“He leads this study”, “the head of this project leads this team”… You have no doubt heard it very often. This phrase is used all the time in the media or business world. However, we also hear the following phrase: “manage” the management of the company, government, ministry… We say “the minister responsible for small and medium enterprises” or “the Secretary”. A state responsible for children” when discussing the functions of members of the French government. However, can we say that the expression “manage” is really correct?
As the French Academy reminds, this wording is taken from the English expression “to be in charge of”, which is correct in Shakespeare’s language. But in French it cannot be used word for word. It is indeed a very common anglicism. We say to “own” someone or “be a guardian” of someone. On the other hand, we do not say “own” something. The same goes for “to be in charge” or “to be able to”, which are also English.
This is why the expression should be avoided even though it is not grammatically incorrect. Indeed, as the French Academy reminds in its “Say, don’t say” section, there are already many expressions in French to express the same idea. So we prefer to say “he is in charge of this project” or “he is in charge of this project”. The subtlety is subtle and the meaning changes little, but these expressions have the advantage of already being available in our dictionaries.
Thus, the following expressions will be preferable in the sense of “duty, mission to trust”. from” and so on. For example, instead of saying “responsible for external relations” of the government, we will say “responsible for external relations”.
SEE ALSO – Eric Orsenna. “I make mistakes all the time.”
Source: Le Figaro
