more: savon bord bifteck troupe vanner trot trompette trot trace tonne<Eng> toupet|toupie tomber tricot tampon stop<Eng> stock<Eng> halte lippe bacon lessive leurre trust<Eng> guise guide grommeler guichet guepe griffe grappe gratter galant galop fanion fard ecot ecran drague diguer drave<Eng> drogue debauche croquet flanc flacon soupe pot plaque pique bouton brique brosse bride breche<Eng> broder bordel bout bourg bouquin berger hanche attrape raid<Eng>
French one of the most touched languages by English?!
I am French, and teaches English in France
I've been reading your thread about the amount of French-rooted words in English, be they literary or daily spoken ones.
I'm no specialist in that field, but there must be a rather definite answer if one would only bother to have a serious look a the latest studies on the matter. And Henriette is not the only one (you should try and get the worthy works of the French linguist Alain Ray who usually helps in the edting of the new versions of Le Robert (thee reference for French monomilgual dictionaries); he 'sjust released a "cultural dictionary" not only studying the origins of French words but also their evolution in time according to cultural influences: "un must" !)
But my fisrt purpose here was to tell Adam (? or was it someone else?The quote: "Academie Francaise, worried about the amount of English words creeping into the French language, invented the word "un aeroglisseur " to mean "a hovercraft." However, the average French person calls it "un overcraft."
The French also use "e-mail", but the Academie Francaise wants it to be something stupid like "une lettre electonique". ) that I've never heard anyone, be they well or badly spoken, nor my pupils at school or at university use the word "overcraft" ! And as the word "aéroglisseur" is not much used because we don't depend on hovercraft (a cultural fact) in our daily lives, much less than the English who need to actually first get away from their island befoe getting anywhere "foreign", I should think that most of us end up saying in French "tu sais, ce truc qui glisse sur l'eau" before we remember the word "aéroglisseur" !
As for "mail", the recently made-up term "courriel" is catching on and the phrase "une lettre électronique" is and has never been used, but " adresse électonique" is, on a daily basis!
So please, ask French speakers about their language first before you assert nonsense.
Thanks !
I've been reading your thread about the amount of French-rooted words in English, be they literary or daily spoken ones.
I'm no specialist in that field, but there must be a rather definite answer if one would only bother to have a serious look a the latest studies on the matter. And Henriette is not the only one (you should try and get the worthy works of the French linguist Alain Ray who usually helps in the edting of the new versions of Le Robert (thee reference for French monomilgual dictionaries); he 'sjust released a "cultural dictionary" not only studying the origins of French words but also their evolution in time according to cultural influences: "un must" !)
But my fisrt purpose here was to tell Adam (? or was it someone else?The quote: "Academie Francaise, worried about the amount of English words creeping into the French language, invented the word "un aeroglisseur " to mean "a hovercraft." However, the average French person calls it "un overcraft."
The French also use "e-mail", but the Academie Francaise wants it to be something stupid like "une lettre electonique". ) that I've never heard anyone, be they well or badly spoken, nor my pupils at school or at university use the word "overcraft" ! And as the word "aéroglisseur" is not much used because we don't depend on hovercraft (a cultural fact) in our daily lives, much less than the English who need to actually first get away from their island befoe getting anywhere "foreign", I should think that most of us end up saying in French "tu sais, ce truc qui glisse sur l'eau" before we remember the word "aéroglisseur" !
As for "mail", the recently made-up term "courriel" is catching on and the phrase "une lettre électronique" is and has never been used, but " adresse électonique" is, on a daily basis!
So please, ask French speakers about their language first before you assert nonsense.
Thanks !
++I am French, and teaches English in France ++
Laughing out loud ... I can see why French people suck at English.
Laughing out loud ... I can see why French people suck at English.
"“Boat” does not come from Dutch, nor does “ship.” “Boat” comes from OE “bat,” (stated above), and “ship” comes from OE “scip.” Actually, both Dutch and German “Boot” come from—well, you guessed it—English. "
'Boat' and 'Ship' do not come from Dutch. But the dutch and German 'Boot' do not come from English either. Neither does 'Schiff' or '
Schip'. The word for boat in all 3 languages comes from Proto Germanic '*bait-' and the word for ship comes from Proto Germanic '*skipan'. They all came from the same root. As for 'gourmet' it comes from Oold English 'Guma' the same root as the English word 'Groom' as in bridegroom.
'Boat' and 'Ship' do not come from Dutch. But the dutch and German 'Boot' do not come from English either. Neither does 'Schiff' or '
Schip'. The word for boat in all 3 languages comes from Proto Germanic '*bait-' and the word for ship comes from Proto Germanic '*skipan'. They all came from the same root. As for 'gourmet' it comes from Oold English 'Guma' the same root as the English word 'Groom' as in bridegroom.
> Personally I think language similarities should be based on comprehension. I don't care if lexically English is closer to the Germanic language family it is not intelligable to any Germanic language so to me the germanic languages are distant to me.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Scientific classification of all things that develop through a process of evolution takes place according to ancestry, whether one is classifying languages, plants or animals.
As for English and other germanic languages not being intelligable to each other, I would not agree at all. Take these Afrikaans phrases for example: -
Wat is jou naam? (What is your name)
My naam is Ed (My name is Ed)
Hoe laat is dit? (What is the time? But literally 'How late is it?)
Ek het 'n groen boek (I have a green book)
Jou vingers is koud (your fingers are cold)
Hy is siek (I am sick)
My huis is wit (My house is white)
Die kat is bruin (The cat is brown)
Haar arm is warm (Her arm is warm)
Ek drink water (I drink water)
Sy breek haar enkel (She breaks her ankle)
My pen is in my warm hand (My pen is in my warm hand - yes it is exactly the same)
Notice most or all of the words are common everyday words not literary words and the words that give context like 'is/am/are' 'you', 'she', 'her', 'he', 'it' show a hight degree of similarity. If we look at French we can often recognise words, usually words that are not so common, but the context is far less intelligible.
If I write the first line of the famous South African traditional song 'Sarie Marais' one can probably tell what it means if one is an English speaker without having any prior knowledge of the the Afrikaans language simply because the languages are related: -
My Sarie Marais is so ver van my hart
Nothing could be further from the truth. Scientific classification of all things that develop through a process of evolution takes place according to ancestry, whether one is classifying languages, plants or animals.
As for English and other germanic languages not being intelligable to each other, I would not agree at all. Take these Afrikaans phrases for example: -
Wat is jou naam? (What is your name)
My naam is Ed (My name is Ed)
Hoe laat is dit? (What is the time? But literally 'How late is it?)
Ek het 'n groen boek (I have a green book)
Jou vingers is koud (your fingers are cold)
Hy is siek (I am sick)
My huis is wit (My house is white)
Die kat is bruin (The cat is brown)
Haar arm is warm (Her arm is warm)
Ek drink water (I drink water)
Sy breek haar enkel (She breaks her ankle)
My pen is in my warm hand (My pen is in my warm hand - yes it is exactly the same)
Notice most or all of the words are common everyday words not literary words and the words that give context like 'is/am/are' 'you', 'she', 'her', 'he', 'it' show a hight degree of similarity. If we look at French we can often recognise words, usually words that are not so common, but the context is far less intelligible.
If I write the first line of the famous South African traditional song 'Sarie Marais' one can probably tell what it means if one is an English speaker without having any prior knowledge of the the Afrikaans language simply because the languages are related: -
My Sarie Marais is so ver van my hart
If the French are worried about their language being polluted with anglicisms why do they not come up with their own words or calque the English terms?
Afrikaans has turned 'e-mail' into 'e-pos', which is a direct translation. What about 'e-lettre'?
Weekend is 'naweek'
Other terms are calqued (loan-translated) such as 'sleutelbord' (keyboard) or made to look and sound Afrikaans like 'sellfoon' (cell phone/mobile phone) or a new word is invented such as 'toebroodjie' (literally 'little closed bread') for sandwich.
Afrikaans has turned 'e-mail' into 'e-pos', which is a direct translation. What about 'e-lettre'?
Weekend is 'naweek'
Other terms are calqued (loan-translated) such as 'sleutelbord' (keyboard) or made to look and sound Afrikaans like 'sellfoon' (cell phone/mobile phone) or a new word is invented such as 'toebroodjie' (literally 'little closed bread') for sandwich.
"“Boat” does not come from Dutch, nor does “ship.” “Boat” comes from OE “bat,” (stated above), and “ship” comes from OE “scip.” Actually, both Dutch and German “Boot” come from—well, you guessed it—English. "
'Boat' and 'Ship' do not come from Dutch. But the dutch and German 'Boot' do not come from English either. Neither does 'Schiff' or '
Schip'. The word for boat in all 3 languages comes from Proto Germanic '*bait-' and the word for ship comes from Proto Germanic '*skipan'. They all came from the same root.
>Dutch and German "Boot" do originate from the English word. Had the germanic root *bait- survived in Dutch & German, we would have "*beet" & "*Beiss" respectively, not Boot. Boot is English.
Words for ship (schip & Schiff) are native, yes.
'Boat' and 'Ship' do not come from Dutch. But the dutch and German 'Boot' do not come from English either. Neither does 'Schiff' or '
Schip'. The word for boat in all 3 languages comes from Proto Germanic '*bait-' and the word for ship comes from Proto Germanic '*skipan'. They all came from the same root.
>Dutch and German "Boot" do originate from the English word. Had the germanic root *bait- survived in Dutch & German, we would have "*beet" & "*Beiss" respectively, not Boot. Boot is English.
Words for ship (schip & Schiff) are native, yes.
Ed : « Afrikaans has turned 'e-mail' into 'e-pos', which is a direct translation. What about 'e-lettre'? »
Inutile. Il y a déjà « courriel ».
Inutile. Il y a déjà « courriel ».
"Wat is jou naam? (What is your name)
My naam is Ed (My name is Ed)
Hoe laat is dit? (What is the time? But literally 'How late is it?)
Ek het 'n groen boek (I have a green book)
Jou vingers is koud (your fingers are cold)
Hy is siek (I am sick)
My huis is wit (My house is white)
Die kat is bruin (The cat is brown)
Haar arm is warm (Her arm is warm)
Ek drink water (I drink water)
Sy breek haar enkel (She breaks her ankle)
My pen is in my warm hand (My pen is in my warm hand - yes it is exactly the same) "
That's because Dutch is the closest major language to English. Frisian is the closest. It's just like French and Spanish. A few days ago, I notice on the back of a shampoo bottle, which had instructions in English and Dutch, that "yourself" in Dutch is "uzelf."
When I was in Italy, a woman told me that when she sees English and Dutch written down, to her they look similar, although they sound very different when spoken.
My naam is Ed (My name is Ed)
Hoe laat is dit? (What is the time? But literally 'How late is it?)
Ek het 'n groen boek (I have a green book)
Jou vingers is koud (your fingers are cold)
Hy is siek (I am sick)
My huis is wit (My house is white)
Die kat is bruin (The cat is brown)
Haar arm is warm (Her arm is warm)
Ek drink water (I drink water)
Sy breek haar enkel (She breaks her ankle)
My pen is in my warm hand (My pen is in my warm hand - yes it is exactly the same) "
That's because Dutch is the closest major language to English. Frisian is the closest. It's just like French and Spanish. A few days ago, I notice on the back of a shampoo bottle, which had instructions in English and Dutch, that "yourself" in Dutch is "uzelf."
When I was in Italy, a woman told me that when she sees English and Dutch written down, to her they look similar, although they sound very different when spoken.
BNP (*British* *National* *Party*) : « The French stole our words. »
C'est une plaisanterie ?
C'est une plaisanterie ?
Isn't "le weekend" a generally accepted term for the weekend in France?
What could be nicer than "le weekend" in La Belle Paris?
What could be nicer than "le weekend" in La Belle Paris?
I've read a lot of Afrikaans, and most of it was unintelligible to me. Yes, there are plenty of cognates, and you've managed to pick out a list of simple sentences that contain some, but that doesn't mean that an English-speaker would get through a conversation in Afrikaans.
One reason why there are not many English words, becauxe those words are forbidden to use.
Frech language autority is the only institution inthe world filled with narrow minded people, xenophobia, anglophobia and exclusive..
Frech language autority is the only institution inthe world filled with narrow minded people, xenophobia, anglophobia and exclusive..