Informaticien
As many readers undoubtedly know, there is a longstanding tradition at Apple whereby employees are allowed to put more or less whatever job title they want on their business cards. One of my friends, who works on disc burning, for example, uses the title “Coaster Toaster”; another uses the intriguing designation “Mac OS X Meta Person.” Unfortunately, I didn’t know about this when I came to Apple, so mine are pretty boring. If I ever order new ones, though, I know exactly what they’re going to say: “Informaticien.”
You see, I’ve had a fascination with this particular word ever since a post-collegiate Europe trip some friends and I took in 2001. At one point during said trip, I found myself in Paris, trying desperately to get a police theft report before my train left (insurance purposes—long story). After posing a series of awkwardly phrased French questions to a nearby police officer (at one point I was convinced that he thought I was confessing to the crime), I finally found my way to the local gendarmerie, where they spent a good deal of time figuring out what to do with me before finally tracking down an English-speaking officer.
This nice gentleman asked me a number of questions, one of which concerned my occupation. I volunteered something like “computer programmer,” and then looked eagerly at his computer screen to see how he’d translate it. He put down “informaticien,” which struck me as so much more sophisticiated and, indeed romantic sounding than the ever prosaic “software engineer.” Such a title gives its bearer the aura of some sort of information artist or craftsman, which, corny as it may sound (and as much as stern formalists like E.W. Dijkstra would probably disapprove) is how I often like to think of myself.
My only concern is that I seem to be getting a variety of different translations for the word. Using the various translation services in Watson, for example, gives me: data processing specialist (BabelFish and Lycos), computer (FreeTranslation), and computer scientist (InterTran). Any francophones out there care to clarify whether calling myself an “informaticien” would make me sound like a machine or glorified data entry clerk?
April 23rd, 2005 at 11:49 am
Informaticien, a year later, sounds as much professional than artistic. It is the meaning that sounds the closest and nearest to your trade. However, the computer-information lobby has closed down much of the opportunities for latin-based languages in the field. Another word that comes to mind is “courriel” to express e-mail in french. The word is widely used in Québec but left out at the fringes in Europe. However, whenever the word is used in professional circles, it is widely recognized as being THE translation and best adapted meaning.
Weird, like so many other things these days.
Salutations et Bonjour!,
Charles