English speakers ! Do you understand FRENCH ?
<<Candy, what do you call filet mignon then? Because a filet and filet mignon are not the same thing so I can't imagine "fillet" encompassing both. >>
Hi Tiffany. To be honest, I'm not sure what we call filet mignon, because I don't really know what it is! (I've just looked in my dictionary, and it's not in). I'm just reminded of an episode of 'Fawlty Towers' where an American guest orders it, and Basil doesn't understand it. I think it's translated (in the episode) simply as 'steak'. Sorry to be unhelpful! My dictionary says: "fillet: boneless piece of meat from near the loins or ribs of an animal, boned side of a fish. Origin: Old French 'filet', thread".
Candy, I dont' see the English slaughtering of French as an evil conspiracy, LOL from here too, but more as a busting balls, jokey kind of thing. I had no idea filet or fillet was an English word.
"it's a lot easier for British people to give words an English pronunciation rather than a French one . . ."
I wonder why Americans seem to have less trouble with French words, since, as the world knows Americans of late seem to be intent on loathing the French to the point of calling French fries, "freedom fries" of all the ludicrous things. I suppose French kissing has become "freedom kissing" too. Not very romantic. Maybe it's just the melting pot thing and of course we border Canada and New Orleans :).
"For instance the French and Americans pronounce filet, "fil-lay" while the Brits pronounce it phoenetically as filet"
Again, the Brits have it right.
We adopted "filet" into English, so we pronounce in an English way. Just like the town in Hampshire, formed by the Normans, called Beaulieu, is pronounced "bewly."
The French word for "shampoo" is "shampooing" taken from English. But the French have Frenchified it pronounciation into "shampwan."
Oh right, so we'll ignore the fact that Candy just stated that you all pronounce "buffet" as "buff-ay" not "buff-et". Good one Adam.
I'm beginning to catch on Adam. The Brits are always right!
Actually I learned a lot of British from my Irish grandmother. For instance, in my grandmother's flat, which Americans call an apartment, I called a can of soup a tin of soup. You might say I'm biligual.
<<Candy, I dont' see the English slaughtering of French as an evil conspiracy, LOL from here too, but more as a busting balls, jokey kind of thing. I had no idea filet or fillet was an English word.>>
Just my usual tetchy over-reacting, Terry! :-) I know that a lot of British people murder French words - it makes me wince (I'm not that great at pronouncing French myself, but really!)
<<The Brits are always right!>>
Now you've got it!! :-)
"The Brits are always right!" - Terry
"Now you've got it!" - Candy
LOL, Candy. The Americans, or whatever we should call ourselves, seem to be afflicted with the same disease. Perhaps we all (humans, I mean, are.)
An average English speaker probably wouldn't understand French all that well....besides stuff like "c'est moi; c'est la vie."
I, personally, know French because my father is French-Canadian and made sure that I knew it.
Why would i learn such a useless language? Seriously, I'd rather learn Icelandic before French.
you know being a filipino i must be really proud.. i can proudly say that im really good in oral and written english, i can count in mandarine coz i studied mandarine during college, i can speak few korean words like " sarang he", "anyong haseo" and some more ( dont know the spelling heheh) coz im an english tutor to koreans.
I can understand spanish language and actually in our daily lives we filipinos use spanish terms. we count " uno, dos, tres, quatro, sinco,......" esp. those old people here in the phil.
about french language.. im also interested learning it. being able to speak or understand languages aside from ur own is a big big advantage.
<<Why would i learn such a useless language? Seriously, I'd rather learn Icelandic before French.>>
Smellmyfart, (what a fucking stupid name, dear God),let it be known that before World War II, French was considered the international language, particularly in such fields as diplomacy, trade, and transportation. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, France was the leading power of continental Europe; thanks to this, together with the influence of the Enlightenment, French was the lingua franca of educated Europe, especially with regards to the arts, literature, and diplomacy; monarchs like Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia could both speak and write in French.
Being spoken by about 67 million people as a mother tongue, and altogether by some 128 million francophones, which includes second-language speakers who use French for daily communication, being official language in 29 countries and in the United Nations... FRENCH IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT AND MOST BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN THE WORLD (Maybe bettern than Spanish, hehehe).
Saying French is useless is so far, the most stupid thing I could ever imagined. Even though I don't speak French myself, I would like to learn this important, beautiful and romantic brother of my language Spanish.
And you, smellmyfart, are just the only person in the world stupid enough to say French is useless, go kill yourself, idiot.
>>And you, smellmyfart, are just the only person in the world stupid enough to say French is useless, go kill yourself, idiot.<<
Some other peeple speak ill of French. Why? Do they hate it because they were forced to lern it?
<<Smellmyfart, (what a fucking stupid name, dear God),let it be known that before World War II, French was considered the international language, particularly in such fields as diplomacy, trade, and transportation. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, France was the leading power of continental Europe; thanks to this, together with the influence of the Enlightenment, French was the lingua franca of educated Europe, especially with regards to the arts, literature, and diplomacy; monarchs like Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia could both speak and write in French.
Being spoken by about 67 million people as a mother tongue, and altogether by some 128 million francophones, which includes second-language speakers who use French for daily communication, being official language in 29 countries and in the United Nations... FRENCH IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT AND MOST BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN THE WORLD (Maybe bettern than Spanish, hehehe).
Saying French is useless is so far, the most stupid thing I could ever imagined. Even though I don't speak French myself, I would like to learn this important, beautiful and romantic brother of my language Spanish.
And you, smellmyfart, are just the only person in the world stupid enough to say French is useless, go kill yourself, idiot.>>
You just made my point numbnuts, you are living in the past, why don't you join the rest of us in the 21 century.
I applaud your useless efforts in learning such a hideous language, good luck.
yours truly pepelepeu
i speak French and Russian too