" is short for Personal Computer.
There are other types of computers still in use even now.

= Eric

Michael Meadowcroft wrote in message
news:3F27A267.25952.1FE87CC0@localhost...
Mette

The French Ministry of Culture recently ordered the
replacement of the English term "e-mail" with its
French equivalent, "courriel," in all government
documents, publications, and Web sites. The new
term is a blend of courrier "mail" + el from electronique
"electronic". The order originated in the General
Commission on Terminology and Neology which is
closely allied the Académie Française (French
Academy), long-time overseer of the purity of the
French language. It now seems to have earned
the support of the French government.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/

Rather better than many of the official French "inventions", but very
few of them ever catch on or are used outside official documents.

Yes ...
Mette

One problem with that is a good number of teachers in this country can't
tell you where those countries are or recognise the english name for them
and much less the students. I know of people who don't even recognise New
Mexico is a State, they think it's part of Mexico.

Shell
(current favorite words: doohinkus and dealybob)


wrote in message
. ..
It has always vexed me that we don't call countries (in any language)
by the name its citizens call it. In English is it so hard to refer to
Italia, Hellas, Nippon, Duetschland, Espana, etc? And we should spell
Brasil rather than Brazil. Likewise the United States would be what we
call
it in Spain, Germany, France, Japan, etc. Simplifies things if we all
refer
to the same place by the same name.

Dave
"Tony Vella" wrote in message
e.rogers.com...
When in Maltese I used the word "tastiera" for keyboard my cousin in
Malta
had no idea what I was talking about. That is how I discovered that in
Maltese keyboard is "kibord". In a limited language like Maltese where
already 50 percent if not more of the words are corruptedly adopted from
Italian or English, I can understand why in technology the English words
are
adopted. In the major languages however, I see no reason why new words
should not be developed as needed. I recently translated a document into
Italian for a friend. When I mailed it to her she pointed out to me
that
in
Italian mouse is mouse, computer is computer, CD is CD, file is file and
email is email. This I instinctively disagree with.
--
Tony Vella
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

At first glance, this seems like a good idea, then you start thinking more
about it and come up with the following:

Suomi = Finland; Nederland = Holland or The Netherlands; Al Jumhuriyyah al
Arabiyyah al Su'udiyyah = Saudi Arabia; Nippon = Japan; Misr = Egypt; Hellas
= Greece; Srpska = Serbia; Shqiperia = Albania, etc., etc.

Like someone posted, most people in the USA have no idea about what or where
these countries are. Many know them by their English names. Using the
relevant country's name will result in more confusion and in unpronounceable
words.

Tony.


wrote in message
. ..
It has always vexed me that we don't call countries (in any language)
by the name its citizens call it. In English is it so hard to refer to
Italia, Hellas, Nippon, Duetschland, Espana, etc? And we should spell
Brasil rather than Brazil. Likewise the United States would be what we
call
it in Spain, Germany, France, Japan, etc. Simplifies things if we all
refer
to the same place by the same name.

Dave
"Tony Vella" wrote in message
e.rogers.com...
When in Maltese I used the word "tastiera" for keyboard my cousin in
Malta
had no idea what I was talking about. That is how I discovered that in
Maltese keyboard is "kibord". In a limited language like Maltese where
already 50 percent if not more of the words are corruptedly adopted from
Italian or English, I can understand why in technology the English words
are
adopted. In the major languages however, I see no reason why new words
should not be developed as needed. I recently translated a document into
Italian for a friend. When I mailed it to her she pointed out to me
that
in
Italian mouse is mouse, computer is computer, CD is CD, file is file and
email is email. This I instinctively disagree with.
--
Tony Vella
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

On Wed, 30 Jul 2003 10:34:45 GMT, "Shell91"
wrote:

And of course PC is also short for "Politically Correct"
Just thought I would throw that into the mix

But not before the advent of the Personal Computer, right? My license
plate is adrndkpc = Adirondack-PC = a backwoods dude who fixes
computers.

:^P

Tracy Barber

"Shell91" wrote:

And of course PC is also short for "Politically Correct"
Just thought I would throw that into the mix


Tracy Barber wrote :
But not before the advent of the Personal Computer, right? My license
plate is adrndkpc = Adirondack-PC = a backwoods dude who fixes
computers.

:^P

Tracy Barber

Shell and Tracy : you are right !

But PC is also short for Pierre Courtiade, dating from April 6th, 1944
;-)
Well before the Personal Computer was devised ?!
:-)))))

BTW, to comment Mette's original post, the use of "courriel" has been
"mandatory" here for more than 10 years ; but nobody in France dares to
use that term (apart - may be - from by brother-in-law who was an
English teacher and who is very keen to use "official" translations) !
The only current use I am aware of this word is in Canada, as Tony Vella
already told us :-)

--
All the best,
Pierre Courtiade

Douglas MYALL wrote :


English adopts a diametrically opposite attitude to the French (as
always!). We adopt words from many languages. I doubt if there is a
language which has not `loaned' us a word or two. Like the Greeks, we
`have a word for it'. I wonder if there is another language which has
such a large vocabulary?

Douglas

Hi Douglas,

Just to be a little bit provocative on this interesting thread (thanks
Mette for initiating it ;-)

I was told that in English nearly each word has two origins : one from
French one from Saxon languages, both of them describing similar
concepts.
I don't recall how many words exist in English, but this "large" number
of words should thus be divided by a factor of 2 :-)))
In addition, if I recall correctly, even with counting every English
word and every French word, there are - by far - more French words than
English words ;-)

Nevertheless I consider the French Ministry of Education is totally
silly to try to oblige the French citizens to use this neologism of
"courriel" instead of "e-mail" !
I would not say the same for other nations (like Canada) where
bilinguism is in the law (and mandatory for Government employees) as
rightly said by Tony Vella.

--
All the best,
Pierre Courtiade