Building and property

From the plot of land to the handover. Near the start sits le promoteur, and the English word that matches it letter for letter belongs to another trade. « A promoter » in English puts on a concert or a boxing match, or is the person who founded a company; it is never the man who buys land, gets the permission, has the flats built and sells them. That person is « a property developer », and the industry is « development ». The mismatch runs the other way too: la promotion immobilière is a whole sector of the economy, whereas English « promotion » is a step up at work or a special offer in a shop. So the two words meet nowhere: the French word for the job looks like an English word for a different job, and the English word for the job — « developer » — looks in French like somebody who develops a photograph.