Introducing French for Web designers

I’m in the process of planning a trip to Europe to celebrate my thirty-*mumble* birthday later this winter. To help me get into the mood I’m brushing up on my French language skills.

To begin, I have to confess I don’t currently speak French. Not fluently. Or even, frankly, all that functionally. My first trip to France—a decade after two semesters of undergraduate French—I discovered what little I remembered was food-related vocabulary and obscenities. To help round out what are clearly my key communication priorities, I’m learning some Web design-specific French vocabulary words.

I’m sharing them here with you in ma blogue in the hope that you’ll find them equally useful. Either that or native speakers will reach out when I’ve gone astray with a gentle “No one says that—you sound like a jackass.”

Le bas-débit

Slow speed Internet

L’haut-débit (m?)

broadband/high speed Internet

Le blogue

Blog

Le icône

icon

Le site web

Web site

La Toile

the Web

This latest batch courtesy of Computer Vocabulary in French.

In my imagination I’ll be able to whip out my intermediate-level French skills and dazzle all those that I meet with sparkling conversation in response the question “Qu’est-ce qui est votre profession?” (What do you do for a living?). More likely than not I’ll receive the same response I do when describe what I do for a living to my parents: a blank stare followed by a slow nod that acknowledges we are clearly not speaking the same language.