Coucoumellisms

(From an essay I wrote for a translation class - posting it here for anyone who might be interested in knowing more about the challenges that translators face. I really enjoy translation myself - it's like a challenging word-game.)           A number of challenges face translators such as false friends, structural differences, missing terms, ambiguity, words that have several meanings and so on. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for French-to-English translators are Gallicisms. The Oxford Canadian Dictionary defines “Gallicism” as “A French word or usage, esp. one used in another language.” English-speaking people living in Quebec and surrounded by French often end up using Gallicisms. To run down to the “dep” instead of the corner store is one example. Another example is the use of French structure in an English phrase, or to literally translate a French expression instead of using the English expression already in use. “You’re in the moon” is one instan...