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Subject:Re: What are we in French? From:Vincent Reh <VincentR -at- SC -dot- HARRIS -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 18 May 1995 08:53:00 EDT
I think it's spelled ecrivain and its the same spelling for both male and
female writers. However, I think redacteur is used to describe a technical
writer; ecrivain is used to describe writers of novels, that sort of thing.
Also, someone questioned whether or not a feminine form exists for
redacteur. As far as I know, it does, so a female TW would describe herself
as "une redactrice."
****Finally, sorry for posting a personal reply to Marc S. to the list. I
wasn't thinking and hit the reply button. It was in French, which made the
gaffe even more embarrassing!****
BTW, I am not a French language expert, just married to one. How about
hearing from some real experts, like all the francophone TWs in La Belle
Province?
Writer: ecrivien (masculine), or ecrivienne (femininine)
Accent ague on first e for both.
Pronounced (ay-cree-vee-en) or (ay-cree-vee-ennn)
I'd say "ecrivienne des choses <whatever the word for 'technical' is>".
Literaaly, that's "Writer of things technical", which approximates the
grammar
a French speaker would use.
BTW, "computer" is "ordinateur" (or-dih-nah-tur); "book" is "livre"
(lee-vruh).
Not sure about "manual" or "software"
Have fun in France. Unless your French is pretty good, you won't get much of
chance to talk about what you do for a living. Although many French speak
English, I discovered most prefer not to.
Lori -dot- Moreland -at- cle -dot- ab -dot- com
Tecwriter and Francophile