French writers vs English writers

[Red Paul]

I've been reading in various threads, and it seems like Merb's French posts are much better written than its English posts. Yes, the francophones write better French than they do English. But here's the thing. Their French is also better than the English of the anglophone posters.

Typical Merb post in English: not that great, whether the writer is anglophone or francophone.

Typical Merb post in French: pretty darn good.

Don't ask me why this is so, but it is.

 

[Jay8964]

Yepp! Us english folk on merb haven goten one dem fancy schmancy collage degrees.

 

[cumbychance]

Always preferred Molieres over Shakespeare!

 

[Lily from Montreal]

I just read a french post so badly written that I had to read it aloud to understand it so I cannot agree with you .
I think it is more of a age thing, when I get a message by (very ) young guys, in french or english ,the spelling is horrendous, it is actually a clue for me, well written=older gents, spelling mistake or abbreviation (like :''I want to c u'')=too young...

 

[Merlot]

Hmmm,

Where is this thread supposed to lead?

On subject, you write English very well Red Paul. You're right about the sloppiness of some English writers, but I asked my 100% French buddy once about how well the French write and he said the writing quality wasn't much different. It came up because he was disgusted every time he read one former agency owner whose French he said was atrocious 4th or 5th grade level. "This guy is awful".

Also, some English writers are habitually sloppy on purpose because its supposed to be cool (NOT!), though it's questionable that they know the difference..

With the above confirmation by LilyForYou it looks like your conclusion is highly debatable. It seems neither side is good enough to evaluate the other except in a very low percentage of cases, though I'm certain that overall les Francais are far far better at being bilingual.



good luck,

Merlot

 

[Lily from Montreal]

The only french that matter is french kisses ,the more the better lol

 

[old_beginner]

Red Paul, I have read poorly written posts in both languages. In some cases, I have read English posts from francophones where they apologize for their poor English but their French posts are so bad that I was tempted to think that they should be better to write in English; at least, they have the excuse that it is not their mother tongue. It is then risky to try to establish some tendencies but I would agree with Lily that it might age related; a useful hint for her, since she prefers more mature friends.

Red, I hope that you will not be offended by the following question but do you consider yourself fluent enough in both languages to fairly compare the quality of the French and English posts? If you are more fluent in English maybe you easier detect English mistakes than French ones.

PS Red, if I made some mistakes, please excuse my English, I am a francophone. :smile:
PPS Lily, it is fun to be able to write a message and admire your beautiful avatar at the same time!

 

[eastender]

Context

Maybe an old saying provides context: " English is the language of business, French is the language of romance.":smile:

 

[Gentle]

It`s those damn CIMs, COBs, COFs and s, etc.

It makes the english language looks bad :lol:

 

[Lily from Montreal]

Yes, it kind of lack class...I know I am a snob, no need to tell me loll

 

[wasisname]

Always preferred Molieres over Shakespeare!

They are Klingon authors and much better in the original Klingon. What does that have to do with anything.

 

[Red Paul]

Red Paul, I have read poorly written posts in both languages.

True, I generalize. In general I find Merb's French posts to be better written than its English posts. But there's certainly some lousy French on display. For one thing, there are guys who won't follow basic grammar: Elle m'a parler, as if the infinitive were the past tense.

... do you consider yourself fluent enough in both languages to fairly compare the quality of the French and English posts?

Fair question. I'm anglo, but I think my French is up to dealing with Merb posts.

 

[Red Paul]

Hmmm,

Where is this thread supposed to lead?

Nowhere! I was testing my time stamp to make sure everything I posted would be local time, not GMT. Still, I think I make a fair point.

On subject, you write English very well Red Paul.

Wow, you just said the magic words. Ok, everything else in your post must be true.

 

[Merlot]

Wow, you just said the magic words. Ok, everything else in your post must be true.

Okay,

I wasn't sure what your background is. I know a few 100% French Montreallers who write excellently in both languages, so it can be hard to tell which is the more native language.

I'm also not sure if what gets posted on this board really indicates language skill level on either side, especially when so much is frivolous off the cuff comments for fun, not caring about how the post is written. Maybe looking at reviews where everyone would be expected to write more carefully shows better proof of skills level. Still, when I read posts I rarely care about the grammar, except my own, as long as the meaning is clear enough.

Anyway, I appreciate the information for what it is, poor writing or not.

Cheers,

Merlot

 

[gugu]

IMHO, the two best writers in french on this board are protagoras and sapman. I'm not good enough in english to differentiate good and very good english, but I think they are also among the best english writers, along with people like merlot and rumple.

 

[Red Paul]

When you look at French posts, do you look at the ones from both Montréal and Québec City, or just Montréal? ... posters in the Québec City threads (which are obviously 98% French) seem to pay much more attention to language. ... Some of it borders on the poetic, which we just can't say very often about English posts.

Just Montréal, but now I'll check out some Québec City posts. I definitely agree with the last point. We have some writers in English who are serviceable, but francophone Merbites often bring a certain grace and cleverness to how they express themselves. Not all of them and not all the time, but often enough to make an impression on me.

My guess is that there are a lot more immigrant Russians, Asians, Africans, South Americans, etc, who post in English than post in French. ... Some of those English posts understandably have, shall we say, rough edges.

Good point, but I've read many posts by native English speakers who (to express myself gracefully and cleverly) crapped out loud.

People from the Saguenay also seem to pride themselves on the quality, and not just the speed, of their French.

Actually, I had no idea about that. Good to know and thanks for contributing to my education about Québec.

 

[Lily from Montreal]

Hum, actually maybe the reason you had no idea about that is that it is not true?
Saguenay natives pride themselves as being ''bigger'' and ''better'' at about anything...a classical joke is ''how many blueberries do you need to make a pie?'' The Saguenay answer is only one if it is the Saguenay blueberries...'' .
And I am french ,pure laine ,born and breed, so cannot be accused of not knowing my Quebecitude .