Why watching sports on TV is good for your French language skills

Sport is one field of French life that must annoy the grandees of the Académie française more than most. Rugby and football in particular have a tendency to adopt Anglicisms from coaching manuals or TV commentators across the Channel, in turn doubtless incurring the language purists’ wrath.

For example, often you will hear rugby commentators crying “oh, le turnover”’ – a turnover being when the ball has been pinched from the opposing team at a ruck. The correct French is ballon rendu, but the French seem to prefer the snappier, somehow cooler English version. In France, coaches even say “le ruck” these days instead of the more traditional mêlée ouverte.

As for football, no one says the formal French coup de coin any more, opting instead for “un corner”. And the team manager is nearly always referred to as ‘le coach”.

Your Language Noter can vouch for all of these anglicisms and more besides, having spent every Saturday morning for the past five years on the touchlines at youth matches.

However, watching sport, especially on television, is a great way to learn some French if you listen carefully and note down any new or unfamiliar words.

A post-match interview following a Bordeaux-Toulouse rugby match in April – a typically full-blooded affair in which les Bordelais triumphed – saw the righteous Bordeaux demi de mêlée (scrum-half) talk about some of his team-mates being “sous-cotés” by the rugby press.

I had no idea what he meant, so I looked it up. It is used largely by young people to describe someone or something being under-estimated.