{"id":21406,"date":"2014-12-08T06:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T05:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=21406"},"modified":"2017-10-23T13:37:30","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T11:37:30","slug":"have-you-ever-spoken-frenchin-reverse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/have-you-ever-spoken-frenchin-reverse\/","title":{"rendered":"Have You Ever Spoken French\u2026in Reverse?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back when I was just becoming familiar with the language, I would sometimes go out with Parisian friends to a bar or brasserie and listen while they spoke amongst themselves. I\u2019d be feeling somewhat proud about the advances I\u2019d taken in French and knew that I could have a pretty comprehensive conversation. But, listening to this group of Parisians speak, I\u2019d focus on everything they said\u2026and understand absolutely nothing<\/em>. It made me feel really self-conscious about my French skills and, frankly, sometimes made me want to sit in the corner of the bar and cry into my glass of red wine.<\/p>\n

Once, feeling pretty dejected, I brought it up to Fadi, the guy I was dating at the time who later became my husband. I told him: \u201cI just don\u2019t get it. I work in an office with all French workers and understand almost everything they say. And then I go out to a bar with a group of younger French friends and can\u2019t understand a word of it. It makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

He looked at me knowingly, like he had already diagnosed the problem. \u201cHave you ever heard of verlan<\/em>?\u201d he asked me. I hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re speaking in verlan<\/em>. They\u2019re basically speaking in reverse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking in reverse\u2026that was a new concept for me. But, with Fadi and his friends\u2019 help, I began to understand the different registers that French people speak in. Including this strange French slang called verlan<\/em>.<\/p>\n

When I say \u201cregisters\u201d of the language, I mean that there are different varieties of a formal language that speakers may use depending on what setting they find themselves in. At work, you\u2019d be more likely to speak in grammatically correct English, without resorting as much to slang or even some mild cursing, right? Well, it\u2019s the same in French. At work, I was hearing pretty standard French amongst older, professional colleagues. At the bar, I was hearing French slang, or verlan, <\/em>which is in pretty common use among the younger generation in France, especially in and around Paris.<\/p>\n

So what exactly is verlan<\/em>? It developed in the Parisian banlieues<\/em>, or suburbs, as a form of social protest. In these poorer areas, younger people wanted to speak without being comprehensible to the French police or other authority figures. Ils commen\u00e7aient \u00e0 parler en fran\u00e7ais \u00e0 l\u2019envers <\/em>\u2013 they began to speak in French in reverse \u2013 et le verlan fut n\u00e9<\/em> \u2013 and verlan <\/em>was born.<\/p>\n

It works like this: you break up standard French words \u2013 like \u201cl\u2019envers\u201d \u2013 into their pronounced syllables \u2013 in this case, \u201clan-ver\u201d \u2013 and then switch their order. Thus, \u201cl\u2019envers\u201d becomes verlan<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not always quite so easy to come up with the verlanized word, however. If there\u2019s interest, I could focus a later blog post on the more in-depth \u201crules\u201d of verlan<\/em>. For now, it\u2019s important to stress two<\/strong> major points: Verlan<\/em> is not a written or formal register of French<\/strong>, which means you shouldn\u2019t use it for written communication or in any formal setting. And, because it occupies an oral register of French, you inverse the syllables as they are pronounced<\/strong> and not necessarily the way the word is spelled.<\/p>\n

Because verlan<\/em> is so commonplace today, some vernalized words are inversed doubly. Thus the word for \u201cArab\u201d \u2013 \u201carabe\u201d \u2013 became \u201cbeur\u201d in verlan and then was reversed one more time to form the doubly verlanized word \u201crebeu\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s confusing, I know. But it\u2019s also essential if you want to understand the way French is spoken currently, especially by the younger generation. This slang is also important to know if you want to understand current French pop culture in movies and music, because verlan<\/em> is widely used there as well.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a list of some widely used words in verlan<\/em>, with their standard French and English translation:<\/p>\n

Teub\u00ea<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0b\u00eate \u2013\u00a0<\/em>stupid<\/p>\n

Meuf<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 femme \u2013\u00a0<\/em>woman<\/p>\n

Keum<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 mec \u2013\u00a0<\/em>guy<\/p>\n

Teuf<\/em><\/strong>\u2019 \u2013 f\u00eate \u2013\u00a0<\/em>party<\/p>\n

Keuf<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 flic \u2013\u00a0<\/em>police<\/p>\n

Relou<\/strong> \u2013 lourd<\/em> \u2013 lit. heavy but can mean annoying or difficult<\/p>\n

Chamm\u00e9<\/strong> \u2013 mechant<\/em> \u2013 mean<\/p>\n

Have you ever heard verlan<\/em> spoken before? If so, what words would you add to the list above?<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Back when I was just becoming familiar with the language, I would sometimes go out with Parisian friends to a bar or brasserie and listen while they spoke amongst themselves. I\u2019d be feeling somewhat proud about the advances I\u2019d taken in French and knew that I could have a pretty comprehensive conversation. But, listening to…<\/p>\n

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