Koukou ma cheri cava? T’a bien dormi? Catherine’s morning began not with coffee or with the French radio that she loves so much, but with her French petit ami. And again, surprise and misunderstanding, even after so many years of communication. “Where has Hugo’s tongue gone? Anyway, I shouldn’t have suffered for 5 years at the university so that I can read … this? ” Light philological sediment and answer: Oui oui et twa? Let’s try to understand why the language of French youth in Internet correspondence shocks all learners of French and causes so many misunderstandings.
It is no longer a secret that the Internet has tremendous power over us, and the latest Le Monde statistics says: the French spend 4 hours a day (which is 1500 hours a year, for a second) in front of a computer screen, tablet, etc. These numbers are several times longer than the time you have spent learning French. Cultural loisirs and, moreover, interest in literature and history have long occupied an honorable 2nd (3? 4?) Place among the French nation. All of the above leisure options can already be found in your smartphone, tablet, without leaving your home. But what does French have to do with it? – you ask. It is obvious that most of the time the French, like the inhabitants of any other European country, spend on social networks. The result is a rapid decline in literacy and a complete overhaul of Standard French. Why is this happening? There are many reasons and they will not surprise anyone: someone really appreciates their time and abbreviates words in an absolutely incredible way, while someone just wants to surprise their friends with knowledge of a foreign language, thus replacing half of the French words with English.