Thunderbird 8.0 dictionaries

[Tony Vella]

Merci bien, Tony.
Y muchas gracias.

They're all working well now. I'm left with just trying to confirm
exactly what went wrong; and very certain that the problem was on the
server side.

BTW
I have the Modern French dictionary. I was wondering though (and you'll
know this better than me, being a native Canadian) just what the
difference is between that and the Classique one.

Ed

The French language went through quite an upheaval during the 17th and
18th centuries. The classical dictionary shows (or at least should
show) the uses, formation, spelling, etc, of that period. If a person
is translating, say, an analysis of a work by Camus or Gide or Sartre,
the modern dictionary should be more than enough for understanding and
translating quotations from their works. Working on a thesis on
Rousseau, for example, the Classique would be more useful.

In grammar, it is the same as with dictionary: for writing a newspaper
article with a modern theme (say: Is Carla Sarko a real singer?) a 50p
M&S French grammar would probably be enough, while, on the other hand,
for writing an academic paper on the evolution of Middle French, nothing
less than a Grevisse would do.

Hope this helps.

 

[Wolf K]

The French language went through quite an upheaval during the 17th and
18th centuries.

That's the written language, not the spoken one. The written language
froze, more precisely, it was frozen, by Cardinal Richelieu's
government reforms. The spoken language has continued to evolve. The
result is that native French speakers have about as much trouble with
official French as foreigners do.

Wolf K.

PS: Cardinal Richelieu invented modern bureaucracy. So blame him when a
bureaucrat behaves like one. ;-)

 

[Ed Cryer]

That's the written language, not the spoken one. The written language
froze, more precisely, it was frozen, by Cardinal Richelieu's government
reforms. The spoken language has continued to evolve. The result is that
native French speakers have about as much trouble with official French
as foreigners do.

Wolf K.

PS: Cardinal Richelieu invented modern bureaucracy. So blame him when a
bureaucrat behaves like one. ;-)

It's not the French alone who have that problem. Teachers of English in
UK schools wage a constant war against "Americanisms", as well as
"text"isms and other dangers to our beautiful language.
We don't have any equivalent of the "immortels" of the Academie
Francaise but the Oxford English Dictionary is widely respected and
accepted as a guardian of purity and acceptability.

let us never allow the celestial language of Shakespeare to fade into
obscurity. And let's provide support for that of Racine and Corneille.

Ed