How to translate common fish into French

Ever get confused at the fish counter or in the restaurant in France or other French-speaking places? I still do, despite writing this list some time ago. It seemed to have disappeared from my blog, so I am publishing it again. Apologies for any obvious omissions. It is worth noting that soem fish names vary according to region, so it's easy to find unfamiliar names. I have not included seafood in my list.

Do comment if there are any obvious ones I may have missed.

Fish markets and fish counters in supermarkets are so much more interesting than British ones, aren't they? But I wonder why the French eat so little haddock ("églefin/aiglefin") when it is good and so plentiful? On the other hand whiting is common in France and deserves to be more so in the UK. The French eat a lot more ling/sea burbot ("julienne") than we do, but I do find that a bit short on flavour. They also consume quite a bit of dried salted cod ("morue").

Anglais Français

anchovy anchois (m)
basa (river cobbler) pangas (m)

bream brème (f)

carp carpe (f)

catfish barbote (f) mâchoiron (m)

chub spirlin (m)

cod cabillaud (m), morue (dried and salted) (f)

coley/ pollock lieu (m)/ colin (m)

dab (flounder) limande (f) - limande is also a slang word for flat-chested!

eel anguille (f)

grayling poisson ombre (m)

grey mullet mulet (m)

gurnard grondin (m)

haddock églefin/aiglefin (m)

hake merlu (m)

halibut flétan (m)

herring hareng (m)

ling, sea burbot julienne (f)

ling lingue (f)

mackerel maquereau (m)

monkfish lotte (f)

perch perche (f)

pike brochet (m)

pilchard pilchard (m)

red mullet rouget (m)

red sea bream pageot (m)

salmon saumon (m)

sardine sardine (f)

sea bass bar (m)

sea bream daurade (f) sar (m)

shark requin (m)

skate raie (f)

smoked haddock haddock (m)

snapper vivaneau (m)

sole sole (f)

sturgeon esturgeon (m)

swordfish espadon (m)

trout truite (f)

tuna thon (m)

turbot turbot (m)

whitebait petite friture (f)

whiting merlan (m)

What is skill acquisition theory?

For this post, I am drawing on a section from the excellent book by Rod Ellis and Natsuko Shintani called Exploring Language Pedagogy through Second Language Acquisition Research (Routledge, 2014). Skill acquisition is one of several competing theories of how we learn new languages. It’s a theory based on the idea that skilled behaviour in any area can become routinised and even automatic under certain conditions through repeated pairing of stimuli and responses. When put like that, it looks a bit like the behaviourist view of stimulus-response learning which went out of fashion from the late 1950s. Skill acquisition draws on John Anderson’s ACT theory, which he called a cognitivist stimulus-response theory. ACT stands for Adaptive Control of Thought. ACT theory distinguishes declarative knowledge (knowledge of facts and concepts, such as the fact that adjectives agree) from procedural knowledge (knowing how to do things in certain situations, such as understand and speak a language).

The 2026 GCSE subject content is published!

Two DfE documents were published today. The first was the response to the consultation about the proposed new GCSE (originally due in October 2021) and the second is the subject content document which, ultimately, is of most interest to MFL teachers in England. Here is the link to the document. We are talking about an exam to be done from 2026 (current Y7s). There is always a tendency for sceptical teachers to think that consultations are a bit of a sham and that the DfE will just go ahead and do what they want when it comes to exam reform. In this case, the responses to the original proposals were mixed, and most certainly hostile as far as exam boards and professional associations representing the MFL community, universities, head teachers and awarding bodies are concerned. What has emerged does reveal some significant changes which take account of a number of criticisms levelled at the proposals. As I read it, the most important changes relate to vocabulary and the issue of topics

La retraite à 60 ans

Suite à mon post récent sur les acquis sociaux..... L'âge légal de la retraite est une chose. Je voudrais bien savoir à quel âge les gens prennent leur retraite en pratique - l'âge réel de la retraite, si vous voulez. J'ai entendu prétendre qu'il y a peu de différence à cet égard entre la France et le Royaume-Uni. Manifestation à Marseille en 2008 pour le maintien de la retraite à 60 ans © AFP/Michel Gangne Six Français sur dix sont d’accord avec le PS qui défend la retraite à 60 ans (BVA) Cécile Quéguiner Plus de la moitié des Français jugent que le gouvernement a " tort de vouloir aller vite dans la réforme " et estiment que le PS a " raison de défendre l’âge légal de départ en retraite à 60 ans ". Résultat d’un sondage BVA/Absoluce pour Les Échos et France Info , paru ce matin. Une majorité de Français (58%) estiment que la position du Parti socialiste , qui défend le maintien de l’âge légal de départ à la retraite à 60 ans,

Unknown2 October 2015 at 18:38
Thank you for posting ,I will try to get Le Clerc in my local town to keep a copy of this list!
Steve Smith2 October 2015 at 19:58
Hi. Thanks for commentig. Glad this was useful to you!
Steve Sidaway30 January 2016 at 15:42
Thanks for the list it will make my life a little easier this summer. Any ideas about lieu noir and lieu jaune
Anonymous person5 May 2016 at 17:33
I think lieu noir is coalfish, lieu jaune is pollock.
Anonymous person5 May 2016 at 17:34
I think lieu noir is coalfish, lieu jaune is pollock

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