We all know that learning a language – or anything – involves making mistakes and having them properly corrected. A particular problem for adult learners of French is that native speakers are reluctant or simply too polite to correct other adults even when the message is nearly incomprehensible.
Most learners would never make similar mistakes in their native language. Sadly, their mistakes in French have never been corrected and often have become firmly ingrained.
Although it can be at times humbling and even embarassing, you should like to be corrected because you know that this is what it takes for you to become a better speaker.
A before example with French mistakes
Although I specialize in spoken French, in this post I want to have a look at a before-and-after example of written French. In this case, a client that I coach every Friday at noon wrote me an email to change the time of our session. Here is the original:
Bonjour Stanley
J’ai une réunion le vendredi 12:00-13:30 donc êtes-vous en mesure de me répondre soit à 13h30 ou à 14 heures?
S’il vous plaît laissez-moi savoir.
What are the French mistakes here?
I understood what my client was trying to say, but there were a number of major mistakes that I couldn’t let by. When I did meet with the client we looked at how this email could be improved. Here is the same text minus the salutation and with numbers added for my comments.
J’ai une réunion le (1) vendredi 12:00-13:30 (2) donc êtes-vous en mesure (3) de me répondre (4) soit à 13h30 ou (5) à 14 heures?
S’il vous plaît laissez-moi savoir. (6)
My comments
(1) The use of the definite article le here gives the impression that there is a meeting every Friday and not just this coming Friday. A much clearer solution is ce vendredi meaning “this coming Friday.”
(2) There are a couple of things wrong here. First of all, the proper way to write these hours in French is 12 h – 13 h 30. Notice the lack of “00” and the spacing between the letters. Secondly, I think it’s a bit awkward to just put the times after the day. One solution is to put the them in brackets: (12 h – 13 h 30). Another solution is to add de and à to make the whole thing clearer, i.e. de 12 h à 13 h 30.
(3) This donc êtes-vous en mesure is not really wrong. It’s just very formal way of saying “can you” or pouvez-vous. I would also separate it from the first part of the statement.
(4) This is the big problem. The verb here répondre is totally incorrect. The writer is in fact asking me if I can answer at 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. when in reality he wants to know if I can come at these times. The proper verb is venir.
(5) The use of the subjunctive form soit of the verb être is quite impressive here, but this word is best used in pairs, as in: soit à 13 h 30 soit à 14 heures? I suggest a simpler solution: à 13 h 30 ou à 14 h ? Notice that I’ve made the writing of the two times consistent.
(6) This ending is not exactly incorrect but could use a comma. It’s just awkward and looks like a direct translation from English. I’ve offered two solutions below.
The after examples with French mistakes corrected
I usually try to present different solutions to my client. It’s a good opportunity to discuss issues of style and the why to choose a particular solution. Here then are a few variations of acceptable reformulations:
1. J’ai une réunion ce vendredi (12 h-13 h 30). Êtes-vous en mesure de venir soit à 13 h 30 soit à 14 h ?
S’il vous plaît, laissez-moi savoir.
2. J’ai une réunion ce vendredi de 12 h à 13 h 30. Êtes-vous en mesure de venir à 13 h 30 ou à 14 h ?
S’il vous plaît, laissez-moi savoir.
3. J’ai une réunion ce vendredi de 12 h à 13 h 30. Pouvez-vous venir à 13 h 30 ou à 14 h ?
J’attends votre confirmation. / J’attends de vos nouvelles.
My preference, of course, is number 3 with one of the two endings.
I love doing these sorts of makeovers on real texts of my clients. They are a great opportunity to illustrate how the language works. And the client now has a nice trustworthy template text than can be reused in many other situations.
Stanley Aléong is a polyglot, author, musician, language coach in French, English and Spanish, language workshop facilitator and organizer of French-English conversation meetups in Montreal, Canada. He likes to share his passion for languages and believes that anybody can learn to speak a foreign language well with the right methods and tools. He has also invented a cool visual learning tool called the Essential French Wall Chart Calendar. Reach him at info@langcal.com.