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The Problem of Vocabulary Levels in Teaching French
Author(s) -
Stevens Linton C.
Publication year - 1941
Publication title -
the modern language journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.486
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1540-4781
pISSN - 0026-7902
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4781.1941.tb03073.x
Subject(s) - slang , vocabulary , colloquialism , linguistics , quality (philosophy) , word (group theory) , computer science , psychology , history , sociology , literature , art , philosophy , epistemology
Author's Summary— Teachers of French insist upon too rigorous a standard in the quality of French. They reject as “bad French” good colloquial terms used by cultivated people. Professor Fries has shown that no odium attaches to the word “colloquial.” The French scholars, Dauzat and Damourette and Pichon, have proved that there is small difference between literary French and good colloquial French. Students must understand various levels of vocabulary if they are to read intelligently. Care should be taken in textbooks to indicate the levels of vocabulary by signs. Suitable translation requires an adequate knowledge of both English and French. The life of American slang is much shorter than that of French slang.)