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81 months ago

Kate (a guest user) asked this question:

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81 months ago

   wrote:

Educated. Well-read.

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81 months ago

   wrote:

"Well-read" is only one to the two meanings of "lettré" in the French-speaking world. The old meaning, "knows how to read (and write)", has been lost in France, but is still used in other French-speaking countries like Belgium and Mali. Old and new meanings: http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/lettr%C3%A9 Old meaning still used in Belgium for example: https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/lettr%C3%A9 In this context, it is just "knows how to read and write", i.e. "literate". See https://www.wordreference.com/fren/lettr%C3%A9 and https://www.wordreference.com/enfr/literate You'll notice that the English word that resembles "lettré", "literate", has ALSO kept the old meaning of "lettré" (i.e. "knows how to read")!

81 months ago

   wrote:

she/he is literate

My comment:

Knows how to read and write.

My references:

Larousse Advanced French/English Dictionary

Ex: il est lettré=he can read and write

Comments by other colleagues on this answer:

81 months ago

Claude Le Frapper   wrote:

With what we have in context, this seems to be the solution.

81 months ago

Claude Le Frapper   wrote:

Yes, in this case "lettré" means "knows how to read and write" and not "cultivé / érudit". "Lettré" has a double meaning in French, so it all depends on the context. See https://www.wordreference.com/enfr/literate and https://www.wordreference.com/fren/lettr%C3%A9 and the double definition of "lettré" (qui sait lire / qui a des lettres): http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/lettr%C3%A9 Let's note that Larousse ignores the sense of "knows how to read and write": https://larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/lettr%c3%a9_adj_et_n/46800?q=lettr%c3%a9#46721 And that Wiktionary considers that the latter is a "Belgian" meaning: https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/lettr%C3%A9 So it was the old, traditional meaning, which is being lost in French for France, but which still exists in French for other countries like Belgium, Mali, etc. The translation of the full line is: "Level of education: literate" or "Level of education: knows how to read and write". So you have to remember that in English, "literate" has kept the OLD meaning of "lettré" in French: "who knows how to read (and write)". And that this old French meaning is still used in (at least some) French-speaking countries outside France.

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