Technology and in particular, social media, has done wonders for our Louisiana Francophone culture. It brings people of likeminded interests together to discuss our language, foodways, and music. The value of these interactions is incalculable — many friendships have been made, and our people have found new ways to express themselves online. Often, this is done between people who have never physically met.
Using this technology involves communication through words. This means typing, and typing often entails saving time with cute abbreviations. LOL, BTW, and other minimalist monikers are part and parcel of online discussion. While wholly appropriate in an online context, there is a tendency to become lax in spelling and proper grammar. In English, the symptoms appear as improperly spelled words and odd sentence structure. In the case of mixing Louisiana French and English in typing, the problem is much more pronounced.
A significant amount of Louisiana French usage on social media is in the form of single words used to emphasize a message written mostly in English. The most prolific that I have seen is the use of the word “chère” which is often spelled as it sounds: SHA. This does a disservice to our French language because it (a) reinforces incorrect notation that others read and adopt, and (b) denies us the intellectual challenge of learning not only a new language, but how to represent its words properly.
I am on a mission to encourage our people to spell French words properly. Doing that requires a bit of thought into the alphabet. Like most of my generation, I was schooled in English. Cedillas, accents grave and aigu, and other diacritic marks are alien to us. The keyboards on our U.S. computers do not advertise them. However, they are readily available, and with a bit of perseverance and a willingness to try new things, you can start using them too.
Let’s take the word chère (feminine) or cher (masculine). When referring to someone of the female sex, it’s appropriate to use the former spelling; for a male, the latter is correct. While they are both pronounced SHA, their spellings belie the simplicity of the sounds. This is where a bit of intellectual “heavy lifting” is required to “think in French” and to “type in French.”
The diacritical mark for the words is the accent grave. The pronunciation of the è is akin to the “AAH” sound in the word “apple.” When you see this mark, think of that pronunciation.
So how do you type this character? If you’re using a Mac computer, hold down the Option key and type the back tick key just below the key labeled ESC. The back tick key is the same key that has the tilde on it. When type this combination, the location where you are typing shows the accent grave and awaits further input. Now, release both keys and just press the E key by itself. Voila! You now have an E with an accent grave above it. If you are using Windows (apologies to the reader because I’m Mac-only), you need to hold down the ALT key while typing in 0232 on the numeric keypad of your keyboard. For more detailed information, you can follow the instructions outlined at this website: http://symbolcodes.tlt.psu.edu/accents/codealt.html
This same process works for words with the accent aigu above the e. Hold down the Option key and press the E key. You will see an accent aigu diacritic mark appear where you are typing. Now release both keys and press the E key again. Now you have an E with the accent aigu above it.
Some diacritical marks are only used on one character (e.g. ça). In this case, hold down the Option key and press the C key. This time, the character immediately appears with the cedilla under the C character.
Practice makes perfect. The more you use these characters in their proper places, the better you will become at typing them; that’s when the process will become second nature to you.
I encourage you to take the time to both learn these keyboard shortcuts and to “hear” the sound of these French words in your head when you read them on the screen. It may seem odd at first to associate “chère” with “sha” but in time, it too will become a habit. You will be reading the French of your ancestors in the way it was meant to be written.
Excellent post