
Bitoduc: A French dictionnary for CS related words - maeln
https://bitoduc.fr/
======
Kyrio
I had absolutely no doubt that this was satire when I was reading it; for
heaven's sake, the site is called bitoduc, their proposal for pipeline based
on the French word for an oil pipeline (oléoduc), which definitely wouldn't be
used by anyone here given how much it sounds like you're talking about a
duke's genitals. But the site also lists genuine and common translations, and
it seems most people in this comment section are criticizing it for containing
weird, unused ones. I think it's the point; it's mocking the French language
purists (often from Quebec, actually) who come up with funny-sounding,
unidiomatic translations for English terms that people have already adopted.

On a side note, I love that we came up with our own word for computer
("ordinateur"), from a suggestion by an IBM employee's former humanities
teacher, and I wish we could still do that instead of using English words or
some weird transliteration of them. But it's a different time now, one when
communication is instantaneous, computer science is discussed on the Web
rather than in universities, and words become commonplace far before anyone
can introduce a recommended translation. English is concise and prone to
imagery, which means new concepts can often get accurate one-word descriptions
which are more likely to stick than a three-word French equivalent.

~~~
p0nce
Actually one of the origins of bitoduc.fr was reading a self-satisfying text
about how genious the word "ordinateur" was, and how thankful we french should
be that the term was invented.

That word comes from "ordiner", something the monks do. A computer is
fundamentally more about calculus (computare) than sorting or order
(ordinare).

That's about when the Bitoduc foundation was launched. bitoduc.fr is not
satire, it was built to avoid another "ordinateur"; we believe in bottom-up
word creation.

~~~
BrandoElFollito
Ordiner is what a bishop does. Actually, in a Larousse from the 50's,
ordinateur was another waybto call a bishop (the one who ordinates).

Story time. During the 80's I was part of a jury for a competition in French
for young foreigners. Their mother tongue cold not be French, and neither
could the language of the country.

The theme of the dissertation was more or less "how are computers
("ordinateurs") changing contemporary life"

A Polish girl had an old dictionary where ordinateur = bishop.

She wrote a masterpiece on current religion affairs and got an extra price for
the tough balancing on the "politics vd life vs religion" rope.

------
maeln
On a side note, I always found the French word "octet" much better than
"byte". First off, it avoid confusion with the unit naming (b = bits, o =
octet, whereas B/b can be confused for byte / bit) and it is also much
precise, octet = octo = 8, so an octet is 8 bits. On the other end, a byte
doesn't really tell you what it is only "commonly" 8 bits.

~~~
moray
Octa is latin for eight, in fact also Italian has the word "ottetto" that is
used more in an academic setting and becoming even less common. It is true
though that in French saying Go (Giga-octet) instead of GB (Giga-byte) can
avoid confusion with Gb (Giga-bit).

~~~
thwave
The Latin for eight is octo.

------
icare_1er
As a french, i can say that by using many of these words you would sound
silly. But on the long run, it is clear that through regular changes to
languages, people speak differently and actually believe to "think"
differently.

More and more I see people writing emails with the Anglo-saxon cultural codes
(ie. putting 3 lines of chit-chat at the beginning that no one cares about /
saying "i am happy to ..." / etc).

And politicians are also gradually speaking more and more like CEOs of US
companies. They use more and more terms like "resilience", "governance" (copy-
pasted from english and with no actual meaning in French) which don't mean
anything to most French. They start to have "managers", not "chefs", etc....
they "recommand", they no longer order.

~~~
_n_b_
As a native anglophone working in France, I appreciate the general lack of
chit-chatty openings to emails (even if the trend may be negative, as you say)
as I generally prefer to get to the point.

But I have noticed, since the start of COVID, the meaningless "j'espère que tu
vas bien" ("I hope you are well") at the top of many emails, which feels like
exactly the thing you are talking about--a lifting and translation of a
meaningless English phase that feels appropriate but adds nothing of
substance.

~~~
moviuro
See _Crocker 's Rules_ [0, 1]. The little part "hope you're well" though was a
nice touch. During lockdown when there were hundreds of deaths a day, it made
sense. Taking 30 seconds during calls just to make sure your correspondant
doesn't mourn seems wise to me.

[0] [http://www.sl4.org/crocker.html](http://www.sl4.org/crocker.html)

[1]
[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lee_Daniel_Crocker](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lee_Daniel_Crocker)

------
Peckingjay
As a CS student in France, I've never actually seen the French version of most
of these terms. (A very small subset of them I've used regularly though) Some
of these translations also feel wrong: Laptop should probably be translated as
'ordinateur portable' and I've seen people use 'Débogueur' for Debugger, but
never 'Dévermineur'. It just sounds weird and isn't coherent with the French
translation for bug (bogue).

~~~
vmarchaud
I believe there is a little bit of comedy around this. If you look at the repo
[0] you'll see funny issues tags (even the tags of the repo themselves), for
example "merci mais on s'en branle" which means "thanks but we don't give a
fuck".

[0]:
[https://github.com/soulaklabs/bitoduc.fr](https://github.com/soulaklabs/bitoduc.fr)

~~~
082349872349872
Super! I propose the author of this project get a giclée portrait exposed in
the Nef at the Grand Palais.

Now we attend until someone makes up a dictionary containing an anglophone
translation for 'Coq'?

(Yes, this name is a _bit_ ambiguous[1], two interpretations being (a) the
symbol of france, a beast famous for making its presence known, as it would,
early in the morning, and (b) a shortening of Thierry _Coq_ uand — compare _C_
PL and _M_ CPL)

[1] The latin _ambi-_ , meaning 'both', suggests these are the only two
interpretations. If one were especially puerile, one might attempt to come up
with 2^144 interpretations (much easier if one's name is
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23857339](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23857339)
Ireneo Funes) but there would be very little to recommend that beyond being
able to write that it was a _gross bit_ ambiguous.

------
danidiaz
I like that in French, instead of collecting garbage, you collect bread
crumbs: "ramasse-miettes"

Also, in German, earlier software versions are located downwards, not
backwards: "Abwärtskompatibilität"

------
pseudolus
The 'Office québécois de la langue française' maintains a number of
dictionaries relating to technology (informatique et hautes technologies) and
many other domains [0]. Notwithstanding their efforts, a lot of the terms they
propose just don't seem to have gained any traction.

[0]
[http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/bibliotheque/dictionna...](http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/bibliotheque/dictionnaires/index_lexvoc.html)

[http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/bibliotheque/dictionna...](http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/bibliotheque/dictionnaires/vocabulaire-
edition-logiciels.aspx)

------
INTPenis
15 years ago when I was at my first IT job, young and full of vinegar, I would
argue with our Swedish version[1] of this type of site about essentially the
americanization of CS language.

At the time I was adamant about using pure Swedish, even for CS. I had some
crazy ideas for how to translate regular expressions, of course reguljära
uttryck doesn't make as much sense to me today...

1\. [https://it-ord.idg.se/](https://it-ord.idg.se/)

~~~
anticristi
Thanks for sharing!

It feels a bit outdated, though. I work in a cloud computing shop in Sweden
and I hear terms that I couldn't find in the dictionary, e.g.
"lastbalanserare".

------
pbadenski
It's always been just a bit funny to me in case of French... A lot of these
words are of Greek & Latin origin, some of them even come from French (eg.
flame). I know I'm going to stir up a hornet's nest with this one... Are some
French speakers nostalgic for when French had more influence?

~~~
doukdouk
More than French influence abroad, I think a lot of people do not like "poor
English", for lack of a better term, replacing French in vernacular French. It
seems to me that for most people, it's more about vernacular French becoming
less fancy (random English words being sprinkled are a symptom, not the cause)
than something specific about English, or French influence abroad.

Random examples:

\- use of the word "digital" in the English meaning (number-related) when it
already has a French meaning (finger-related, eg empreinte digitale -
fingerprint) when there was alread a word for it - numérique.

\- random English words to sound cool. The French Post Office launched an
online-only bank called "Ma French Bank".

\- English but with French words, i.e. using English sentences / idioms but in
French. For instance, in French, you would say that something has or does not
has meaning (ça n'a pas de sens !) but not that it makes or does not makes
sense. Well, expect that now people took the English idiom and use it with
French words - ça fait sens.

I think (but it is only my own opinion not backed by any kind of data) that
there would be way less backlash if there was greater fluency and use of
literate English rather than a poor use of globish.

People do not think watching a film in its original English version is bad.

But replacing _Faire du ciel le plus bel endroit de la terre_ by _Air France,
France is in the air_ sounds super lame.

~~~
mytailorisrich
'digit' is interesting because its etymology is indeed 'finger' (latin
'digitus' that gave 'doigt' in French). In English it retains that meaning in
specific cases like anatomy, but has otherwise shifted to meaning numbers
below 10, probably from counting with our hands.

------
hwj
Here is a (390 pages long) German dictionary of systems programming:

[https://www4.cs.fau.de/~wosch/glossar.pdf](https://www4.cs.fau.de/~wosch/glossar.pdf)

------
sebastienbarre
As a French who used to live in NY, it really is a STRANGE feeling to visit a
French-speaking country like Canada and bump into a word you can FEEL is
French, but have never heard of before.

For example, we use the literal words "airbag" or "showroom" in France, in the
middle of an otherwise French sentence.

During my first visit to Montreal, I saw the word "chambre-a-montrer" in a
storefront, and it took me a good 30 seconds to decipher it. Every compound
word in "chambre-a-montrer" is French, but I still had to reverse-translate it
back to English to realize that "chambre" = "room", "montrer" = "show",
therefore I was looking at an actual French word for "showroom". Same goes for
them using "coussin-a-gonfler" ("inflatable pillow") for "airbag".

They do that a lot, so in a sense they speak better French than us French
people. Sure, the French Academy, the council for matters pertaining to the
French language, comes up with French translations of common English words,
but they are mostly derided for being a bunch of out-of-touch geezers.

~~~
jobigoud
Day-to-day language favors short words though, English is good at that. Do
people in Canada really use "coussin-à-gonfler"? It's a mouthful and sounds
weird. Also why not "coussin gonflable" or "coussin d'air"?

------
snalty
I love how BYOD has been translated to AVEC, which is French for 'with'.

------
pixdamix
This website is likely targeted at the French administrations like the ANSSI
(National Cybersecurity Agency of France) which is often mocked because of a
somewhat strict `French Only Policy` in internal documents.

Here they are using `Biscuit de pile` for `Stack Cookies`:
[https://www.cert.ssi.gouv.fr/actualite/CERTFR-2015-ACT-047/](https://www.cert.ssi.gouv.fr/actualite/CERTFR-2015-ACT-047/)

It may be the other way around, eg: someone inside ANSSI choosed to use
`Biscuit de pile` to make people react:

\-
[https://twitter.com/newsoft/status/671213007301648384](https://twitter.com/newsoft/status/671213007301648384)

\-
[https://twitter.com/x0rz/status/738272442771202048](https://twitter.com/x0rz/status/738272442771202048)

------
bitwize
I love that the given translations for SOAP and REST are backronyms for French
translations of the words (SAVON and REPOS).

------
yaantc
I don't see an English translation for "jardinage", which is a colloquial term
used for a software memory corruption. I've seen many native French speaker
translate it directly and talking of "gardening", but it may be a bit
surprising for non-French speakers?...

------
rich_sasha
My favourite “french” word on the list is “cédérom”, literally just the
phonetic writing of French pronounciation of CD ROM.

Beautiful language it is, I never understood why every foreign word in French
has to be recreated. Otan, Sida, Ordinateur, and now I have found a new depth
of this...

~~~
doukdouk
How often do English speakers use non-English-based acronyms?

I see USSR much more often CCCP, HIV more often than VIH...

~~~
widforss
The best acronym must be UTC. Let's make no one happy.

~~~
jcranmer
Also ISO, which is short for International Organization for Standards.

~~~
doukdouk
It is not:

> ISO gives this explanation of the name: "Because 'International Organization
> for Standardization' would have different acronyms in different languages
> (IOS in English, OIN in French), our founders decided to give it the short
> form ISO. ISO is derived from the Greek isos, meaning equal. Whatever the
> country, whatever the language, the short form of our name is always
> ISO."[0]

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Organization_for...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Organization_for_Standardization)

------
ilovefood
The "scissionnez moi" (fork me) on the top right really made my day. I would
have translated it with "fourchettez moi" because the first time I read it
some 10 years ago I immediately thought of food. :^)

~~~
082349872349872
You might enjoy New Orleans, where three topics of conversation which are
always acceptable are: the meal we just had, the meal we're having, and the
meal we're going to have.

~~~
wazoox
That is very French indeed. In France, we often talk of other meals we had or
meals we'll have while eating our meal, and comparing this salad with that
other salad, this wine with that one the other day, etc :)

------
jcq3
It's all about politics. In France Big Data is never translated by
"mégadonnées" but in Quebec, it is always because the people of Quebec like to
defend their identity against the american culture.

Usually you translate a word to understand it better.

The paradox is that the people of Quebec speak fluent english whereas most of
french people have a poor english.

Anyway pipeline in french remains pipeline but pronounced the french way.
Bitoduc is a troll because bito is close to bite which means dick in french.

Conlusion : It's more a political quebec dictionnary than a french
dictionnary.

~~~
BrandoElFollito
Pipeline is pronounced the English way in France. I have never heard anyone
saying "une peepeuhleen"

~~~
jcq3
Because French people working in the IT industry don't know it's an anglicism
and are used to pronounce English words the English way.

However if you work in the construction industry you will hear "un pipeline".

In French, do you pronounce CIA the english way ? And API ?

~~~
jobigoud
We say CIA as say-ee-ah, but we say FBI the American way as eff-bee-ay. I've
also never heard anyone say peep-leen though.

Sent through my oui-fee.

------
GeorgeRichard
English: dictionary

French: dictionnaire

HN: dictionnary

------
widforss
Relevant Ask HN I asked earlier this summer:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23377270](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23377270)

------
lifthrasiir
The repo says that it's "a website to _promote_ french words for computer
concepts" (emphasis mine). I don't know about French but how many of them are
actually in use? It sounds like another clueless attempt to massively update
the already established vocabulary, which to my knowledge was never successful
(as a Korean, I have seen a lot of them, a lot).

~~~
frabbit
Don't know about most of them but I like _courriel_ and _pourriel_ (the latter
having connotations of rottenness) much more than e-mail and spam.

I don't see why Latin/Greek originating words like _ampersand_ need their own
"French" versions though.

~~~
wazoox
But "perluette" or "esperluette" (both are valid) have existed in French for
centuries. They were just uncommon words, and it's out of sheer ignorance that
people use the English word instead.

For instance "dièse" is better known, so nobody would think of saying "sharp"
or whatever other English word for the "#" sign. For some reason, "arobase"
seems relatively well known as the normal French name for the "@" sign.

~~~
frabbit
I have heard people use "a commercial" quite a bit in QC.

~~~
wazoox
Yes, it's quite common too.

------
draven
The Github button on the top right says "Scissionnez moi sur Github", I found
the translation funny.

The tags on the project here:
[https://github.com/soulaklabs/bitoduc.fr](https://github.com/soulaklabs/bitoduc.fr)
include "Branlette" (wanking), "humour-de-droite" (right-wing humor) and
"bernard-pivot"
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Pivot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Pivot))

------
wazoox
Weird, the "Jargon Français" website (
[http://jargonf.org](http://jargonf.org) ) has been available for... 25 years,
or more? What's this one adding, exactly, out of the funny name?

------
beeforpork
> Double word: Trente-deuzet

How 16-bit centric, feels like from the 1980s.

I know, I know, dword ptr, qword ptr, etc. But I use 'movl' instead of 'mov
dword ptr'.

