How to interpret "faire" + activities

Question

We use "faire" for sports and activities. The exact meaning of these phrases isn't 100% clear to me. When you see a sentence that goes:

Elle fait du judo.

Does this sentence mean only that she practices judo regularly, or is it equally possible for this to mean that she's doing that right now? As in "Que fais-tu?" "Je fais du judo."

Could it also mean that she's a professional judo player?

Another example:

Elle fait de la programmation.

This can be maybe interpreted in three ways:

She practices programming regularly. She is a programmer, that is her profession. She is doing that right now.

Are all these supposed interpretations correct and are they all equally possible or is maybe one of them "default" and the other ones depend on context? When a native speaker hears something like "Je fais de la programmation." what is his or her immediate understanding?

Answer 1

The context usually tells what elle fait du judo means, e.g.:

– Elle est où ? Elle fait quoi, en ce moment ?
– Elle fait du judo. (she's doing it right now)

– Elle fait quoi le samedi ?
– Elle fait du judo. (she practices judo on Saturdays)

– Elle est sportive ?
– Elle fait du judo. (she practices judo)

– Elle fait quoi dans la vie ?
– Elle fait du judo. (still ambiguous, might be her job or her passion)

I usually hear (or say) Je fais du développement instead of Je fais de la programmation but in either case, that would be primarily understood as something done professionally. Another way to say it would be je programme (similar to je fais du judo regarding to the possible meanings) or j'écris des programmes (unlikely to be "right now" because you rarely write more than one program at the same time).

Note that this issue is not restricted to faire + activities but to all situations where French simply uses the présent tense while English has to choose between simple present and present progressive. We have a way to express present progressive but this is rarely done, e.g.:

– Pourquoi elle ne répond pas au téléphone ?
– Parce qu'elle est en train de faire du judo.

See What does “en train” mean?

Answer 2

Yes, faire is used for sports and activities (usually with de + l'article défini), and like most verbs in the present tense, the translation of « Je fais du judo » or « Je fais de la natation » in English can be expressed generally in three ways:

• What you do regularly, like a hobby: I do judo. I swim.
• What you're doing right now (if it's not clear): I am doing judo. I am swimming.
• For emphasis: I do practice judo. I do swim.

It does depend on context. For jobs and professions, it's more clear than with sports, like your example with Je fais de la programmation, I would interpret that as your job if you were introducing yourself.