(October 10, 2015 at 1:12 pm)Pyrrho Wrote:(October 10, 2015 at 1:01 pm)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote: I actually don't understand why "proper" French people make such a big deal of them. I think they're unnecessary, except in distinguishing important syntax or meaning, like the difference between a and à.
As an aside, since I am writing in English, I could have used "Quebec" instead of "Québec," as "Quebec" is the English spelling of "Québec." But I wanted to use the French spelling in this instance to both illustrate the concept of respect, and to avoid false accusations of getting it wrong when I just explained why someone might object to omitting accents in French. They are a part of the French language, and so one does not properly write French without them.
I usually bother to write 'Québec' and 'Montréal',
(as opposed to typing Quebec and Montreal)
but this is for two reasons:
1. I am a Francophile. I love French. I enjoy using it properly when I can.
2. I feel very strongly that the onus is upon Anglos in Canada to hold out the olive branch to Francos.
There are centuries of bad feelings but we are the majority and so I make the effort to promote respect for french,
even amongst other Anglo Canadians.
(But when I talk to my friend in France, I type so much that if I copied/pasted every accent, I'd be here all day.
He understands this. Besides sometimes we speak in french on the video, it's not all typed).
it is usually advisable to show respect for anny language, of course, especially whenever trying to speak to someone for whom it is a native tongue, of rcourse.
Besides, many people, even english-espeakers who are a bit contemputuous of French
do not always realize that about 40% of english is based-0upon or directly borrowsed from French.
Duvet
RSVP (Répondez, S'il Vous Plaît)
Entrepreneur
Saboteur
Agent Provocateur
Chaise Longue
many many english words borrowed from french.
