30 French Computer Terms šŸ’»

Author: Olivier Karfis

Some French computer terms are in French, others are in English – When it comes to technical terms, France is caught in a conundrum…

On one hand, there is a strong desire to keep the French language ā€˜pureā€™ and a rejection of too many anglicisms but on the other hand adoption of English computer and tech terms is inevitable since we operate in a globally connected world where English (like it or not) is the standard.

The MinistĆØre de la Culture et de la Communication even puts out the official French tech terms glossary to make sure that the official French terms are used (Get the 488 pages long PDF document here). As an interesting note, this guide is from 2017 and is an update of the prior guide fromā€¦ 2009! Not exactly keeping up with the tech times!

French computer terms can be broken down into 2 different categories:

15 Literal French Translations of English Computer Terms

Most of the time, the French equivalent is just a literal translation of the English term.  For example:

  1. File = ā€œle fichierā€
  2. Bookmark = ā€œLe marque-pageā€ (but also ā€œsignetā€ or ā€œfavoriā€ depending on the browsers)
  3. Software = ā€œUn logicielā€
  4. Software library = ā€œUne logithĆØqueā€
  5. An (email) attachment = ā€œUne piĆØce jointeā€
  6. A browser = ā€œun navigateurā€
  7. Word processor = ā€œun traitement de texteā€
  8. Hard drive = ā€œun disque durā€
  9. Password = ā€œun mot de passeā€
  10. Mouse = ā€œune sourisā€
  11. Mouse pad = ā€œun tapis de sourisā€
  12. Database = ā€œune base de donnĆ©esā€
  13. Button = ā€œun boutonā€
  14. Search engine = ā€œun moteur de rechercheā€
  15. Scroll bar = ā€œune barre de defilementā€

5 Tech words that stay in English because thereā€™s no (official) equivalent in French:

Sometimes even the hardcore French language conservatives will get stomped and so terms like these become common:

  1. Web = ā€œLe webā€
  2. Blog = ā€œun blogā€
  3. Wifi = ā€œle or la WiFiā€ (pronounce it wee fee)
  4. Modem = ā€œle modemā€
  5. Driver = ā€œle driverā€ (youā€™ll sometimes see ā€œle piloteā€ on this one)
French Computer Vocabulary

How To Say To Surf The Web in French?

Internet is a strange one because people use it either with an article in front or not.

To surf the web can be said as ā€œnaviguer SUR lā€™internetā€ but you also sometimes hear ā€œnaviguer internetā€ on TV.

Personally, I donā€™t use ā€œInternetā€ but ā€œlā€™internetā€.

Youā€™ll sometimes hear ā€œla toileā€, a literal translation of ā€˜the webā€™, but itā€™s mostly used in newspapers, and if you ask me, is a bit snobbish.

How To Say Email in French?

Email is probably one of the most contentious ones, most people say ā€œun emailā€ or ā€œun mailā€.

However, lā€™ Academy FranƧaise has actually pushed a brand new word that originated in Quebec and has made it the official term: ā€œun courrielā€ (a combo of ā€œcourrierā€ (a classic paper letter) and ā€˜Ć©lectroniqueā€™)

Honestly, except for the French administration, I have not heard the term ā€œcourrielā€ used in France very much. (Another one I sometimes run into when interacting with French government web sites is ā€œmĆØlā€ā€¦ but thatā€™s just wrong nā€™est-ce-pas?)

How To Say A Blog in French?

A blog is mostly calledā€¦ a blog! However, a blog post is often referred to as ā€œun billetā€ (that one threw me for a loop at first!)

How To Say to Download in French?

To ā€˜downloadā€™ is ā€œtĆ©lĆ©chargerā€ but ā€œtĆ©lĆ©chargerā€ is also used to mean ā€˜to uploadā€™ (the official translation) ā€¦

So what do we end up doing? We conjugate ā€œUploaderā€ as if it was a French verb: ā€œJā€™uploade, tu uploades, ils ont uploadĆ©ā€¦ā€ :-) (note: some people also say ā€œmettre en ligneā€ (to put online) to mean upload but itā€™s not often used by techies).

Learn French

9 Weird French Computer Vocabulary

  1. A font = ā€œune police de caractĆØreā€
  2. A laptop = ā€œun portableā€. It can be confusing though because many French people use the word ā€œun portableā€ for their smartphone as well. It should be ā€œun mobileā€ for the phone, but we use ā€œun portableā€ as well.
  3. A bug = ā€œUn bugā€, ou ā€œun bogueā€, and the verb ā€œbeuguerā€ (mon ordi beugue/beug/bugā€¦) = to crash, to bug.
  4. To crash = ā€œplanterā€ (yes, as in to plantā€¦). French people sometimes use ā€œcrashā€ but it sounds a lot like ā€œcracherā€ which is to spit on the ground !!!
    ā€œMon ordi plante tout le tempsā€ = My computer crashes all the time.
  5. To be hanging, painfully slow: ā€œramerā€ (yes, as in rowing a boatā€¦)
    ā€œMon portable rame quand je joue Ć  Minecraftā€ = my laptop is way too slow way I play Minecraft.
  6. RAM = ā€œmĆ©moire viveā€ vs. ROM = ā€œmĆ©moire morteā€ (or dead memory :-)
  7. Shareware = ā€œun partagicielā€ (literal), or ā€œun logiciel Ć  contributionā€
  8. Une arobase = the @ key
  9. Un indentifiant = user name

And of course, many French people use their ā€œeeee-phoneā€ not ā€œeye-phoneā€ (although Iā€™ve heard both :-)

Did you know? Ā The French Keyboard

One thing that some of you might not be aware of is that the French keyboard (ā€œle clavier franƧaisā€) has a different key layout than what you are used to.

The key sequence more closely matches the frequency of specific letters in French so whereas the English keyboards are QWERTY keyboards, the French keyboards are AZERTY (see the first picture of this article).

Most of the letters share the same position between the 2 keyboards which makes you feel overconfident when you switch from one to the other and mistype just 1 out of every 10 letters :-)

If you liked this article, you may enjoy Camilleā€™s articles on Social Media French Vocabulary.

French Vocabulary for Facebook

French Vocabulary for Twitter

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Author: Olivier Karfis

Olivier Karfis

I'm Camille's partner. I handle all the marketing, technical & design aspects of the site and our apps. I sometimes cameo on some of the French Audiobooks recordings.

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