Text conversation
Ask a French colleague to correct a misleading percentage
Ask a French colleague to correct a misleading percentage. Clarify the denominator, distinguish percentage points and propose a concise replacement.
- B2
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- Phone-style thread
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In short
State both endpoints and name the unit of change. A rate from 20% to 30% rises by ten percentage points, or by 50% relative to its starting rate. Offer replacement wording that preserves the intended comparison.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
Your colleague’s slide says a participation rate “increased by 10%”. The table shows 20% last year and 30% this year, with the same denominator definition. The thread practises correcting the wording without turning a numerical disagreement into a personal criticism.
- J’ai écrit : « Le taux a augmenté de 10 %, de 20 % à 30 %. »I wrote: “The rate increased by 10%, from 20% to 30%.”
Identify the numerical issue precisely
- Pourquoi pas dix pour cent ?Why not ten per cent?
Explain the denominator of the relative change
- Je préfère une formule courte pour le public.I’d prefer a short wording for the audience.
Propose an accessible replacement
Check that the rate itself has the same definition
The corrected sentence still relies on a consistent rate definition. If one year counts all invitees and the other only registered members, the denominators differ. Ask le taux est-il calculé selon la même définition ? before attributing the difference to participation change. Correct arithmetic cannot repair mismatched populations.
Je propose de remplacer « 10 % » par « dix points », pour distinguer l’écart de la variation relative.
I suggest replacing “10%” with “ten points” to distinguish the gap from the relative change.
A useful correction names the exact phrase, gives the calculation and offers wording ready to use. It avoids broad claims about the colleague’s competence. If the source itself uses the ambiguous wording, preserve the endpoints and explain the interpretation rather than silently inventing a different result.