Think “Bien” Means “Good”? Not Quite…

I tend to go by “Christophe” in France, I find the French are not used to the short version “Chris” (which in any case comes out as “Crease”). :smiley:

And “Crease-to-ferre” is too long in both languages. :smiley:

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Would you say ‘your parcel has been thoroughly delivered’ ? I wouldn’t.

In that context it would be more like all right or right then, parcel’s been delivered guv :wink: (parcel all present and correct, sah!)

And MrMann opens up a whole new debate. :thinking:

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My Spanish colleague David in Turks & Caicos did the exact opposite for the same reason - he used the English pronunciation of his name!

à votre service…

We don’t really use diminutives unless the person is family or we were in maternelle with them. Different if you are introduced as eg Stan since everyone will call you that without realising you are actually Stanley or Athelstan etc.

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On the subject of national pronunciation, a woman alongside me on R.4, who is Irish (obviously) has just told me she wants to tank all her guests.

I hope they are appropriately adorned and not wild. :thinking:

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In Angleterre I always go by “Chris” but yes I realize that France does things differently with first names.

Says Veronique, or were you really christened Vero, or, perhaps on the grounds of complete anonymity, something else entirely? :wink:

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Many people are clueless about foreign names (because why wouldn’t they be) and don’t realise a foreign name may be an an abbreviation - eg if you meet a Russian person introduced as Sasha you might just call them that because it’s perfectly normal, but not realise they are actually called Alexander for official purposes.

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You aren’t French! Most Fr people wouldn’t use a diminutif to me and my family call me something else entirely :joy:

That said sometimes people are happy to drop the nique in Dominique or Véronique because, well, nique.

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Time for me to reveal my Welsh half. Caru, Dafydd. :laughing:

Our daughter is Dominique and my wife used to go nuts when people shortened it to Dom, because that’s “dumb” in Flemish.

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Fr people usually shorten it to Domi

When I worked in London I noticed the locals used “well” for very.
“He was well drunk”
I expect “Il était bien bourré “ works too.

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In Germany, I’ve encountered Herr Doktor Professor - a tad OTT, or belt and braces?

If you’re qualified enough the sky seems to be the limit, A pal of mine is Frau professor doktor doktor, I haven’t yet come across a triple Dr but there must be some.
GB is no less punctilious though, eg Lt Col the Hon Rev Dr John Smith etc

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Titles can also overcome social barriers. A friend of mine used to travel to different parts of the world training TEFL students. When she was working in Afghanistan she became a “doctor” and had greater freedom and could talk to men, as it meant she wasn’t a woman.

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Only in writing, Germans seem to use the full honorifics in speech too which I quite like.

Even though I have no doctorates or professorships unfortunately!

It shows a respect for learning and expertise which has become rarer in the Anglo-Saxon world lately.

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Sometimes the French have the same difficulty translating “good” in English. Our MT likes to speak to us in English. He told my wife, who needed a growth removed, that he knew the best surgeon for that operation.

“He will leave you a good scar” he said. He meant there would be no trace of a scar when healed. (And he was right)

:sweat_smile:

Right :slight_smile: