The English Topic

great!!! it’s cool to speak english for me ’cause since i came back in france, i cannot speak a lot, of course!! i miss the english language!! when i flyed to australia, i said to myself : « cool, i’ll be bilingual when i’ll come back in france… » Not true!!! and now i lost my vocabulary because i haven’t foreigner people in my environment…

see ya

i wrote « flyed »??????????

the shame… 😳

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blonde

we’ll get there… eventually

je pourrais être un mec aussi…

I think this « definitively » (pour « definitely ») is just one of the very easy, tricky mistakes that can be made in English when the French alternative is so similar….and also one of the most common of all.

others I see all the time include:

society (instead of ‘company’ / business )
organism (instead of ‘organisation’ – ie groupe)
realisation (instead of ‘creation’ , to make something)

It’s very easy to be tricked…. Aussies have some of the same problems when translating into French.

This part of the post I could add to with other « words not to be tricked with » as they come along.

Kate

If you DO use definitively in English, the usage is very limited…. it’s used very rarely, while ‘definitely’ is very common.
It belongs to a group of words that may exist in the dictionary, but are rarely used in real life or conversation, being too formal or of limited use.
Sometimes the simple words work best…..I hope this helps….

In this instance, a very high % of Austalians would only use ‘definitely’

Kate

You don’t seem to be willing to admit you are wrong, are you? 😉

Kate is Australian. If you have questions about correct English usage, you might consider asking her for advice.

I have been to Australia.
I studied in Brisbane then moved to Melbourne for a year. I worked there as marketing and communication manager for two consulting firms.

I’ma afraid I can’t answer for everyone. :sleepy:

Definitely is way more common and I’d say it in that context « definitely out of control ». Definitively perhaps more in written form?

____________________________________________________________
Definitively
adv. 1. In a definitive manner.

Definitely – without question and beyond doubt; « it was decidedly too expensive »; « she told him off in spades »; « by all odds they should win »
by all odds, decidedly, emphatically, in spades, unquestionably

Source: thefreedictionary.com

« flog (or beat) a dead horse. Though he supported the measure, British politician and orator John Bright thought the Reform Bill of 1867, which called for more democratic representation, would never be passed by Parliament. Trying to rouse Parliament from its apathy on the issue, he said in a speech, would be like trying to ‘flog a dead horse’ to make it pull a load. This is the first recorded use of the expression, which is still common for ‘trying to revive interest in an apparently hopeless issue.’ Bright’s silver tongue is also responsible for ‘England is the mother of Parliament,’ and ‘Force is not a remedy,’ among other memorable quotations. He was wrong about the Reform Bill of 1867, however. Parliament ‘carried’ it, as the British say. » From the « Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins » by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997.)

I’m in the middle of reading an excellent little book I could recommend:

« L’anglais Australien de Poche » published by Assimil evasion, BP 25, 94431 Chennevieres-sur-Marne Cedex, France (year 2000)

The great thing I find with this book, is that the introduction to the chapters are in French, with the Aussie language following for the vocabulary, with often some translation in French to explain the slang better.

For example:
« Backwoods, back ‘o Bourke, back of beyond:
= coin perdu, bled paume, « Perpette-les-Andouettes »

And better still, most of the vocab in the book is current slang.

Kate

Cool, but just to help you with this one (as it’s quite a complicated one) the correct form is « The book I have been reading in these last few days (or ‘in the last few days)

It’s this kind of phrase formation that I have the most trouble with in French….. can somebody tell me how I’d write « have been reading » in French, to compare?

Thanks
Kate

le livre que j’ai lu récemment (la lecture est achevée – past)
le livre que je lisais ces derniers jours (la lecture est achevée ou a été interrompue – past progressive (not sure on the tense))
le livre que je lis ces derniers temps, le livre que je suis en train de lire (la lecure est en cours – present)