# I'm a slow writer



## etudian

Bonjour !

En anglais on dis "I'm a slow writer" pour vouloir dire "I write slowly" même quand on est pas écrivain professionnel. Il y a beaucoup d'expressions comme ça. Par exemple, "I'm not a good swimmer" (I don't swim well), "I'm not a fast runner" (I don't run fast), "he's a great tennis player" (he plays tennis very well), etc.

Est-ce qu'on dit "je suis (un?) écrivain lent" pour vouloir dire "j'écris lentement" ? Et mes autres exemples ?

Merci d'avance !


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## pieanne

J'aurais plutôt tendance à dire "je n'écris pas vite", "je ne suis pas bon nageur", etc etc...
Je n'utiliserais pas "je suis un écrivain lent" etc...


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## etudian

Donc on dit "je ne suis pas bon nageur." Est-ce qu'on dit les suivantes ?

Je ne suis pas coureur(se) rapide. (Ici je suis pas coureur(se) professionnel(le).)

Je ne suis pas bon(ne) coureur(se).

Il est bon joueur de tennis. (Ici il est pas joueur de tennis professionnel.)


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## pieanne

Moi je dis: je ne cours pas vite, pas bien...
C'est un bon joueur de tennis - il joue bien au tennis

Peut-être d'autres disent autrement?


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## etudian

pieanne, merci beaucoup ! Donc ça depend du cas, je crois.

D'autres suggestions sont toujours les bienvenues.


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## marie-francoise

etudian said:


> Bonjour !
> 
> En anglais on dit "I'm a slow writer" pour vouloir dire "I write slowly" même quand on est pas écrivain professionnel. Il y a beaucoup d'expressions comme ça. Par exemple, "I'm not a good swimmer" (I don't swim well), "I'm not a fast runner" (I don't run fast), "he's a great tennis player" (he plays tennis very well), etc.


Peut-être que ça se dit, mais c'est du mauvais anglais.



etudian said:


> Donc on dit "je ne suis pas bon nageur." Est-ce qu'on dit les suivantes ?
> 
> Je ne suis pas coureur(se) rapide. (Ici je suis pas coureur(se) professionnel(le).)
> 
> Je ne suis pas bon(ne) coureur(se).
> 
> Il est bon joueur de tennis. (Ici il est pas joueur de tennis professionnel.)


À mon avis, toutes ces phrases sont sont incorrectes: 

"je ne suis pas bon nageur.">>>"Je ne nage pas bien"
"Je ne suis pas coureur(se) rapide.">>> Je ne suis pas cours pas rapidement"
"Je suis pas coureur(se) professionnel(le).">>>"Je ne cours pas professionnellement"
 "Je ne suis pas bon(ne) coureur(se).">>>"Je ne cours pas bien."
"Il est bon joueur de tennis.">>>"Il joue bien au tennis."


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## jb0284

Quote:

En anglais on dit "I'm a slow writer" pour vouloir dire "I write slowly" même quand on est pas écrivain professionnel. Il y a beaucoup d'expressions comme ça. Par exemple, "I'm not a good swimmer" (I don't swim well), "I'm not a fast runner" (I don't run fast), "he's a great tennis player" (he plays tennis very well), etc.


*Peut-être que ça se dit, mais c'est du mauvais anglais.*

*Je ne suis pas d'accord - j'entends des phrases pareilles tous les jours. Je ne vois pas pourquoi ces phrases seraient du 'mauvais anglais'...*


*"Je ne suis pas coureur(se) rapide.">>> Je ne suis pas cours pas rapidement"*

*Je ne cours pas rapidement - mais la aussi, j'ai un doute...*


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## L'il Miss Sunshine

Estudian,

sorry to write in English (my French is not great!).  I agree with an earlier poster that it is not good english.  

'I am a slow writer' makes me think of children who produce handwriting very slowly, not a professional writer who takes a long time to produce their text.  It also sounds a bit strange, as it is not clear what you mean.  It would be better to say 'I write slowly'.

LMS


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## pieanne

marie-francoise said:


> Peut-être que ça se dit, mais c'est du mauvais anglais.
> 
> 
> À mon avis, toutes ces phrases sont sont incorrectes:
> 
> "je ne suis pas bon nageur.">>>"Je ne nage pas bien"
> "Je ne suis pas coureur(se) rapide.">>> Je ne suis pas cours pas rapidement"
> "Je suis pas coureur(se) professionnel(le).">>>"Je ne cours pas professionnellement"
> "Je ne suis pas bon(ne) coureur(se).">>>"Je ne cours pas bien."
> "Il est bon joueur de tennis.">>>"Il joue bien au tennis."


 
Which ones do you think are incorrect?


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## L'il Miss Sunshine

Pieanne

I think it is the second one that is not very clear

"Je ne suis pas coureur(se) rapide.">>> Je ne suis pas cours pas rapidement"

You can run well (e.g. run a marathon in 5 hours), but it is not fast

also the fourth maybe... 

"Je ne suis pas bon(ne) coureur(se).">>>"Je ne cours pas bien."

Because 'I am not a good runner' can be ambigious - eg. when I run I get injuries.  For example people say 'I am not a good traveller' - it means when I travel I get ill, it doesn't mean I don't like to travel

Hope that helps!


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## pieanne

Thank you, Miss Sunshine!

je ne suis pas bon nageur.">>>"Je ne nage pas bien" is correct
"Je ne suis pas coureur(se) rapide.">>> Je ne suis pas cours pas  rapidement"neither is correct. It should be je ne suis pas *un* courreur rapide.  / Je ne cours pas rapidement
"Je suis pas coureur(se) professionnel(le).">>>"Je ne cours pas professionnellement" it's un/e coureuse/eur professionnel/le. The rest is correct
"Je ne suis pas une bon(ne) coureur(se).">>>"Je ne cours pas bien."
"Il est bon joueur de tennis.">>>"Il joue bien au tennis." both correct.


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## etudian

Merci à tous !

Yes, I write slowly, especially in French, so I've switched to Engish too. My question is specifically about the literal French translations of "I'm a slow writer," "I'm not a good swimmer," etc, rather than about whether such expressions are good English. As far as I know, such expressions are very common in the US. It's interesting to know that some people think they are not good English.

What I mean by "I'm a slow writer" is just "I write slowly," not "I am a professional writer who writes slowly." I believe such expressions are often used to give an excuse. For example:

Have you finished your term paper yet?
No, not yet. I'm a slow writer.

Do you want to go swimming with us?
No, I'm not a good swimmer.

But once again, my original quesiton is about the literal French translations of such expressions.

While I was writing this post, pieanne answered most of the questions I was going to ask. Je n'écris pas vite ! I need just one clarification.

Il est bon joueur de tennis. (Not "un bon joueur"?)

Il n'est pas un bon joueur de tennis. (But "un" is necessary here?)


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## pieanne

Excuse me for asking, but what do you need literal translations for, if they're not that used? [scratching my head]


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## etudian

pieanne:

> Excuse me for asking, but what do you need literal translations for, if they're not that used?

You mean, if they're not that used in English, or in French?

The constructions like "I'm a slow write" and "I'm not a good swimmer" are used a lot in English, at least in the US. I use such expressions myself when I speak English, so I wanted to know if the equivalent constructions work in French. (Maybe I shouldn't have said "literal translations.") Does this answer your question?

Also, please don't forget the last question in my previous post. I really appreciate all your help!


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## marie-francoise

L'il Miss Sunshine said:


> "Je ne suis pas coureur(se) rapide.">>> Je ne suis pas cours pas rapidement"


 Sorry, that's a typo.  It should be "Je ne cours pas rapidement"


L'il Miss Sunshine said:


> You can run well (e.g. run a marathon in 5 hours), but it is not fast


"Je cours bien, mais pas rapidement." or "Même si je ne cours pas rapidement, je cours bien"


L'il Miss Sunshine said:


> "Je ne suis pas bon(ne) coureur(se).">>>"Je ne cours pas bien."
> 
> Because 'I am not a good runner' can be ambigious - eg. when I run I get injuries.


'I am not a good runner' is as ambigious and awkward in English as it is in French ("Je ne suis pas un(e) bon(ne) coureur(se)."), which is precisely why it's incorrect to structure the phrase like that.



L'il Miss Sunshine said:


> For example people say 'I am not a good traveller' - it means when I travel I get ill, it doesn't mean I don't like to travel


"Je ne voyage pas bien." = "I don't travel well." and does NOT mean _que vous n'aimer pas voyager.
_ 


pieanne said:


> It should be je ne suis pas *un* cou*r*eur rapide.


I disagree.



pieanne said:


> "Je suis pas coureur(se) professionnel(le).">>>"Je ne cours pas professionnellement" it's un/e coureuse/eur professionnel/le.


I disagree with this also.

As opposed to saying:
"Le coureur professionnel s'est cassé une jambe." which IS correct
or, to use a previous example:
"Il était d'habitude un bon nageur, mais aujourd'hui, il n'avançais pas." also correct.

The grammar rule for this, if I remember it correctly, is that when you have a phrase comprised of a subject, the verb *to be*, an object (noun) that  describes the subject's *action*, and an adjective that describes the subject's relationship to the action, one MUST construct the phrase with the subject, followed by the action (becomes a verb), followed by the descriptif (becomes an adverb.)
(I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.)


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## etudian

marie-francoise: Thank you very much for the detailed explanations. They are all helpful! There's one thing I don't understand.

> "Il était d'habitude un bon nageur, mais aujourd'hui, il n'avançais pas." also correct.

Doesn't this violate the rule?


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## pieanne

etudian said:


> marie-francoise: Thank you very much for the detailed explanations. They are all helpful! There's one thing I don't understand.
> 
> > "Il était d'habitude un bon nageur, mais aujourd'hui, il n'avançais pas." also correct.
> 
> Doesn't this violate the rule?


 
It should be "il n'avançai*t* pas"


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## etudian

> It should be "il n'avançai*t* pas"

Yes, but my question was not about this point. I thought the following example violated the rule marie-francoise described at the end of his or her last post.

> "Il était d'habitude un bon nageur, mais aujourd'hui, il n'avançais pas." also correct.


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## pieanne

<"Je ne voyage pas bien." = "I don't travel well." and does NOT mean _que vous n'aimez pas voyager.>_


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## pieanne

Marie-Françoise doesn't seem to be online anymore, so I can't answer for her.
Yet, I didn't read any "rule"... I don't think there is any.


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## etudian

Here's the rule I'm talking about:

>The grammar rule for this, if I remember it correctly, is that when you have a phrase comprised of a subject, the verb *to be*, an object (noun) that describes the subject's *action*, and an adjective that describes the subject's relationship to the action, one MUST construct the phrase with the subject, followed by the action (becomes a verb), followed by the descriptif (becomes an adverb.)
(I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.)


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## marie-francoise

etudian said:


> As far as I know, such expressions are very common in the US. It's interesting to know that some people think they are not good English.


this particular grammatical faux pas IS just as common in English as it is in French.  And to me, it sounds just as awkward, almost like childspeak (no offence intended, please) in both languages.  Then again, I've been told before I'm a bit of a stickler for details...and rules...



etudian said:


> What I mean by "I'm a slow writer" is just "I write slowly,"


EXACTLY, so why not say what you mean?



etudian said:


> not "I am a professional writer who writes slowly."


What's this obsession everybody seems to be having with professionalism?
You can be "a writer/swimmer/runner", professionally, as an amateur, or otherwise.

But...
you make a good case for using "a professional writer" who writes (an action verb), not IS (to be) - unless you don't want to be redundant
You CAN say, for example
"Some professional writers, like myself, write slowly", or redundantly (HAHA)
(carrying on the tradition of weak puns)


etudian said:


> I believe such expressions are often used to give an excuse. For example:
> No, not yet. I'm a slow writer.
> No, I'm not a good swimmer.


...grammatically incorrect excuses...



etudian said:


> Il est bon joueur de tennis. (Not "un bon joueur"?)
> 
> Il n'est pas un bon joueur de tennis. (But "un" is necessary here?)


In French, it would be just as well understood with or without "un" if you are talking about about "joueur de tennis".  (But it's still incorrect: see the grammar rule).  You can only say (both in Fr. & Engl.):  "he plays tennis well" / "il joue bien au tennis" / "that tennis player did (something)"

However, there IS a French expression "Il n'est pas bon joueur" which means "He's not nice to play with", implying for example, depending on the game, that he might cheat, or be a sore loser.
But that's an expression.  I think you're talking about "a good player" here.


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## marie-francoise

pieanne said:


> Marie-Françoise doesn't seem to be online anymore, so I can't answer for her.
> Yet, I didn't read any "rule"... I don't think there is any.


Actually, I just type very slowly (not: "I'm a slow typer") and I can't keep up with all of you.  Patience...
Grammar rule (as I remember it, no guarantees) for this particular problem + examples on post #15)


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## pieanne

Let's take the example
"she swimms well" - "she's a good swimmer"

>>>

"elle nage bien" - "elle est bonne nageuse/X est (une) bonne nageuse/c'est une bonne nageuse"
In the latter example you can't do without the "une".
The first one refers to non-competition field
The second one may refer to both
Without context, the third mostly refers to non-competition field.

But really, I don't see how there can be a rule... Just listen to the sports reports, depending on the (grammatical) context, you can hear any of them...


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## marie-francoise

jb0284 said:


> "Je ne suis pas coureur(se) rapide.">>> Je ne suis pas cours pas rapidement"*
> 
> *Je ne cours pas rapidement - mais la aussi, j'ai un doute...*


Sorry, it's a typo.  It should read, as you say, *Je ne cours pas rapidement

*Not only do I type slowly, I also don't do it well.  (not: "I'm not a good typer.")



jb0284 said:


> *Je ne suis pas d'accord - j'entends des phrases pareilles tous les jours. Je ne vois pas pourquoi ces phrases seraient du 'mauvais anglais'...*


"mauvais": poor choice of words, my apology
I'll say instead: grammatically incorrect, in my opinion


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## marie-francoise

pieanne said:


> Which ones do you think are incorrect?


Good catch!
I was replying  and the  incorrect  phrases  I  was  referring  to were the ones I quoted.  I can see how that's confusing.  Let me try again.

incorrect>>>correct

"je ne suis pas bon nageur.">>>"Je ne nage pas bien"
"Je ne suis pas coureur(se) rapide.">>> Je ne cours pas rapidement"
"Je suis pas coureur(se) professionnel(le).">>>"Je ne cours pas professionnellement"
"Je ne suis pas bon(ne) coureur(se).">>>"Je ne cours pas bien."
"Il est bon joueur de tennis.">>>"Il joue bien au tennis."


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## jb0284

My word! This thread's becoming somewhat laborious...!

I do agree with Marie-Francoise - in most cases, it does sound better using the verbal, as opposed to the nominal, phrase, i.e. _I type quickly_ rather than _I'm a quick typer_. 

However, I do think there's a case for some of the latter phrases becoming part of common use, e.g. _He's a good swimmer_. To me, that doesn't sound awkward or ill-formed... But I do concede that it probably isn't strictly sound grammar.

That said, with regards translation into French, I've never heard anyone say _il est (un) bon joueur de tennis_ or _il est (un) bon nageur_. I would instinctively always go for the corresponding verbal constructions: _il joue bien au tennis_ and _il nage bien (vite)_


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## marie-francoise

etudian said:


> > "Il était d'habitude un bon nageur, mais aujourd'hui, il n'avançais pas." also correct.
> 
> Doesn't this violate the rule?


YES!
See? It's such a common mistake, that even while paying attention to it, I still screw up.

Correctly:  "D'habitude un bon nageur, aujourd'hui il n'avançai*t* pas."
Or:  "D'habitude il nageait bien, mais aujourd'hui il n'avançai*t* pas."


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## marie-francoise

pieanne said:


> It should be "il n'avançai*t* pas"


thank you


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## marie-francoise

pieanne said:


> <"Je ne voyage pas bien." = "I don't travel well." and does NOT mean _que vous n'aimez pas voyager.>_


thank you


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## pieanne

De nouveau, je suis sorry, c'est un T à la 3ème personne du singulier  
"Il n'avançai*t* pas"

Je redis (ou ne l'avais-je pas dit?) que, pour un milieu non-professionnel, c'est plus courant de dire "Il nage bien, il ne tape pas vite, il ne court pas vite" etc...

Les autres options sont ouvetres, à mon avis...


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## marie-francoise

pieanne said:


> Let's take the example
> "she swimms well" - "she's a good swimmer"
> 
> >>>
> 
> "elle nage bien" - "elle est bonne nageuse/X est (une) bonne nageuse/c'est une bonne nageuse"
> In the latter example you can't do without the "une".
> The first one refers to non-competition field
> The second one may refer to both
> Without context, the third mostly refers to non-competition field.
> 
> But really, I don't see how there can be a rule... Just listen to the sports reports, depending on the (grammatical) context, you can hear any of them...


I really don't understand this obsession with professionalism/competitive sports.

"a swimmer/ un(e) nageur(se)" is a generic term meaning 'a person who swims' and does not imply either professionalism, or the nature of the reason for swimming (competitive / non-competitive), or how well, or fast, the person swims."
For example:
As a swimmer myself, I can tell you I swim neither competitevly nor professionally.  I only swim for fun.  Yet I DO swim, and that in itself makes me a swimmer!
(I think this time I managed an example correctly)

As for how sports announcers choose to express themselves, I wouldn't know.  I do not follow professional sports at all.  Whether you believe there is, or isn't, a rule is up to you.  It's just what I remember from grammar school (where I always got A+'s).  I do not make any guarantee I remember correctly.


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## orc13

I'm not a native French speaker by any means, but the verbal form does sound better to me.

As for US English... I would agree that "I'm a slow writer" sounds odd out of context.  However, when you put in the question "Have you finished your term paper yet?  No, I'm a slow writer", it sounds fine to me.  I think it's a more colloquial way of saying it, and also probably used more in spoken language than written, hence the negative reactions to it.  I agree that it is common.


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## pieanne

<I really don't understand this obsession with professionalism/competitive sports.>

:S I think it was mentioned in the first post or so...

Edit: The original poster mentioned it in his/her first 2 posts


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## etudian

I never thought this thread would be this long!

I would like to thank all of you, especially marie-francoise and pieanne. The issues are fairly clear now, but I still have to study your explanations carefully. I will try to absorb them all! Thanks again. 

(orc13: Thanks for commenting on my example context of "I'm a slow writer." Your post appeared while I was writing this one. I'm a slow writer. Oops!)


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