"log in" or "log on" to a Web site in French

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Permalink Reply by Marc Vonhalmen on July 15, 2009 at 6:05pm

Hi,

to log in = ouvrir une session OR s'identifier OR se connecter
(ouvrir une session sur le site, s'identifier sur le site, se connecter au site)
to log off = fermer (or clore, as you said) une session OR se déconnecter
to sign up OR to register = créer une session OR créer un compte OR créer un compte utilisateur

(these are the most usual translations, imo)

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Permalink Reply by Melanie Radkiewicz on July 15, 2009 at 7:35pm

Thanks for your help!

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on July 15, 2009 at 8:39pm

Incidentally, for some users (maybe more technical users), there's a slight difference implied by log on vs log in.

When you log in, that implies that you'll be entering identification details, so arguably closer to ouvrir une session, s'identifier. When you log on, you're possibly just "connecting", using pre-entered credentials (e.g. when you connect to the Internet). Obviously, I dare say not all users make this distinction all of the time, either in French or English.

For sign up/register, you could also add s'abonner, s'inscrire to the list-- these do seem to be used reasonably frequently in the Internet sense too.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on July 20, 2009 at 1:12am

Ironically, people (tech people, but it's going mainstream) also tend to say "se logguer". You're unlikely to find this verb in a dictionary, as it's a bastardization of the English verb, but it's quite common, both in spoken and in written French.

"Tu dois te logguer sur le site web"
"Je me suis loggué sur MSN"
"Il faut que tu te loggues sur ce blog pour pouvoir poster"

And using the English word "login" intead of "identifiant" is also very common nowadays.

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