In Ottawa, especially in the government, position’s titles in French are literally translated from English… and often the results are pathetic! What amazes me the most is that we have the proper terminology in French, yet it seems no one refers to it…
Take the Unit Head‘s position for instance… in French, it has been translated as chef d’unité… sorry, but it could mean anything, except what it really means! Head should read en chef in French. Let’s say you are a Unit Head and you supervise a team of Assessment Officers, in French you should be referred to as an agent d’évaluation en chef. Unless you are a Party Leader, a cook, a boyscouts’ chief or the chief of a tribe, you are absolutely not a chef!
On a daily basis, I am the witness of an orgy of position’s titles that makes my face twitch… the misuse of words such as commissionnaire, chef, consultant, gestionnaire, contracteur, entrepreneur, assistant… et j’en passe!
Today I am giving you the opportunity to test your knowledge regarding position’s titles in French… It is possible that you will find it difficult because of the nuances. Take this exercise as a learning experience… so in the future you will pay more attention and try to use the correct titles. Let’s say I want to open the door on such awareness!… I took the quiz myself and I got a perfect score: what about you? Let us know how you did perform on that one and, as usual, I am inviting you to ask me questions if you ever need more explanations.
READY?
Grab a mug of your favourite coffee and play!
Click here now!
Bonne Chance à tous!
Note: Just in case you would have missed it, I encourage you to visit my Correct your mistakes! page… I usually update it every two weeks (and I just did!) but, since I do not archive old entries, you can either print this page or copy/paste it somewhere in a computer file.
This page is there for you to refer to!!!
10 Comments
Bonjour Lyne, j’ai eu 45/50. J’ai répondu assistante administrative au lieu d’adjointe administrative dans le dernier choix.
Pas évident ce test !
Bonjour Isabelle,
En effet, c’est un test bourré de trucs qui ne sont pas évidents du tout… la différence (tout à fait subtile je l’avoue) entre “conseiller, consultant, expert-conseil, aide, assistant, adjoint” n’est pas toujours claire…
Ici nous disons “adjointe administrative” pour désigner le poste de “administrative assistant” (quoique les anglophones emploient rarement ce terme, ils préfèrent dire “admin” tout court!) en anglais.
Bonne fin de semaine et à plus tard!
Bonjour Lyne,
J’ai pensé : c’est facile à faire…
J’ai appliqué la règle – to be away from anglicism though it didn’t work for all the options. J’ai obtenu 25/50.
James… essaies-tu, toi? Je sais que Dave va pouvoir bien faire.
Bonne chance!
Seema
Seema…
Pas facile, hein?
I guess we’ll have to review this exercise together on Monday afternoon!…
But given the difficulty level (especially for you! une débutante!), I think you got a good score!… Now that you’ve done your homework for the weekend, you can go out and play!
It’s also Dave’s homework… hopefully he’ll do it!
À lundi!
Bonjour Seema,
Je reste chez moi aujourd’hui.
Je pense aussi que ce n’est pas facile, mais j’ai obtenu 40/50!
Je dois être mieux reposé ce matin.
Dave
Dave…
Encore une journée de congé? J’espère que tu en as profité pour bien te reposer et prendre l’air!
À tout bien considéré, tu as obtenu une très bonne note!!!
Je te verrai demain matin!
J’ai obtenu 30/50…
Hey Susan!!!
Pas mal du tout… où as-tu eu de la difficulté?
Tu n’étais pas au bureau aujourd’hui (serait-ce que Dave et toi avez fait l’école buissonnière?!?)…
Des nouvelles de ton test oral? I’m dying to know here!!! The minute you’ll know, rush downstairs!
I sent you an email…
When Susan?… I didn’t receive it… send another one pleaaaaaase…