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From these 32 words, as many per round as you like — up to all of them: first what is due today, then new ones. First you choose, then you fill the gap, then you write it yourself. Mistakes come back again shortly.
More about this list The twenty-fifth entry is le genre et la technique , the name of a whole field of research, and its second noun is a false friend hiding in plain sight. In English « technique » is always one particular way of doing something: a pianist’s technique, a surgical technique, a technique for getting wine out of a carpet. It is small, personal and countable. French has that sense as well, with the indefinite article, so that une technique de soudure is a welding technique. But la technique , singular, definite and standing on its own, is the entire domain of tools, machines and networks that a society builds and then depends on — what English calls « technology ». That is why the discipline behind this list calls itself l’histoire des techniques , and why le progrès technique means technological progress rather than better skill. La technologie exists too, but it leans towards the recent and the electronic. So the entry names gender and technology: a field that asks who a washing machine was designed for and who was expected to operate it. Rendered as « gender and technique », it shrinks into a question about method.
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Noun (m) (15)
Grammar for these: Definite article: le, la, les · Indefinite article: un, une
le verrouillage technologique technological lock-in Noun (m) C2 Le verrouillage technologique dure des générations. Technological lock-in can outlast everybody who chose the design.
le grand système technique the large technical system Noun (m) C2 Un grand système technique ne se remplace pas d’un coup. A large technical system such as the railway is renewed piece by piece.
le parc installé the installed base Noun (m) C2 Le parc installé pèse plus lourd que le brevet. No patent can compete with an installed base of millions of machines already in use.
l’effet de réseau the network effect Noun (m) C2 L’effet de réseau récompense celui qui arrive le premier. Thanks to the network effect, whoever gets there first keeps growing stronger.
le maquis des brevets the patent thicket Noun (m) C2 Le maquis des brevets décourage les petits ateliers. Small workshops give up before they find a way through the patent thicket.
le savoir tacite tacit knowledge Noun (m) C2 Le savoir tacite part avec l’ouvrier. When the old fitter retires, his tacit knowledge leaves the firm with him.
le bris de machines machine-breaking Noun (m) C2 Le bris de machines visait le contremaître autant que la machine. In the machine-breaking of that period the foreman was as much a target as the frame.
le transfert de technologie technology transfer Noun (m) C2 Le transfert de technologie passe par des personnes. Technology transfer travels with people who move, not with drawings sent by post.
l’espionnage industriel industrial espionage Noun (m) C2 L’espionnage industriel est aussi vieux que l’industrie. Industrial espionage began the day the first mill hid its machinery from visitors.
l’échec comme source failure as a source Noun (m) C2 L’échec comme source apprend plus que la réussite. Historians who treat failure as a source learn more than those who study only success.
l’usager inventeur the user as inventor Noun (m) C2 L’usager inventeur bricole avant l’ingénieur. The user as inventor has usually adapted the device before any engineer arrives.
le genre et la technique gender and technology Noun (m) C2 Le genre et la technique se lisent ensemble. A course on gender and technology asks whom a machine was designed for.
le chômage technologique technological unemployment Noun (m) C2 Le chômage technologique revient à chaque vague. Fear of technological unemployment returns with every new wave of machines.
le patrimoine industriel industrial heritage Noun (m) C2 Le patrimoine industriel se protège toujours trop tard. Industrial heritage tends to be listed only after half of it has been demolished.
le dessin technique comme source the technical drawing as a source Noun (m) C2 Le dessin technique comme source montre ce qui était prévu. Read as a source, a technical drawing records the intention rather than the result.
Noun (f) (17)
Grammar for these: Definite article: le, la, les · Indefinite article: un, une
l’inertie technique technical inertia Noun (f) C2 L’inertie technique freine même une meilleure idée. Because of technical inertia, the better design often waits decades for its turn.
la bataille des normes the standards war Noun (f) C2 La bataille des normes se gagne rarement par la qualité. The standards war went to the format with more shops behind it, not the sharper picture.
l’interopérabilité interoperability Noun (f) C2 L’interopérabilité manquait dès le départ. Nobody thought about interoperability when the two systems were first built.
la pratique d’atelier shop-floor practice Noun (f) C2 La pratique d’atelier ne se lit dans aucun manuel. Shop-floor practice is learnt at the bench and written down nowhere.
les pièces interchangeables interchangeable parts Noun (f) C2 Les pièces interchangeables ont changé l’atelier avant l’usine. Interchangeable parts altered the workshop before anybody built a factory around them.
l’organisation scientifique du travail scientific management Noun (f) C2 L’organisation scientifique du travail découpe le geste. Scientific management breaks each movement into timed pieces.
la déqualification deskilling Noun (f) C2 La déqualification suit souvent la machine. Deskilling tends to arrive on the same lorry as the new machine.
la rétro-ingénierie reverse engineering Noun (f) C2 La rétro-ingénierie remonte du produit au plan. Reverse engineering starts from the finished object and works back to its plans.
l’enquête après accident the accident investigation Noun (f) C2 L’enquête après accident produit des archives précieuses. Every accident investigation leaves a valuable file behind it.
la perception du risque risk perception Noun (f) C2 La perception du risque change avec l’époque. Risk perception shifts from one generation to the next.
la réglementation après une catastrophe post-disaster regulation Noun (f) C2 La réglementation après une catastrophe arrive vite et reste. Post-disaster regulation is drafted in weeks and then lasts for decades.
la désuétude obsolescence Noun (f) C2 La désuétude tombe d’abord sur les pièces de rechange. Obsolescence shows first in the spare parts nobody makes any more.
l’histoire de l’entretien the history of maintenance Noun (f) C2 L’histoire de l’entretien manque dans presque tous les récits. Most accounts of invention leave out the history of maintenance.
l’électrification electrification Noun (f) C2 L’électrification a gagné les villes avant les campagnes. Farms often waited decades longer than towns for electrification.
la tension du secteur mains voltage Noun (f) C2 La tension du secteur diffère d’un pays à l’autre. Travellers need an adapter because mains voltage is not the same everywhere.
la machine en état de marche the machine in working order Noun (f) C2 Une machine en état de marche raconte autre chose qu’une vitrine. A machine in working order tells visitors more than one behind glass.
la question contrefactuelle the counterfactual question Noun (f) C2 La question contrefactuelle éclaire le choix qui n’a pas eu lieu. Asking the counterfactual question forces a historian to name the alternative.
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