[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Pardon Pastor's French

[Lee Kaiwen]

Annemehr:

> "Langage" would be used for saying "watch your language!"
> whereas "langue" is for "a foreign language."

Yes, as I recall. "Langue" is used in reference to specific languages; 
"langage" in most other senses of language, such as your example, or any 
of the following:

the language of babies: "le langage de l'enfant"
sexist language: "le langage sexiste"
computer programming languages: "les langages de programmation", "le 
langage PostScript", "le langage SQL"
language research: "recherche sur le langage"

French etymology is well outside my expertise (well, OK, so is French, 
despite minoring in it :-) ), but "langue" may be a relatively recent 
development. I recall a 19th century French text I once read in college 
called "De la situation du langage franais." by the famous French 
linguist Charles Lelong.

In any case, it is almost certainly "langue" that the pastor wants.

> "Parler une langue nouvelle." ... "Parlez une langue nouvelle"  ...
> "Parlons une langue nouvelle."

Ah, good catch. I'd also offer "Nous parlons une nouvelle langue", "We 
speak a new language" and "Parlons-nous une nouvelle langue", "Let's 
speak to each other a new language", though the pastor almost certainly 
didn't intend either of those.

CJ