Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada
Symbole du gouvernement du Canada

Liens institutionnels

 

Avis important

L'outil Writing Tips a été archivé et ne sera plus mis à jour jusqu'à son retrait définitif.

Pour obtenir notre contenu le plus à jour, veuillez consulter Writing Tips Plus, un outil combinant le contenu des outils Writing Tips et The Canadian Style. N'oubliez pas de modifier vos favoris!

Rechercher dans Canada.ca
Pour commencer votre recherche, cliquez sur la première lettre du mot voulu dans l'alphabet ci-dessous.

Twitter terminology (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)

[The same content is available in French in the article TWITTER (TERMINOLOGIE) (RECOMMANDATION LINGUISTIQUE DU BUREAU DE LA TRADUCTION).]

Background

Many departments use Twitter to communicate with Canadians in both official languages. Through the Twitter microblogging platform, departments can promote events, news or initiatives in messages of up to 140 characters.

Without any clearly defined French terminology, usage shows that English terms derived from tweet are being adapted to French—or even simply adopted. It is therefore important that correct French terminology be proposed and standardized before the current usage becomes entrenched.

French equivalent of tweet

The Translation Bureau recommends using the term gazouillis as the French equivalent of the word tweet.

This equivalent has been adopted by organizations such as La Presse, Parks Canada, Canada Economic Development and the Canadian International Development Agency. What is more, it evokes the Twitter brand image: a bird.

Derived terms

The Translation Bureau recommends using the following terms:

The Translation Bureau recommends using the following terms:
English Terms French Terms Definitions
tweet (n.) gazouillis (masc. n.) A message of up to 140 characters posted on Twitter.
tweet (v.) gazouiller (v.) Post a message, called a tweet, on Twitter.
tweeter (n.) twitterer (n.) gazouilleur (masc. n.) gazouilleuse (fem. n.) A Twitter account holder who reads and posts tweets.
retweet (n.) gazouillis partagé (masc. n.) A tweet that a user passes on to followers to share news or useful information on Twitter.
retweet (v.) partager un gazouillis (v.) Share a tweet posted by another user with your followers on Twitter.

Additional information

For more information, see the article Twitter fait gazouiller! by Marjorie Beauchamp in Language Update 8, no. 3 (2011): 13 (reprinted in Chroniques de langue).