Translating the exchange notice: four false friends
The languages department is producing a French version of a one-page notice for a school exchange with a lycée in Nîmes. The English text includes: 'Students will eventually attend a lecture at the university', 'We demand that all students bring a packed lunch', 'Actually, the museum visit is free', and 'The group will assist at the workshop'. A volunteer parent has drafted: 'Les élèves assisteront éventuellement à une conférence', 'Nous demandons que tous les élèves apportent un déjeuner', 'Actuellement, la visite du musée est libre', 'Le groupe aidera à l'atelier'. The head of department has flagged four words as false friends but has not said which. The notice goes to 28 host families, some of whom will act on it, and there is no time to have the translation checked by a native speaker before it is printed.
1. Identify the four false-friend renderings and give a correct French version of each, explaining what the English word actually means and what the French lookalike means.
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eventually → finalement / à terme, not éventuellement. English 'eventually' means 'in the end'; éventuellement means 'possibly, if the case arises'. The draft promises a lecture that may never happen, which is worse than a mistranslation of tone.
actually → en fait / en réalité, not actuellement. English 'actually' corrects a presupposition; actuellement means 'at present'. The draft now says the visit is free right now, implying it may not be later.
attend → suivre / assister à, not attendre. English 'attend' = be present at; attendre = wait for. 'Les élèves attendront une conférence' would tell 28 families that the children will sit waiting for a lecture.
assist at → participer à / prêter main-forte à, not aider à in this construction. In French assister à means 'to attend', so Le groupe assistera à l'atelier would mean the group merely watches. Aider à l'atelier is vague; participer à l'atelier is what the English says.
free → gratuit, not libre. Libre means 'unrestricted, available, unoccupied' (a free seat, a free man); a free entry is entrée gratuite.
2. 'Nous demandons que tous les élèves apportent un déjeuner' is grammatically correct. Explain why it is still a poor choice for this notice, and propose a better line.
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Demander que + subjunctive is perfectly formed, so the grammar is not the problem - the pragmatics are. English 'demand' and French demander are not equivalent in force: demander is a neutral request, whereas 'demand' is peremptory. Written to host families who are volunteering their time, Nous demandons que reads as an instruction issued by an authority to people who are doing the school a favour.
A notice of this kind works better in an impersonal or softened form: Nous prions les élèves d'apporter un pique-nique (polite, and piquer + nique is the standard term for a packed lunch), or Merci de prévoir un pique-nique pour chaque élève. The first keeps the school as the actor but lowers the tone; the second removes the actor entirely.
Note also un déjeuner: it means 'lunch' as a meal, not 'a packed lunch'. Un pique-nique or un panier-repas is what the families need to know they are providing.
3. The English sentence order is kept throughout the draft. Explain one structural change that would make the French read as French rather than as translated English, using one of the sentences as your example.
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English tends to put the circumstance first and the main verb late; French notices prefer a short, fronted topic and then the information. Compare 'Actually, the museum visit is free' rendered as Actuellement, la visite du musée est libre - a fronted adverb plus a heavy noun phrase plus a wrong adjective. A French notice would more naturally write Entrée gratuite pour le musée or La visite du musée est gratuite. The topic (le musée) is foregrounded and the useful information (gratuit) lands on the last word, where French readers expect it.
The same reordering works elsewhere: Un pique-nique est à prévoir pour chaque élève instead of a verb-first instruction. The principle is that French administrative writing favours nominalisation and end-focus, whereas English tolerates an adverb opening and a cluttered middle. Keeping the English order is what makes a translation sound like a translation, even when every individual word is correct.