In some cases, formation and "formation" are not faux amis: la formation des montagnes means "the formation of mountains", for example. However, in relation to people, formation takes on a completely different sort of meaning.
On CV's (resumés), in lieu of the section called "Education," French-speakers have a section called "Formation." In my work as a private English teacher, I give classes to employees at various companies. For the employees, these classes are a formation d'anglais ("English class" or "English training course") and I am a formatrice d'anglais (as opposed to a professeur d'anglais, which would be an English teacher in an actual school).
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| Formatrice / Professeur |
WorReference.com also gives these examples:
- Il a reçu une formation en mécanique. ("He was trained as a mechanic.")
- J'ai suivi une formation pour devenir comptable. ("I took a program/course to become an accountant.")
In other words, formation refers to any formal training or schooling that you receive: public or private schools attended, as well as any special training programs or extra classes taken.
The French word éducation, on the other hand, can mean two things: one is "upbringing," or the education that you receive at home. It includes savoir-vivre (etiquette and daily life skills) and your all-around cultural and social understandings of life.
The second meaning of éducation is "education" in the most general sense. The "Minister of Education" is the ministre de l'Education, for example. It can also refer to one's overall education in a particular domain, i.e. éducation musicale, éducation réligieuse, éducation physique, éducation civique. In all these cases, your éducation includes all knowledge and cultural experience you have in that area, whether you learned it at home, at school, in your place of worship, or from society in general.
There's a Florence and the Machine song called "All This and Heaven Too," which is full of beautiful, evocative lyrics that make it both ironic and poignant as she describes her struggle with words:
And the heart is hard to translate
It has a language of its own
It talks in tongues and quiet sighs,
And prayers and proclamations
In the grand days of great men and the smallest of gestures
And short shallow gasps.
It has a language of its own
It talks in tongues and quiet sighs,
And prayers and proclamations
In the grand days of great men and the smallest of gestures
And short shallow gasps.
But with all my education I can’t seem to command it
And the words are all escaping, and coming back all damaged
And I would put them back in poetry if I only knew how
I can’t seem to understand it
And the words are all escaping, and coming back all damaged
And I would put them back in poetry if I only knew how
I can’t seem to understand it
Here, when she says "education" I imagine that she's referring to her schooling (though we can't be sure), but even if that's true, I think it would only make sense to translate this as éducation. Formation is dry, formal, and rather limited, whereas éducation would encompass all that she's ever learned, all her experience with language and self-expression. It's the only way to convey what she's describing here.
Perhaps the English language isn't missing too much with our lack of distinction between formation and éducation; but I still enjoy the fact that these French words carry such clear connotations and precise meanings, rather than being dependent on context.
English also uses "professor" as a marker of rank, i.e. a faculty member at a college. Professor might be the direct translation but most people would refer to the person in the picture on the right as a "schoolteacher." Is there a similar distinction in French?
ReplyDeleteNo actually, in French, "professeur" applies to all school teachers, whether K-12 or university.
DeleteActually, I need to amend that--usually, primary school teachers are called "instituteur" or "institutrice" and the students might call them "maître" or "maîtresse." I think they're only called "professeur" starting in middle school.
DeleteIn English, the one context in which I've heard "formation" used to mean "education" is in church (e.g., "Christian formation"). It encompasses education for all ages and it seems to convey a broader scope than just the consumption of knowledge. It implies the development of the whole person.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting! I didn't know that. Yeah, I find it kind of strange, actually, that in French "formaton" has the more narrow definition, while "éducation" can refer more to the formation of a person as a whole. But I suppose you could also see "formation" as being simply more deliberate--as in, you choose to form yourself in a specific way.
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