Clarification on common words

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Clarification on common words
Message de calgarienne posté le 01-04-2005 à 04:28:57 (S | E | F | I)
Hi! I joined the site a couple weeks ago and have found people extremely helpful and friendly. And with all the years I've been studying French, you'd think these terms would be clear, but they're not.

"Bon courage" -- everyone signs off with that! Looked up a translation and it said good cheer, which is not a term really used in English. So what exactly is it ...? "Take care, best, cheers, I bid you well ...?" I just don't want to use it innappropriately!

"Pleased to meet you". I found it translated into enchanté So, in English, you'll have a conversation:
Aaron: Hi! My name's Aaron, and this is my partner Carrie.
John: Hi, Aaron, Carrie! Pleased to meet you. I'm John.
Um ... so if it were the same scenario in French, how would it flow using "enchanté"?

Thank you,
Calgarienne

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Edité par bridg le 01-04-2005 05:36
English only

Réponse: Clarification on common words de gewurz, postée le 01-04-2005 à 05:15:05 (S | E)
Hello Calgarienne,

Mainly, you use "bon courage" when you leave somebody who has something difficult to do. It's a friendly and genuine way to encourage this person.
For instance, if a friend of yours have to work for 10 hours in a row, and that he dreads it a little, you can tell him "bon courage" to show him that you know that, what he'll have to do will be hard. It's a sign of encouragement.

I think that :
"Enchanté" is equivalent to "how do you do".
"pleased to meet you" is equivalent to "ravi de vous rencontrer"

"ravi de vous rencontrer" is maybe more polite, more enthusiastic than "enchanté".
If you are eager to meet somebody because it's somebody important, a boss, somebody famous, somebody you want to charm... you can tell him/her "ravi de vous rencontrer", it's a little warmer than "enchanté".

I hope that will help you.

Réponse: Clarification on common words de ruofei, postée le 01-04-2005 à 11:22:24 (S | E)
Hello Calgarienne and !!!

Gewurz’ s (gewruz’ ??) clarifications +:
I believe “bon courage”, left at the end of a speech, would most of the time be translated in English into ‘good luck’ (even though ‘bonne chance’ is the literal translation but I don’t think you distinguish between them the same way as we do…do you?)
“Enchanté(e)” could probably be the French equivalent of ‘Charmed’….you have in both languages, the notion of ‘being subjected by some kind of sortilege’!!

Aaron: Hi! My name's Aaron, and this is my partner Carrie.
John: Hi, Aaron, Carrie! Pleased to meet you. I'm John.
Salut! je m’appelle Aaron aet voici ma compagne Carrie!”
Salut Aaron, salut carrie, enchanté, moi c’est John.
It would be totally appropriate here!!

“bon courage” in your learning French!

Réponse: Clarification on common words de traviskidd, postée le 02-04-2005 à 16:50:57 (S | E)
Gewurz's

To form the possessive case of a singular noun, ALWAYS add 's: class's, witness's, Illinois's.

Réponse: Clarification on common words de ruofei, postée le 02-04-2005 à 17:42:05 (S | E)
, thank you Travis! (this ending in 'z' confused me for some reason!!!)

Réponse: Clarification on common words de willy, postée le 03-04-2005 à 10:17:58 (S | E)
Do you know many people who say :"enchanté !" or "ravi de faire votre connaissance !" ? You can hear those expressions in films, but to me they sound so artificial , stiff and old-fashioned.
Most young people nowadays are used to saying "salut", and we - older people - will just say "bonjour".

Réponse: Clarification on common words de gewurz, postée le 03-04-2005 à 17:23:15 (S | E)
Hello Willy,

When I meet new sales and marketing persons, they often tell me "enchanté". That still exists.

Réponse: Clarification on common words de calgarienne, postée le 04-04-2005 à 00:00:16 (S | E)
Hi! Thank you for all your help. Realized that I'd posted it in the wrong forum , but got results neverthelesss.

Réponse: Clarification on common words de jeanyves15, postée le 15-04-2005 à 10:57:41 (S | E)
Hi , I'm Belgian but I speak french.
" bon courage " is sometimes a joke, it can mean " go and be care " between friends about a new girlfriend, or a mother in law.
" enchanté " is more polite ( a new boss...)
so " bon courage en francais "

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