Is English just badly pronounced French?

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  • Опубліковано 24 лис 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 10 тис.

  • @RobWords
    @RobWords  8 місяців тому +579

    Are we speaking more French than you thought? Let me know below. And join the Lingoda Language Sprint to let your language skills bloom this spring. Click my link and use my code ROBWORDS20 for 20€ off! try.lingoda.com/RobWords20

    • @efretheim
      @efretheim 8 місяців тому +25

      English is Frisian baked together with Norwegian, then given a French frosting.

    • @CAP198462
      @CAP198462 8 місяців тому +26

      French does have a certain je ne c’est quoi.

    • @davidsturm7706
      @davidsturm7706 8 місяців тому +4

      Very doubleplus real!

    • @philipcurnow7990
      @philipcurnow7990 8 місяців тому +2

      More Lingoda less Duolingo. Spot on. I recommend it as well.

    • @mortitiaadams5545
      @mortitiaadams5545 8 місяців тому +12

      English is indeed bad German... 🙃🙃🙃

  • @knightrider585
    @knightrider585 7 місяців тому +7442

    A Frenchman saying the English should be grateful to France for English's popularity is one of the most French things I have heard in a while.

    • @MHDebidour
      @MHDebidour 7 місяців тому +244

      Oui ^^

    • @merc340sr
      @merc340sr 7 місяців тому +159

      Too funny! You're VERY British! ...loll...

    • @Thomas-uu9ex
      @Thomas-uu9ex 7 місяців тому +100

      So British ! 😊

    • @harpo345
      @harpo345 7 місяців тому +129

      @@merc340sr And the French should be grateful for all the English words we've generously given them.

    • @Inconnu-z8w
      @Inconnu-z8w 7 місяців тому

      Remember how many we given to you... ​@@harpo345

  • @JimFortune
    @JimFortune 8 місяців тому +14599

    Isn't French just poorly pronounced Latin?

    • @GreenGibbon
      @GreenGibbon 8 місяців тому +315

      Ha ha! 😄

    • @JeanChordeiles
      @JeanChordeiles 8 місяців тому +972

      It is ! Absolutely !
      (I'm French)

    • @CelestinWIDMER
      @CelestinWIDMER 8 місяців тому +2190

      according to French linguists, French is actually better pronounced Latin.

    • @radadadadee
      @radadadadee 8 місяців тому +311

      ha ha! touché

    • @CyprienArmand
      @CyprienArmand 8 місяців тому +492

      French is actually Parisian that all other French people mispronounce, but I'm no linguist.

  • @sailormatlac9114
    @sailormatlac9114 6 місяців тому +1198

    Being a native French speaker, I found it quite easy to read English after I got the basics back in elementary school. It was like starting to learn a new language but already knowing half the vocabulary.

    • @lizsalazar7931
      @lizsalazar7931 6 місяців тому +66

      French also has a lot of Frankish words! These words entered English like “ afraid” “ regret “ “ touch “ so not all French words in English are of Latin origin but Germanic 👏

    • @jtotheb-ip2hh
      @jtotheb-ip2hh 5 місяців тому +3

      that's about how I felt taking Koine Greek in seminary. it was a little too easy sometimes because the roots were so familiar. :-)

    • @lizsalazar7931
      @lizsalazar7931 5 місяців тому +8

      @@jtotheb-ip2hh French has Germanic words too

    • @Elchampolinbellacado
      @Elchampolinbellacado 5 місяців тому +16

      @@lizsalazar7931almost all of the Latin languages have Germanic influence and vice versa

    • @lizsalazar7931
      @lizsalazar7931 5 місяців тому +6

      @@Elchampolinbellacado French has more

  • @Chach2809
    @Chach2809 4 місяці тому +163

    I am a french english teacher, and i am a huge nerd for this type of videos. Why am I only discovering your channel now? I'm subscribing right away!

    • @RobWords
      @RobWords  4 місяці тому +11

      Yay, welcome aboard!

    • @akarna69
      @akarna69 2 місяці тому +8

      So sorry for your situation, being French, I mean. 😂

    • @deadlyknights1119
      @deadlyknights1119 2 місяці тому +1

      @@akarna69Hey, at least the French have the highly misundetstood Napoleon that they can still give praise to. Unlike Germany.

    • @geronimocochise2033
      @geronimocochise2033 2 місяці тому

      A French person who teaches English or an English person who teaches French?😉

    • @olafjerome
      @olafjerome 2 місяці тому +3

      @@geronimocochise2033 😅Everyone, I think, will have understood that she is an English teacher of French nationality!

  • @douglasstemke2444
    @douglasstemke2444 8 місяців тому +3426

    French was my worst class in grade school. Now, thanks to this little piece, I can now say that I am fluent in bad French. Merci!

    • @user-aero68
      @user-aero68 8 місяців тому +80

      Maladroitly pronounced French - even better!

    • @jayhache5609
      @jayhache5609 8 місяців тому +50

      @@user-aero68Français prononcé maladroitement! Même meilleur! ; )

    • @tygrkhat4087
      @tygrkhat4087 8 місяців тому +70

      I studied German for many years through high school and college. In college, I took a semester of French, just as a change of pace. My teacher told me I spoke French like a German. I don't think it was a compliment.

    • @AlbertaGeek
      @AlbertaGeek 8 місяців тому +44

      @@tygrkhat4087 _"My teacher told me I spoke French like a German"_
      ...Like you were invading it?

    • @Runedragonx
      @Runedragonx 8 місяців тому +16

      @@AlbertaGeek Oh no...

  • @juanitadudley4788
    @juanitadudley4788 7 місяців тому +606

    Fun fact: American Sign Language is more similar to French Sign Language than spoken English, because it was directly derived from French Sign Language. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (yes the guy Gallaudet University is named after) went to Europe to learn to teach deaf students. He actually went to a school in England first, but left because they wanted him to stay for a while. That was important, because they taught deaf people to speak and speechread and not sign. He visited other nations and eventually ended up in France. They used sign language. Eager to get back, he brought back a teacher named Laurent Clerc and they established the first permanent school for the deaf in the US. It has changed names and locations a few times, but still exists. They bought over French Sign Language, which has obviously been altered and is the basis for ASL. His son, Edward Miner Gallaudet, was the first president of what we know today as Gallaudet University.

    • @Ryxem34
      @Ryxem34 7 місяців тому +17

      @@nonnayobiznus573 Well. no.

    • @professeurjumeau8410
      @professeurjumeau8410 7 місяців тому +15

      And then France started to fight against FSL, because political power was uneasy with an alternative language inside the french republic. FSL was forbidden, even by doctors and specialists who claimed that Sign Language was too "animal". If you can read french, you can read "Le cri de la Mouette", an autobiography of a french actress, that shows how hard it was to be deaf in France before the 80's...

    • @antoine4419
      @antoine4419 7 місяців тому

      C'est incroyable d'entendre ca de la part des gens du XXe quand tu sais que le language des signes est né dans les monastères francais sous la période Carolingienne.
      ​@@professeurjumeau8410

    • @rayzimmerman6740
      @rayzimmerman6740 7 місяців тому +3

      trivia - trust the Americans to conjure a phrase - a poor alliteration, for an accurate word!! "Fun fact" (followed by a dismissive snort)

    • @baneofbanes
      @baneofbanes 7 місяців тому

      @@rayzimmerman6740k

  • @andred728
    @andred728 7 місяців тому +474

    Peu importe le langage, qu'il est plaisant d'écouter des propos lorsqu'ils sont exprimés avec autant de clarté et d'intelligence ! Félicitations

    • @hugokana6425
      @hugokana6425 7 місяців тому +98

      No matter the language (fr) , it's a pleasure (fr) to listen to ideas (fr) expressed (fr) with such clarity (fr) and intelligence (fr) ! Congratulations (fr / latin)

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +7

      And english is romanic creole as french your founding normative father 😅😅😅😅

    • @mariekuijkenhistoricallyaw2598
      @mariekuijkenhistoricallyaw2598 7 місяців тому +4

      ​@@hugokana6425😂🎉

    • @gabrielbalbec883
      @gabrielbalbec883 7 місяців тому +30

      Voilà des propos tenus dans un français fort élégant, ce qui ne gâche rien.

    • @BernhardSchwarz-xs8kp
      @BernhardSchwarz-xs8kp 7 місяців тому +3

      Wow - an Irish dude speaking fluently French.

  • @donnut_assortie3624
    @donnut_assortie3624 4 місяці тому +77

    As a frenchman I really enjoyed this video and nowadays, we use a lot of English words in French everyday and it's funny to think that the english words we're taking and using are sometimes old French words
    Thanks for this video which learnt me a lot about my own language and about english wich is going to help me in my learning of English

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 3 місяці тому +5

      🥰🤙✌🤞🤞💛💙💙❤🍷🍷

    • @evefischer6503
      @evefischer6503 Місяць тому +1

      Great video but did anyone else notice the strange demon/ghost figures(s) in the woods behind Rob?!😮

    • @gamataya9080
      @gamataya9080 Місяць тому +3

      @@evefischer6503demon hehe Another French word 👀

    • @Artcore103
      @Artcore103 10 днів тому

      we would say "taught me a lot" not "learnt me a lot", that's an interesting quirk to notice in your use of English. Learn (or learned, not learnt) is used of the one doing the learning, whereas the thing or person who causes learning, is teaching (hence taught). you learned what the video taught.

  • @andeeanko7079
    @andeeanko7079 8 місяців тому +624

    It absolutely blows my mind how complex this whole tapestry of the English language is! Thank you Rob for unravelling a bit of it so we can better understand it!

    • @RobWords
      @RobWords  8 місяців тому +64

      My pleasure

    • @samroberts7404
      @samroberts7404 7 місяців тому +12

      If you want to go a bit more in depth on the journey English has taken to get to where we are, you should also give Simon Roper a look (sorry rob). He's more in to the linguistics than the etymology, but it is fascinating...

    • @mitchblank
      @mitchblank 7 місяців тому +13

      @@RobWords I think you'll find it's pronounced "plaisir"

    • @embreis2257
      @embreis2257 7 місяців тому +14

      we are all neighbours in Europe. quite a lot of the French words in English Rob attributed to the Normans, Angevins and their influence can be found in German as well. you can find Germanic words in French too. ofc, Rob has a point and English seems to be the most affected

    • @volebonin
      @volebonin 7 місяців тому +7

      ​@@embreis2257 There are so many Serbian words in english language.
      Sir = cheese in Serbian
      Drug = friend
      So = salt
      Police = shelves
      Sat = clock
      look ( luk ) = onion
      luck ( lak ) = easy
      luck at ( lakat ) = elbow
      To = that
      Do = to
      Sun ( san ) = dream
      Much ( mac ) = sword
      Boss ( bos ) = barefoot
      Sin = son
      Go = naked
      brat = brother
      On = he
      Sad = now
      Pet = five
      Most = bridge

  • @TheClintonio
    @TheClintonio 8 місяців тому +1020

    English recently added katsu, a Japanese word to the dictionary and it refers to a cutlet (katsu curry = cutlet curry). The irony is both the word katsu AND the dish itself were given to the Japanese by the British.
    Katsu, aka カツ was originally katsuretsu/ カツレツ from the English "cutlet". The curry dish itself was introduced by our sailors to the Japanese who took it and made it a local cuisine. It's no wonder katsu curry rose in popularity in the UK so fast over the last decade.
    So just like the French reimporting their old words from English we have done that with Japanese once, and given how distant the two languages and places are I find it more interesting.

    • @MézigueMénilmontant
      @MézigueMénilmontant 8 місяців тому +255

      And "cutlet" comes from the French word "côtelette", meaning "little rib". Coming full circle!

    • @BillGreenAZ
      @BillGreenAZ 8 місяців тому +50

      It's amazing how curry has taken over the Japanese diet. It's now a more frequently eaten food than sushi or tempura.

    • @slook7094
      @slook7094 8 місяців тому +57

      We do the same with Japanese. コスプレイヤー (Cosplayer) has officially entered the English lexicon, which is based on the Japanese abbreviation for "costume player," or as we know it, "dressing up in a costume." It used to be restricted to just anime conventions as cosplaying your favorite character, but now it's reached beyond that and it can be dressing up as, say, your favorite rock star at a concert. Others include anime, drifting, karaoke ("oke" is short for orchestra), NEET, love hotel, lolicon, and salaryman.

    • @nnsqutr
      @nnsqutr 8 місяців тому +12

      I would have guessed cutlet would become "katoreto".
      I lived in London for a month in 2004 and loved katsu curry, but I haven't found it in the States. (I've never been to Japan.)

    • @TheClintonio
      @TheClintonio 7 місяців тому +25

      ​@@nnsqutrThe word entered Japanese some time ago and for reasons I don't yet understand the words that entered longer ago ended up sounding quite different to how modern Japanese would interpret them.

  • @Charred_Pickles
    @Charred_Pickles 6 місяців тому +472

    I love how both the words "state" and "estate" both come from the same french word.

    • @ReiKakariki
      @ReiKakariki 6 місяців тому +20

      It's the same word the difference is that english removed the first "e" and french preserved the first "e" of the term.
      State and estate is the same modificated word.
      🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

    • @TinoToro
      @TinoToro 6 місяців тому +10

      Actially from latin

    • @IeremiasMoore-El
      @IeremiasMoore-El 6 місяців тому +3

      estate is an English word also btw lol

    • @soumyajitsingha9614
      @soumyajitsingha9614 6 місяців тому

      English is part of Germanic language thank me later

    • @Arturo.H.M
      @Arturo.H.M 5 місяців тому +7

      Estado en español, es latín.

  • @PaleFireNat
    @PaleFireNat 3 місяці тому +19

    Learning German allowed me to read old English for literature classes, which is really neat!

    • @boxsterman77
      @boxsterman77 Місяць тому +1

      I can join you in that thrill.

    • @michaelkingsbury4305
      @michaelkingsbury4305 7 днів тому

      Me too. It wasn't that hard. Reading Tolkien at 12 sparked the interest.

  • @bricc9964
    @bricc9964 7 місяців тому +1333

    “The flesh-monger” sounds like some secret boss from a fantasy game, not someone you buy your lunch meat from.

    • @rmdodsonbills
      @rmdodsonbills 7 місяців тому +69

      It's certainly got some more ominous connotations :)

    • @Aspen7780
      @Aspen7780 7 місяців тому +35

      Sounds to me like a horror movie.

    • @jaidee9570
      @jaidee9570 7 місяців тому +35

      If you check out some of Rob's other video's you can learn the various types of Fleisch-monger. A white fleisch-monger, which could upset vegetarians everywhere, was a seller of vegetables.

    • @geminiblue6677
      @geminiblue6677 7 місяців тому +11

      Fresh meat !

    • @KPA78
      @KPA78 7 місяців тому +55

      yet 'fishmonger' is certainly still in use.

  • @garyblenkinsopp815
    @garyblenkinsopp815 7 місяців тому +168

    I like how enthusiastic he is. Clearly loves language. Can't fake it.

  • @lecontroleurdepeagetresdem7581
    @lecontroleurdepeagetresdem7581 7 місяців тому +420

    I also noticed that a majority of the words ending by « tion »
    Are the same in English and in French
    Obligation
    Formation
    Alliteration
    Aviation
    Civilisation
    Transformation
    Abolition
    Mécanisation
    Accélération
    Condition
    Fabrication
    Fonction
    Inscription
    Interdiction
    Invention
    Innovation
    Traduction
    Solution
    Émotion
    Discrétion

    • @xyzgerman94
      @xyzgerman94 7 місяців тому +37

      and a lot of them seems very well known for a german native speaker as well!

    • @rebeccaturkey7303
      @rebeccaturkey7303 7 місяців тому +78

      Most of the words that end in -tion, -cion, sion are derived from latin. German was influenced by Latin and English is ultimately a Germanic languag. French is a descendent of Latin, and English was influenced by French vocabulary. Words ending in -tion, sion, cion are often of the same or similar meaning across the three languages and across other Indo-European languages. Take the word communication and look it up in a translator for most Indo-European languages it is nearly the same word.

    • @jinlin8641
      @jinlin8641 7 місяців тому +20

      Yeah 1/3 of English vocab comes from old French. Somme words are juste the same and some are 1 letter different such as hospital is hôpital in French, in old French it was like English but modern French kicked one letter to put accent on the previous letter. Cream is crème in French, etc you got the idea (we say idée in French).

    • @EcoAku
      @EcoAku 7 місяців тому +8

      More strikingly*, almost all adverbs; same word as French but ending in "ly" instead of "ment"/"ement". But as they aren't mentioned in the video, I guess they derive directly from Latin.
      * : except this one, of course ^^

    • @lewiitoons4227
      @lewiitoons4227 7 місяців тому +2

      @@EcoAku not quite but almost, the romance suffic mente or ment comes from the latin epression claramente meaning with a clear mind and began to be used to modify the initial word into an adverb
      english done this but with the word lyke or ġelīċe in OE meaning "to be alike/to have the likeness of" so when we typically use it as a suffix it takes on the meaning of for example , clearly is "with a clear likeness" but it is a pretty good analougous rule to the romance languages

  • @Ecapsora
    @Ecapsora 3 місяці тому +83

    One of my favourite quotes is "English follows other languages into dark alleys, knocks them out, and rifles through thier pockets for spare vocabulary", as I feel it very accurately describes how easily the language absorbs new words.

    • @jamesby
      @jamesby Місяць тому +8

      sounds exatcly like the British Museum's way of doing things, btw.

    • @leesin666
      @leesin666 Місяць тому +2

      @@jamesby All stolen fair and square, finders keepers

    • @ecurewitz
      @ecurewitz Місяць тому

      It’s my word now

    • @SophieBonner-z1t
      @SophieBonner-z1t Місяць тому

      Small dog syndrome

    • @renastone9355
      @renastone9355 Місяць тому

      Fair enough...

  • @vinopacino2423
    @vinopacino2423 8 місяців тому +581

    Never knew 'chapman' meant 'merchant', but you can see the link to the German 'Kaufmann' there

    • @auldfouter8661
      @auldfouter8661 8 місяців тому +23

      " When chapman billies leave the street... " Burns in Tam O Shanter.

    • @viktor8552
      @viktor8552 8 місяців тому +71

      It’s köpman in swedish, exactly the same but a different vowel.

    • @treeaboo
      @treeaboo 8 місяців тому +69

      The 'chap' in 'chapman' is the origin of the modern English word 'cheap'.

    • @maythesciencebewithyou
      @maythesciencebewithyou 7 місяців тому +13

      As a German, I don't see the Kaufmann in Chapman. Only the man part obviously comes from Mann.

    • @vinopacino2423
      @vinopacino2423 7 місяців тому +81

      'Ch' in English is sometimes reflected by a 'k' in German, e.g. (chamber/Kammer) and 'p' is sometimes an 'f' (sleep/Schlaf) - I'm sure there are more examples. The clues are there.

  • @iPodGOTH
    @iPodGOTH 7 місяців тому +234

    As a french, I have always noticed that french people who are struggling with english very often use those english words with french origin, instead of the more english sounding words (sometimes even inventing words that in my opinion could have existed in english honhonhon 😂)
    Et merci pour la vidéo ❤

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +8

      😅😅😅😅strategy of trick player of celtic family 😅😅😅😅❤❤❤❤

    • @DoYouSeeBananaManTH
      @DoYouSeeBananaManTH 7 місяців тому +15

      For me i do the opposite, I use the French word similar to English (I’m learning french)

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +7

      It's sex and stilish charming and elevated this technique when a french buddy wanna love and care of english they use equal or similar french word or sentence and anglicize this word and sentence in english and the result of learning is obtained.
      When a english, irish, canadian, statenian buddy wanna learn french they do the inverse of frenches to love french's idiom, they take a english phrase or word, frenchified this sentence or word learn and love french for life.
      The relation of french and english it's like a railway road 🛣️🛣️🛣️ with double hand.💙🫂🆒♾️💎🌄🛣️🥂🍾🔤📐🍻.
      French and English are lovers and brothers in fact.
      In the same sentece and word English and French shares commons phonems and graphems too between them 🌎 deep intense relation.

    • @xavierkreiss8394
      @xavierkreiss8394 7 місяців тому +6

      Tout à fait! Ce Monsieur Rob est d'une érudition époustouflante.

    • @DSAhmed
      @DSAhmed 7 місяців тому +5

      And mercy to pour your video too.

  • @smarterray
    @smarterray 7 місяців тому +340

    Dammit Rob, you've done it again. Another video with nonstop information that I will try desperately to absorb and poorly retell at cocktail parties. Fact after fact. Another excellent video.

    • @RobWords
      @RobWords  7 місяців тому +21

      Why, thank you!

    • @SierraNovemberKilo
      @SierraNovemberKilo 7 місяців тому +1

      ​@@RobWords We understand your meaning here Rob, but could you unpack the "why!" before the "thank you". ? Thank you.

    • @OliverTwist-vv4xh
      @OliverTwist-vv4xh 7 місяців тому +1

      You sound fun

    • @jeandixon586
      @jeandixon586 7 місяців тому +3

      ​@@SierraNovemberKiloI'll skim the surface of your question by suggesting that the "why" here indicates modest surprise at an extravagant compliment - almost like asking why it's deserved.

    • @teesman61
      @teesman61 7 місяців тому +3

      Do cocktail parties actually exist?

  • @Emka112
    @Emka112 4 місяці тому +11

    As a French speaker who has learnt English, this video was very interesting. Really informative and your passion for the language is apparent.

  • @KevinRibelMusic
    @KevinRibelMusic 7 місяців тому +160

    As a French who lived for 3 years in Ireland and 8 years in the UK this is really interesting! Thanks for the quality content!

  • @goodevening.3422
    @goodevening.3422 6 місяців тому +138

    I’ve been learning French for over a year and I love finding words where I’m like “wait a minute, those are actually related. This is especially true when I read older books. For example in Oliver Twist: “She essayed to speak” is not something that is commonly used today.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 6 місяців тому +12

      Truly and true evidences of Romanicity of Normand English brother.

    • @_quelqu.un_7085
      @_quelqu.un_7085 5 місяців тому +29

      As a french speaker who learn english, I do the same lol. Basically all the english words with accents are french, but they confuse me because I don't know how to prononce them. Do I say them "right" with the french prononciation or do I try to say them with an english accent so people understand better ? Also funny how people (online) sometimes think I'm a native speaker because I use fancy words that most of english learners wouldn't know, while I actually fogot the causual word 😭

    • @cr10001
      @cr10001 3 місяці тому +3

      But watch out for 'faux amis' - words that have subtly different meanings in the two languages.
      For example I just found out that a polite request (in English) is a 'demande' in French - which doesn't sound nearly so polite to me! (Though apparently it is).

    • @ADN-tz4gq
      @ADN-tz4gq 3 місяці тому +1

      ​@@cr10001 😂😂😂 demand= demande, request= requête

  • @Mister_tchiki
    @Mister_tchiki 7 місяців тому +90

    As a frenchman, i just came across your video by chance and it was a real pleasure to learn all these stuff.

    • @CAMRA_GUY
      @CAMRA_GUY 6 місяців тому +3

      It wasn’t by “chance” it was by whatever French word “algorithm” derives from 😅😂❤

    • @bilsid
      @bilsid 6 місяців тому +3

      The algorithm recognized your vanity and suggested this video to you 😂

    • @okatanaje1477
      @okatanaje1477 6 місяців тому +2

      @@bilsid as a french kid ... that totaly true !

    • @channelforcommentingstuff4960
      @channelforcommentingstuff4960 2 місяці тому

      I particularly hated french when a kid learning it in elementary school. Oddly enough I can understand most french spoken to me, I can read french with a little effort. My native being PTBR, I have fluent EN and uncategorized fluency in Italian, Spanish is a jk for me yet I refuse to use their pronunciation due to it sounding like headache inducing bad PT

  • @Barril820
    @Barril820 7 місяців тому +170

    I don't comment on the main topic. Just want to say how good is this video. This is by far one of the best short video you regulary watch on UA-cam to learn something not getting bored.
    Congratulations from France to you sir. C'est rythmé, riche, intéressant, bien monté et votre voix est très agréable.
    I wish the french UA-camrs take exemple from you.

    • @cheriem432
      @cheriem432 7 місяців тому +5

      Et moi aussi.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +5

      More than frenches all world anglophone and non anglophone will follow this energy and truth❤❤❤❤

    • @thomaslacornette1282
      @thomaslacornette1282 7 місяців тому +3

      Yes excellent video. Strait to the point, entertaining and you learn things.

    • @Paddy-von-Sanchez
      @Paddy-von-Sanchez 7 місяців тому +7

      Yes. We take this for granted but we are getting extremely well conceived, beautifully produced, extensively researched content for free. This guy is great and his channel is the gold standard for informative UA-cam content. Thanks so much Rob.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +4

      True my bros and sis I agree with all of you.❤

  • @Yvagne
    @Yvagne 6 місяців тому +325

    En tant qu'un Asiatique, je suis fier de parler la langue française et qu'elle devient ma deuxième langue ou bien plus que ça. 🙂 Merci, la France. J''espère de vous revoir un jour ou bientôt!

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 6 місяців тому +8

      💋💋💋🌹🌹🥂🥂🥂

    • @nicolaasstempels8207
      @nicolaasstempels8207 5 місяців тому +9

      Yeah French is my second language too. Although in the area where I live I have little exposure. Only some Congolese doctors.
      Edit : I mainly to stick to my fourth language; English, or my fifth language which is my youngest children's mother tongue.

    • @elocinp9347
      @elocinp9347 5 місяців тому +7

      Merci infiniment Yvagne et bienvenue en France !!! ❤

    • @elocinp9347
      @elocinp9347 5 місяців тому

      @@nicolaasstempels8207 Parlez toutes vos langues avec vos enfants, vous leur ouvrirez beaucoup de portes pour leur futur ☺

    • @MariaAlverenga
      @MariaAlverenga 5 місяців тому +1

      Bravo 🎉 vous êtes à féliciter!

  • @Clemjason14
    @Clemjason14 7 місяців тому +86

    I am a Frenchman and I enjoyed your video a lot ! Thank you for all this useful pieces of information. I guess most of the people watching this video understood that the title of the Professor's book is indeed humourously provocative ! Very good job, and now I really want to read the book !

    • @ConfuSomu
      @ConfuSomu 25 днів тому

      Ça vaut la peine, c'est une lecture intéressante !

  • @BillSaltbush
    @BillSaltbush 4 місяці тому +6

    I'm late to this party, very late.
    For decades I have had a passing interest in language, but this has 'blown me away' - in a number of respects.
    What a remarkable young man who has clearly worked hard at attaining the knowledge in the subject of which he speaks. Very well presented too. I enjoyed every second of it.
    There was always an underlying something, within me, that urged me to learn French or even German. I did not respond to that urge.
    Now, into my eighth decade, I fear it's a little too much to take on. Maybe I should simply console myself in appreciating the array of French wines I'm currently enjoying.
    Well done and thank you for the entertainment enriching. Did you see what I did there? 😃

  • @z9944x
    @z9944x 7 місяців тому +15

    Je suis Franco-Canadien , Québécois
    I want to thanks all 3 "Germanics,English,French" equally and the reason why is because I LOVE my VW Golf8R and because when i open the "User Manual" i can read no matter if French or English side the instructions show up ! ! 🤣😉

  • @stevenwarne69
    @stevenwarne69 7 місяців тому +1489

    everything is just badly pronounced caveman grunts

    • @supernate223
      @supernate223 6 місяців тому +105

      Caveman grunts are just poorly understood atom farts

    • @virtualatheist
      @virtualatheist 6 місяців тому +17

      better pronounced caveman grunts surely ;-)

    • @lisaedmondson780
      @lisaedmondson780 6 місяців тому +5

      😆

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 6 місяців тому +5

      😂😂😂😂

    • @Batmannerz
      @Batmannerz 6 місяців тому +6

      @@virtualatheist Found the French caveman.

  • @christianhohenstein1422
    @christianhohenstein1422 7 місяців тому +113

    There are a lot of words you presented as French origin we use here in Germany, too. Just made me realize that we may have adapted much more words from French or Latin than I thought.

    • @Tenvalmestr
      @Tenvalmestr 7 місяців тому +24

      If I am not mistaken, French (and Latin before that) were both lingua franca in Europe for a very long time. Some people for the high nobility used a bit of French during the middle age, and many went fluent in french during 17th/18th century, especially with the enlightenment.
      I think the french Revolution and the Napoleonic wars weakened the influence of French on the continent by destroying the old feudal system, and waking up nationalism. France beneficiated from the early centralization of its power. It was easier for them to influence a lot of smaller principalities as those in the HRE. And I don't think war between France and the whole European continent is the reason, because Louis XIV had multiple wars (and even very brutal wars with the German princes), and still french was very influential during and after that.
      But maybe I am wrong, I am not German after all, so I am not 100% sure of the influence of other countries on the German's culture.

    • @neilritson7445
      @neilritson7445 7 місяців тому +9

      So words like importieren, exportieren, etc you mean are French not English imports?

    • @joanxsky2971
      @joanxsky2971 7 місяців тому +10

      @@neilritson7445yea, a big percent of German directly from French or Latin. About 25-40% I’m pretty sure

    • @putinisakiller8093
      @putinisakiller8093 7 місяців тому +6

      @@joanxsky2971
      A big percent of French directly from Latin.
      A big percent of Latin directly from Greek... :)

    • @erichamilton3373
      @erichamilton3373 7 місяців тому +4

      German did borrow from French, but at a different time and in a different historical context. England was conquered by French speakers who also settled there. English words of French origin are throughout the language. In German it's more superficial.

  • @jeanmartin4446
    @jeanmartin4446 Місяць тому +2

    Étant francophone vivant en Amérique du Nord, j'avais déjà remarqué que plusieurs mots anglais étaient proches du français sur un plan linguistique : l'invasion par les normands donne une belle explication !
    Par ailleurs, je suspecte que la langue gauloise aurait aussi influencé l'anglais : par exemple, le mot "car" pourrait provenir du mot "char" qui est un mot gaulois !
    Intéressant !
    Merci !
    😊😊😊

  • @kz6zd
    @kz6zd 6 місяців тому +92

    Excellent video, Rob. Just my two-cents: when you mention that we can either say "ask" or "demand", "begin" or "commence", you might have added that the Germanic word usually conveys a more casual tone, whereas the French word tends to be used in a more formal setting, a difference inherited from history as you mentioned before. Compare, for example, "I ask you to begin right away" and "I demand that you commence immediately".

    • @jJahSper
      @jJahSper 4 місяці тому +4

      Very nice addition. Good job / bravo.

    • @mfjdv2020
      @mfjdv2020 4 місяці тому +8

      'Demand' in English has a different significance (!!) to 'ask'. The French-based synonym for 'ask' is 'request'. However, 'demand' in English carries a greater nuance of actually 'ordering someone to do something'. There are a great many 'false friends' in French / English (such as 'unctuous / onctueus(e)'), which are frequently hilarious :-)))

    • @kz6zd
      @kz6zd 4 місяці тому +6

      ​@@mfjdv2020 You're right. When Rob says "we can ask it, or we can demand it", I think he just meant it in general but there is indeed a nuance between the two verbs. Perhaps because in the Middle Ages, when an English farmer would "ask" you something, you might refuse, but when a Norman lord or king would "demand" you something, you had better not refuse!

    • @tictacterminator
      @tictacterminator 4 місяці тому +1

      I dont know about that.
      Imagine you're a young Saxon, practicing combat with other young people in your tribe, a simple "begin" sounds like it carries a lot more authority than "commence".
      We sound like a bunch of frilly little princes, hiding behind castle walls, when we say "commence".
      You don't train dogs in Romance languages.

    • @tictacterminator
      @tictacterminator 4 місяці тому

      @@kz6zd It depends on the context.
      If the situation gets serious, deadly even, asking immediately becomes more intimidating.
      An angry person demanding sounds like a petulant child.
      Now a gunslingin' cowboy has to ask you to do something twice... Oh boy, I wouldn't wanna be you feller

  • @captainboots
    @captainboots 8 місяців тому +71

    I love the extra details beyond the meat/food things that people often bring up. What a fascinating and entertaining video full of information!

    • @louisrobitaille9384
      @louisrobitaille9384 7 місяців тому +2

      It happens in French too. For instance, a « morue » becomes a « cabillaud » when it reaches your plate. Don’t ask me why!

  • @thesarcasticsettler252
    @thesarcasticsettler252 7 місяців тому +209

    Why am I not seeing this chap in his own tv series on language? Guy deserves more recognition for his informative and, most importantly, interesting style

    • @maxschwarzschmied5744
      @maxschwarzschmied5744 6 місяців тому +9

      This is his own series, who needs TV

    • @Charlie-Charlot
      @Charlie-Charlot 6 місяців тому +5

      TV is dead

    • @thesarcasticsettler252
      @thesarcasticsettler252 6 місяців тому +3

      for what it is worth my thinking was that I'm guessing a tv wage would reward more.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 6 місяців тому +1

      @@thesarcasticsettler252 your post stills wise 🦉 and don't worry tv 📺 follow the ultimate 🥏 technology and is renewed, and never done ✅👍 in history.🥂🥂🥂

    • @crossleydd42
      @crossleydd42 5 місяців тому

      ....and vice versa!

  • @dominiquebazie
    @dominiquebazie 29 днів тому +2

    Awsome ! I'm a French speaking person from Africa. Thanks very much for these insights.

  • @CreepersNeedHugs
    @CreepersNeedHugs 7 місяців тому +313

    Here's another French word that became two English words: hôtel. The circumflex indicates it used to be spelled _hostel._ English took "hostel" from the old word, and "hotel" from the new word.

    • @jmayuk
      @jmayuk 7 місяців тому +45

      Chief and chef are similar. One from before the great shift in French pronunciation and the other from after.

    • @jack8n
      @jack8n 7 місяців тому +35

      We also got the word "host" and "hostile" from the same french root. "Hostile" literally used to mean, basically: to interact with someone, but to do so with suspicion and a business-like emotional distance, as you would if you were hosting a complete stranger in your house

    • @pierremassines4981
      @pierremassines4981 7 місяців тому +38

      There is also:
      Forêt Forest
      Hôpital Hospital
      And many others 😊

    • @AWSMcube
      @AWSMcube 7 місяців тому +2

      ​@@pierremassines4981 💯

    • @rsabinioan
      @rsabinioan 7 місяців тому +23

      Bâtard>Bastard 😂

  • @violenceislife1987
    @violenceislife1987 7 місяців тому +211

    As a member of the peoples of Acadianna, i would like to invite yall to listen to the Cajun language, an archaic remnant of 1700s rural French.

    • @cheriem432
      @cheriem432 7 місяців тому +16

      It might be fun to compare "proper" French, Cajun and Acadian. The Acadians use words like "face" (French pronunciation "fahs") for the proper "visage". They both mean "face" (English). Not sure what it is in Cajun. It might help to mention that Acadian is a corruption of proper French, and that Cajun is a corruption of Acadian French, with corrupt Spanish thrown in for more confusion. I've always loved the phrase "Fait do-do" (wait til the kids are asleep before we start the party).My credentials? I am a French speaking Acadian/American.

    • @craphead9842
      @craphead9842 7 місяців тому +1

      Thats BS.. Gracias...

    • @cheriem432
      @cheriem432 7 місяців тому

      You just proved that you *are* your handle.@@craphead9842

    • @jgarbo3541
      @jgarbo3541 7 місяців тому +1

      Or go to Quebec...

    • @TheRealMycanthrope
      @TheRealMycanthrope 7 місяців тому +3

      ​@@craphead9842what is?

  • @This-Is-The-End
    @This-Is-The-End 7 місяців тому +71

    As a "Berber" who speaks arabic, french and doing my best to learn the so beloved english language.. I enjoyed your video. 😊😊

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +9

      ❤❤❤❤❤🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂

    • @sacha2294
      @sacha2294 7 місяців тому +6

      Please stop using "Berber". You're amazigh. The former is an awful and supermacist word equating us to savages.
      Peace from TN !

    • @rawkhawk414
      @rawkhawk414 7 місяців тому +9

      @@sacha2294 I mean, I can't speak for you but not everyone feels that way about the word. I don't love it. But in Libya for example, where people were forbid to even call themselves "Berber" I can imagine someone reclaiming the word with pride. There is some debate about the origin of the word "Berber" but I'm well aware it shares roots with the Greco-Roman/European word Barbarian. Which is a crappy word to refer to a people. Amazigh means noble, and is therefore a noble name.

    • @JimmyJhonny
      @JimmyJhonny 7 місяців тому +2

      French has a lot of Arabic loan words

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +2

      English have arabic words borrowed too , taken from arabic or from other idioms too.

  • @ronron2312
    @ronron2312 3 місяці тому +27

    Back in the 1970s my PhD program required all students to pass a foreign language test. My roommate who was Taiwan panicked, he had never taken French or German. The next he returns with a smile on his face, he had discovered French was like English. He spent a couple of weeks studying French and passed the test.

  • @fsinjin60
    @fsinjin60 8 місяців тому +201

    I tell my Francophone friends and relatives when they are unsure of the English vocabulary just use the French word & pronounce it like it was German. There is always an English cognate but sometimes we surprise them by pronouncing it like the French.
    Changed (Germanized) pronunciation:
    Quarter - quartier
    Niece - niece
    People - peuple
    Meme Exactement (en mode de XVIIIe siècle):
    Banking terms - banque, cheque
    Hors d’ouvres, (American) filet of beef, …

    • @davidwise1302
      @davidwise1302 8 місяців тому +16

      When I was still current with French (four or five decades ago), I used to use it to spell English words, especially the ones with troublesome suffixes like -ble or -nce. English pronunciation always reduces the preceding vowel to an indistinct "uh", whereas French kept the vowel's distinct sound. Therefore, by saying the word to myself in French, I knew how to write it in English.

    • @rhysastewart796
      @rhysastewart796 7 місяців тому +16

      i only thing i disliked about this video was that while not the focus, the main argument to disband the romance language accusations is that old norse didn't just influence english, it changed *it's sentence structure*. old norse is the reason we say things in the order we do today.

    • @fsinjin60
      @fsinjin60 7 місяців тому +16

      @@rhysastewart796 What I feel Rob should have implied that English swallowed the French tongue whole. There are few words in French that are not understood by English speakers with a large vocabulary. By the same token, there are few German words that are not understood by English speakers. English adds words, does not discriminate against bad declension and conjugation and welcomes the borrowings.
      The cowboys lassoed the cattle from the veranda.
      American English, American Spanish, Old Germanic, and Hindi/Malayalam words in an understandable 'Western' movie

    • @huyxiun2085
      @huyxiun2085 7 місяців тому +2

      Super astuce, merci beaucoup !
      That's a nice trick, thank you very much!

    • @amerikawoche8243
      @amerikawoche8243 7 місяців тому +1

      And “change” as well ?

  • @mathieumorin7605
    @mathieumorin7605 6 місяців тому +143

    I speak both language and my tip to both learners is that, " complicated " words are the same. Vaccine - vaccin, expedition - expédition, so on.

    • @freemind1923
      @freemind1923 5 місяців тому +8

      My favorite would be "communication"

    • @jeffreyquinn3820
      @jeffreyquinn3820 5 місяців тому +5

      A lot of the "fancy" french loanwords seem to be from the 19th century. Nobody blinks at the older loanwords.

    • @binxbolling
      @binxbolling 5 місяців тому

      Languages*

    • @mfjdv2020
      @mfjdv2020 4 місяці тому +3

      Les mots comme vaccin(e) / expédition, vous les trouvez vraiment compliqués?? 🤔

    • @emile8178
      @emile8178 4 місяці тому +10

      @@mfjdv2020 Ce qu'il veut dire c'est qu'ils sont moins communs

  • @amandakorjus6889
    @amandakorjus6889 5 місяців тому +5

    You are literally helping me pass my independent English linguistic courses (: Thank you so much

  • @daddythomas1389
    @daddythomas1389 7 місяців тому +57

    That was fabulous!! I'm from Montreal and I'm fluent in both languages, French being my mother tongue.
    I knew about the 30% content of French in the English language, but you blew my mind with all your examples!! Just stunning the complexity and the way it all evolves throughout the centuries. Will sent that video to a few friends for sure!! And you gained a subscriber! Very very well done my friend!!!!
    Merci beaucoup!!!!

    • @adoramay9410
      @adoramay9410 7 місяців тому +7

      As an English speaker learning French, it's super helpful that there are so many French words in English.

    • @ReiKakariki
      @ReiKakariki 7 місяців тому +3

      It's a linguistical reunion ever ❤

    • @cheriem432
      @cheriem432 7 місяців тому +2

      Then, can you explain why, when we visited Montréal a few years ago, no one would speak to me in French? I'm proficient but not fluent. It turned out that a friend was their at the same time. He is from France, and he told us he received the same treatment. No matter who I spoke to, they looked at me like I was from Venus, but would not answer my questions. Oh, And I love your attitude toward stop signs; I didn't realize they are mere suggestions!

    • @daddythomas1389
      @daddythomas1389 7 місяців тому +3

      @@cheriem432
      First, let me thank you for your response!!
      I heard you speak French on the video, and you are easy to be understood, even with your English accent. I'll try my best to answer you. I think there is two factors. One is cultural, and the other is functional.
      On the cultural front, there is still a language hang over from the 70's over the political and linguistic place Quebecers take in their society. So ( and it has NOTHING to do with you ) you are perceived as a threat. So therefore the Venus look they made you feel, and it has nothing to do with Love I acquiesce that much!!
      Functional. I'm guilty on that one. I will choose the quality of exchange over having
      someone speak slowly. I"m really bad on that front. Just express that you want the exchange in French, and people will kindly oblige.
      For your French friend, if you are interested to know my opinion, let me know!
      I get a kick out of this, it's very fun comme ça!!
      Thanks for making my day!
      Cheers!!!

    • @cheriem432
      @cheriem432 7 місяців тому +3

      @@daddythomas1389 Are you telling me that, when I, for example, walked into a store, smiled and said "Bonjour" before anything else, I was still perceived as a threat? A threat to what? we happened to get there on St-Jean Baptiste's feast day, too. And yes, I would like your opinion on what happened to my French friend. It is fun! De rien.

  • @xof-woodworkinghobbyist
    @xof-woodworkinghobbyist 8 місяців тому +40

    One of my favourite videos on your channel, Rob... and not because I am French... LOL
    always informative and entertaining. Thank you!

  • @kelliatlarge
    @kelliatlarge 8 місяців тому +171

    14:59 I'm an American from the deep south, from an area settled predominantly by the Scots-Irish, and I also pronounce the 'h' in 'what' and 'where,' albeit not as strongly as in the video here. But it is especially pronounced if I'm saying the word with extra emphasis, or asking with a sense of incredulity, like, "She said _what_ ?!"

    • @drssexy2142
      @drssexy2142 8 місяців тому +14

      as long as u dont pull a Stewie and say 'Whhhip'

    • @anglewoden
      @anglewoden 7 місяців тому +8

      'ello I'm English and I dropped the 'H' when I was a nipper.

    • @simontay4851
      @simontay4851 7 місяців тому +3

      I just pronounce it "Wot".

    • @nicholasvinen
      @nicholasvinen 7 місяців тому

      You say whhhhhat?

    • @kelliatlarge
      @kelliatlarge 7 місяців тому +6

      @@nicholasvinen It's just sort of an aspirated version of w. Say the word "what." Now act like you're going to say "what" again, but this time stop while your lips are rounded for the "w." Now just before you start to say the "w" sound, breathe out through your lips and immediately finish saying the word.

  • @lucreciaxinico4879
    @lucreciaxinico4879 Місяць тому +2

    I arrived in France with an A1-A2 level, and with A2 in English.
    My French friends and family don't believe me when I tell them that my English improved dramatically when I started to master French.
    I love both languages 🥰

  • @montebont
    @montebont 7 місяців тому +40

    I am Dutch and I started learning French at the age of 10 and English 3 years later. Reading Morte d'Arthur and Canterbury Tales in early English was an eye opener to discover both the French and Germanic roots of English.
    "They smote each other full sore" would roughly translate to "Two (or more) people threw blows at others to cause the most harm "

    • @wbrehaut
      @wbrehaut 7 місяців тому +3

      To be accurate, "at the others" or "at one another". Just "at others" is too general for "each other".

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +2

      It's so deep talk about translation the folk(s) should have deep experience and intimacy with all idioms involved in the book in the situation.

    • @chrisdel2564
      @chrisdel2564 7 місяців тому +3

      First time I see a Dutch guy learned French first and English after

    • @montebont
      @montebont 7 місяців тому +2

      @@chrisdel2564 Sign of the times I guess. I started with French in primary school when I was 10 years old in 1961. French was considered an elite but 'difficult' (Roman) language at the time so you'd best learn it ASAP.
      Later I learned English and German. But in terms of complexity I rate them (low tot high) English, French, German.
      You might wonder about German because it also a Germanic language. The thing is that it's a lot like Dutch but much more complicated. It looks and sounds the same but in a lot of cases a totally different meaning.
      But at the end of the day I can make myself understood and avoid make a fool of myself when ordering ""ashtrays in spicy rubber sauce"

  • @lmaoidkaboutnames6863
    @lmaoidkaboutnames6863 8 місяців тому +95

    Hi ! french person here, i'll pass by to tell you a bit of the french media talk about the infamous "English doesn't exist", while i can't talk for Clemenceau, i can talk about Cerquiglini, as his books made a short buzz due its title here. And the truth is that, as sad as it is, the title is very much clickbait for its own sake, he explained in numerous interviews (all in french so i doubt fellow english speaker would see it pass) that all were smalltime stuff, that he didn't do it for any other reason than because in this day and age, the onyl way to sell a book here is to have a provocative title.
    This is something of a problem we share today with America apparently, as per "The Psychosis of Whiteness by Kehinde Andrews" has proven by Andrews own word.
    Great video too, learning how much cultural switcheroo happened in languages is always a fun thing.
    Something to note too, the William the Conqueror/ Guillaume le Conquérant debate between English and French is apparently moot, as the rare drawings of his banners found spelt it like "Will.E.M" which is really funny to me.

    • @RobWords
      @RobWords  7 місяців тому +37

      Cerquilini's book makes quite clear he doesn't agree with the statement in the title. It's a gloriously tongue-in-cheek exploration of French influence on English. I can see why he took the approach he did.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +1

      Theses infame movements english don't exist or french don't exists it's only angry politics denialists groups who never wins the unity between french and english.
      People forget yet very before Germanics and Romanics invasions in UK and France theses lands are and were very brothers they together were and is celtics that's the deep why of the unity between english and french, spiritually is a celtic union again only changes the linguistical clothes yesterday and today.
      All world should respects this marriage.

    • @Brazseo
      @Brazseo 7 місяців тому

      If you use words such as Whiteness, you're immediately inaudible!

    • @cheriem432
      @cheriem432 7 місяців тому +1

      I'm curious; we were taught in the US that all French words had to be approved by some government entity before they could 'officially' join the French language. It this still true?

    • @gabrielbalbec883
      @gabrielbalbec883 7 місяців тому +1

      Maybe some people take Mr Cerquilini's provocative settlement too seriously. A bit of humour in these depressing times won't kill anyone. Thanks for all your info anyway.

  • @AmidalaEmma
    @AmidalaEmma 7 місяців тому +747

    As an anglophone Canadian who seriously studied French as an adult I was so happy that so much of English comes from French. We had a joke in my French class that if you don’t know the French word just say it in English with a French accent and you might get it right!

    • @jean-claudewallard9309
      @jean-claudewallard9309 7 місяців тому +92

      Frenchman here. I do the same with English all the time. English is easy, the only difficulties are in the spelling with words of germanic origin and pronunciations in general which make me crazy sometimes. German is much easier for this reason.

    • @jillp1840
      @jillp1840 7 місяців тому +51

      When we had a French au pair who didn't understand something in English (and we couldn't think what it would be in French either), we'd just try pronouncing the English word with a French accent. Worked surprisingly well!

    • @wavydavy9816
      @wavydavy9816 7 місяців тому +38

      I was working for a haulage company and we went to Paris, so we are surrounded by French trucks.
      The battery was dead after sitting for a week so the boss grabbed a pair of jump-leads and say's we'll ask someone for assistance.
      'Do you speak any French?' I ask 🤔 'A bit.' he replies 👍
      He knocked on the first truck we came to and when the driver opened the door my boss waved the leads at him and said 'Le jump-start?' 😂

    • @dzymslizzy3641
      @dzymslizzy3641 7 місяців тому +1

      🤣

    • @jollyrodgers7272
      @jollyrodgers7272 7 місяців тому +8

      I did the same thing with my 5 years of French when I was stuck in Panama - I just pronounced it with a Spanish accent - and things went amazingly well!

  • @ConfuSomu
    @ConfuSomu 25 днів тому +1

    Bon résumé de l'essai de Bernard Cerquiglini ! Des examples similaires sont utilisés, mais cette vidéo parle en plus des rimes en poésie. Belle vidéo ! :)
    Good summary of Bernard Cerquiglini's essay! Similar examples are used, yet this video additionally talks about rimes. Great video!

  • @cheriem432
    @cheriem432 7 місяців тому +33

    My mother is French/Acadian. She moved from Nova Scotia, Canada to Boston for the last 60 years of her life. Her kids all developed Boston accents, and she developed a French/Boston accent. It was so cute!

    • @ReiKakariki
      @ReiKakariki 7 місяців тому +4

      👍🌹🎸🎂💋💙🎶🎶🥂for her.

    • @cheriem432
      @cheriem432 7 місяців тому +5

      @@ReiKakariki Cheers!

    • @ReiKakariki
      @ReiKakariki 7 місяців тому +5

      @@cheriem432 Cheers 🥂

    • @creolecajun9988
      @creolecajun9988 7 місяців тому +7

      Sounds like the history of the Louisiana -Cajun-French people..word Cajun is a derivative of the word Acadian
      Cajuns came to Louisiana over 300 years ago from New Brunswick & Novoscotia Canada, my grandmother spoke the same French as spoken from this region although the last generation has not picked up the language.

    • @ReiKakariki
      @ReiKakariki 7 місяців тому +4

      ​@@creolecajun9988 In medium and high level quebequian and cajun are the same talk and both are very close to normand many times reproduced it and resembles it cos take many frenches and normanda words from english and regalicizes again.🥂

  • @jacquespoulemer3577
    @jacquespoulemer3577 8 місяців тому +47

    Rob and my fellow thieves, you reminded me of a lovely German woman I knew when I worked at a Public Library in New Jersey. We almost always spoke German and she worked in Administrative Jobs Wahrend Des Krieges. Her Husband was Jewish and died in the Holocaust (they had a son who she kept with her). She Mentioned that Before the war French was the international language and after, English but During the war it was GERMAN. This was something I'd never thought about but it makes sense, since Germany had most of Europe under it's control.
    I love learning about language and it's shady alleys and cul-de-sacs . All the best Jim Mexico retired

    • @RobWords
      @RobWords  8 місяців тому +8

      That war is the turning point. Except English is the language that replaces French.

    • @BenjaminLupton
      @BenjaminLupton 7 місяців тому +6

      @@RobWords this would make an interesting video in of itself, which languages were international at different times, for which fields they were (e.g. one for medicine, one for science, one for philosophy, one for trade), and at which corners of the globe.

    • @jaidee9570
      @jaidee9570 7 місяців тому +3

      I wouldn't doubt that during the war German became the language of administration across Europe, but given how short the period of occupation by Germany was, did they have enough time to make it the common language of Europe? I'm not saying it wasn't but it would require a lot of effort and they expended a lot of effort in other areas that were, unfortunately, far more memorable than the influence upon languages.

    • @jjbud3124
      @jjbud3124 7 місяців тому +2

      @@jaidee9570 My husband's grandmother was born in Poland in 1889 and arrived in the US in 1899 at about 10 years old. She had been forced to speak German in school way back then.

    • @pietrocantuccini5584
      @pietrocantuccini5584 7 місяців тому +4

      French was the international language only in diplomacy. In SCIENCE it was German.

  • @bob_the_bomb4508
    @bob_the_bomb4508 7 місяців тому +87

    Those mixes of root languages give English three main characteristics:
    1. A very varied thesaurus
    2. Removal of a lot of the complex grammar rules from the root languages.
    3. A huge amount of irregular verbs…
    But mainly, English is a very flexible language. You can be understood even if you speak it very badly…

    • @PoppinC-l3w
      @PoppinC-l3w 18 днів тому

      Spoken English is a masterpiece. Written English and French alike are disasters.

  • @millili7980
    @millili7980 Місяць тому +1

    This explains so much about my experience with English! So many words I've learned after a while were business or politics-focused, and I keep thinking "this is just French!" because it IS!
    On the other hand, I also learned german and I recognize a lot of common words + grammar points that were kept in English... This video was a series of realizations for me. Amazing work!

  • @raumsogg
    @raumsogg 7 місяців тому +24

    What amazes me with the English language is that you guys have a specific word for everything under the sun! The English vocabulary is ginormous. Thanks for this instructive video by the way.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +2

      🎉❤💋🥂 That's t'he reason we call cudlely english the Little leader dragon of idioms t'he global pidgin creole, english have a word for this dimensions and out of this dimension cos It uses any words from every cultures no matters what culture.
      That's the timeless inventivity and astuce of english.

    •  7 місяців тому +8

      ​​@@SinilkMudilaSama For us Spaniards, a typical example of how much more precise English define things or concepts are the words "sky" and "heaven". For us the word "Cielo" defines both the celestial heaven and the astronomical sky, however in English you have two words.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +2

      @ Ah this is true if I remember english had a word that unified the words sky and heavens but they abandoned this word.
      Today the norm of english is physical highs: sky.
      Quantic, Luminous,celestial, holographics highs: heavens.
      I will try find the word that unfit both meanings that english don't wanna use today.
      I find Bro the word that unifies the meaning of sky and heavens it's dome, dome means both sky and heavens.
      It's a latin word that world anglophony forgot and abandon but really exists for globalize all meanings of highs, be heaven or sky. It's ever Dome that rhymes with Rome and english is normand romanic english forever.
      Hugs 🤗🫂🫂🤗🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

    • @ImmortalIndustries
      @ImmortalIndustries 7 місяців тому +4

      @Lampchuanungang I think the word you're thinking of might be 'firmament' which can mean the same as both sky and heaven.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +2

      @@ImmortalIndustries The word Dome is very old than "firmament", in a historic comparison, firmament seems a anglicization of the Occitan word Firmament, only changes the pronunciation. It's a beautiful word and a hodiern, contemporary word of current english. Sounds 😊🕊️♾️🥂🫂😊🪙

  • @sarahtullamore1574
    @sarahtullamore1574 7 місяців тому +75

    I wrote a whole sketch in English in my one-woman musical "London-Paris-Roam!" that was just written using French words. I did it as challenge to myself and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the show!

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +6

      Creative and great 💡❤💋💋💋💋
      Thanks for show to all anglophone and non anglophone world , for the art global world that english is True engfranormadish and Creole Pidgin Neohellenic Romanic Global.
      Love to you and to all UK and Ireland.
      Hot good fluffy souls forever ❤❤❤❤💯💯💯💯🌹🌹🌹🌹😘😘😘😘🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇨🇮🇮🇲🇯🇪🇬🇬🇫🇷❤❤❤❤❤❤😘😘😘😘😘😘😘🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

    • @ProvencaLeGaulois
      @ProvencaLeGaulois 7 місяців тому +5

      Saw you at the Essaïon théâtre (quite) a few years ago :) I hope you're still blessing people with your singing !

    • @rafidog
      @rafidog 7 місяців тому +4

      Is there somewhere we can hear or read it?

  • @jpjunk4789
    @jpjunk4789 6 місяців тому +216

    06:35 "the appetit for taking french words is pretty much insatiable" appetit and insatiable being two french words ;-)

    • @mfjdv2020
      @mfjdv2020 4 місяці тому +10

      That's exactly the idea.

    • @raphibus
      @raphibus 4 місяці тому +11

      The four words he gives at the end are French. Poetry-Poésie, Grammar- Grammaire, Vocabular-Vocabulaire, Pronunciation- Prononciation

    • @timtrainor9720
      @timtrainor9720 4 місяці тому

      Very well done, Ty.

    • @tictacterminator
      @tictacterminator 4 місяці тому +3

      the hunger for frankish words could eat a horse
      man, finding a new word for "insatiable" is a hard job

    • @JubioHDX
      @JubioHDX 4 місяці тому +2

      @@tictacterminator Unquenchable. Well "quench" is from old english anyway, though the "un" and "able" parts were never added to it till middle english because thats definitely a more latin/romance way of turning a verb into an adjective, and i dont know enough old english to know how they wouldve adjusted it, so itll have to do

  • @boxsterman77
    @boxsterman77 Місяць тому +1

    I grew up in Michigan and thought nothing of the exception involved in calling the lakes, Lake Michigan, Lake Superior and so on. It actually helped me in my learning of Spanish to place the adjective after the noun. I just think about what we call the Great Lakes (hmmm not lakes great).

  • @brandenswan4847
    @brandenswan4847 7 місяців тому +19

    Super interesting video, as an english speaker who moved to France and learnt french over the past few years it's fascinating to understand some of the history behind why there are so many similarities. My favourite is the adverbs, take the English version drop the LY and replace it with MENT and you have the french adverb in most cases. You basically don't need to learn most of the french adverbs as they are the same. Just watch out for the faux amis!

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +2

      The integibility between English and French inside of grammar,history and linguistic ❤

  • @PhilippeMarchand-xw1zp
    @PhilippeMarchand-xw1zp 7 місяців тому +10

    Very interesting video, thanks a lot. As a Frenchman trying hard to improve my English accent by emphasizing "h" it’s funny to hear that some English were trying to make English words sounds French by dropping the h sound!
    Also, wanted to mention that to remember some Franch spelling rule such as using the ^ sign (the “accent circonflexe”) which often come from dropping the “s” letter between old and modern French, sometime I use the English translation that still use old French wording. For instance in French word “forêt” the ^ comes from the forgotten s that still exist in the English word “foreSt” (same for “batârd”/“bastard”, “hôpital”/”hospital”).
    "Honni soit qui mal y pense"

  • @UN1TYMusic
    @UN1TYMusic 7 місяців тому +9

    Watching from Montenegro and this blew my mind..Very cool dive into history here and top notch content,very rare I watch an entire video but this had me glued!!Keep em coming!!

  • @Manu-rp4sj
    @Manu-rp4sj Місяць тому +1

    As a french anglophone I learned a lot.
    Langages history is so interesting.

  • @tannermcginn7330
    @tannermcginn7330 7 місяців тому +12

    Tres bien! My wife and I are learning some French right now in preparation for an upcoming voyage à Paris. A very timely video!

  • @BBQsaucemix
    @BBQsaucemix 7 місяців тому +173

    Being French Canadian, this video explains perfectly why I've always thought English was more malleable than French. You can basically go at it using both languages' perspectives lol. Very interesting video!

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +8

      It's like a vinil disc, french is the side A english is the side B normand is the vitreous.

    • @Aluenvey
      @Aluenvey 7 місяців тому +6

      On one side is Robert Smith, and the other a random French Goth Rock band. But overall a good time.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +3

      This is the real footprint bro of all 3 idioms forever.
      ❤❤❤❤❤.
      It's old this truth since central media age, very old and only now teached, an absurd.
      But thanks Providence, the truth returned again to stay forever and win again.
      ❤❤❤❤❤

    • @pablo4yu
      @pablo4yu 7 місяців тому

      Canadian fitlh

    • @zikoadrian6059
      @zikoadrian6059 7 місяців тому +1

      i believe French Canadian street slang might be so funny playing with both world words :)

  • @mattfitzpatrick4008
    @mattfitzpatrick4008 7 місяців тому +13

    Mind blown. J'apprends avec Duolingo, but this session on the relationship between English and French has just enriched my learning experience about tenfold. Thank you so much for sharing!!!

    • @chloe9500
      @chloe9500 7 місяців тому +2

      J'apprends takes an s because it's the first person

    • @mattfitzpatrick4008
      @mattfitzpatrick4008 7 місяців тому

      @@chloe9500 thanks!

  • @lesacrecoeur9413
    @lesacrecoeur9413 3 місяці тому +1

    Merci pour cette introduction à la linguistique entre la France et l'Angleterre. Votre vidéo a répondu aux questions que je me pose depuis longtemps

  • @archibaldplays3982
    @archibaldplays3982 7 місяців тому +27

    As a french student in french uni, the best tip we got from our English teacher (who was British) was "nearly all words of 3 syllables or more are basically the same in French". And it checks out!
    Construction, establishment, advantage, possibility, temperature... I could go on

    • @dumspirospero-s1l
      @dumspirospero-s1l 7 місяців тому +9

      He could have added that many one syllable or two syllables English looking words are French as well: pure, poor, power, chair, cream, lamp, troop, ticket, table, abound, aboard, abuse, apart, accent, jail, join, joint, jaw, jaunt, jasper, rock, rouse, rout, joy, juice, jewel, judge, rut, rent, just, lash, very, lard, list, logde, loyal, league, lawn, race, rank, rape, rate, rage, rave, grand...and thousands more. One can easily check that in the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. It's increbible! So the French vocab in English is not restricted to French looking words (soubrette, maisonnette, garage, parade...) as is often believed by English native speakers, but is so ingrained in the very fabric of the everyday common speech that they are considered in the whole anglosphere as Anglo-Saxon as it is possible to be, while being in fact French. The history of languages is full of surprises. 😀

    • @josephbento7545
      @josephbento7545 7 місяців тому +3

      Consider that nearly every -tion word, which there are hundreds, are the same in French and English.

    • @ReiKakariki
      @ReiKakariki 7 місяців тому +2

      Theses words: parisines an normands, nations like or not affects til today all english structure, if you remove 🤗 🫂 💙 🌎 🍻 🍻 normand grammar, parisine grammar, english grammar from english, if you remove all rules of latin and greek etimology, and remove all world glossary and Only left english with a germanic glossary you cant speak english without romanic, latin and greek rules, you're gonna cause a global cultural anarchy and destruction, Only do this test and see with your the real chaos you can cause if you do this test with english.

    • @stephenemm3829
      @stephenemm3829 7 місяців тому +1

      @@ReiKakariki You can write and speak without using Latin words, but not without Germanic words

    • @BenjaminGroff-qi6lc
      @BenjaminGroff-qi6lc 7 місяців тому

      everything is native

  • @MegaLol232
    @MegaLol232 7 місяців тому +64

    As a norwegian native speaker (who spends a lot of time studying languages, it's what i love) it is deeply fascinating to me to hear that the word for merchant was "ceapmann"!
    The way it is pronounced and written is clearly similar to the norwegian word for merchant, "kjøpmann", and in some dialects, espeically western dialects like the Ålesund and other Møre dialects, it would be pronounced kinda like "chupmann".
    It is just a word I didn't expect to see in old English! I was pleasantly surprised, it didn't feel foreign to me at all.
    Old english doesn't really sound all that foreign to me!

    • @alestev24
      @alestev24 7 місяців тому +11

      "Kaufmann" in German.

    • @Needlestitch
      @Needlestitch 7 місяців тому +10

      Koopman in Dutch,

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +3

      Ah yes Anglo Saxon is half anglo Frisian it's Germanic yes.
      In reverse this english from now full of galicisms in grammar and in linguistics is romanic forever ♾️.
      The old shetlandic orkneic it's faroese half Norwegian.

    • @LeReferee
      @LeReferee 7 місяців тому +8

      Makes me think about "shop man" which is basically what a merchant is

    • @tosgem
      @tosgem 7 місяців тому +6

      Chapman still survives in English as a common surname. Most people who have this name probably don't know what it means

  • @nelsonleeroy
    @nelsonleeroy 7 місяців тому +6

    Thank you for this very interesting video. I'm French (half American) and this is the first time I've come across this information.

  • @enjoyenglish1721
    @enjoyenglish1721 4 місяці тому +2

    I'm French (little American) and taught English in Asia, mostly Japan and Berlitz school. When came (after 25 years away) to France 10 years ago, I realized teaching here that 90% of English grammar is French without the "conjugation" + (the "DO" as an article). just subscribed, thank you.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 3 місяці тому +1

      Youre smart bro and lovely person 🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻

  • @nonnayobiznus573
    @nonnayobiznus573 7 місяців тому +5

    As an American expat living in France and who is learning French, I really appreciate the information in this video. I actually understand French very well although the conjugaison is difficult, but the vocabulary is so similar, I don't find French so difficult to understand.

  • @blacknwhite5451
    @blacknwhite5451 5 місяців тому +15

    Most interesting video on the web about the English language. Fantastically delivered by Rob.

  • @mmh2065
    @mmh2065 6 місяців тому +14

    As french people borrowed back some french words they gave to the brits, I happily discovered that french book in your english video. It was very interesting, merci beaucoup !

  • @LeJones457
    @LeJones457 4 місяці тому +3

    Fascinating!
    Especially for someone like me, an American who's interested in language, living in France!

  • @ggoannas
    @ggoannas 7 місяців тому +7

    You are wonderful!
    If all teachers were like you, children would love to learn.

  • @bealetm
    @bealetm 7 місяців тому +8

    Rob, your videos are frequently interesting (and entertaining and educational) but this one was outstanding. It provided a well rounded summary of the background of Modern English as well as providing various facts that I had not encountered before (and I have been studying aspects of linguistics for decades now.) Well done!

  • @TheRatatouillator
    @TheRatatouillator 7 місяців тому +24

    Thanks for the not falling into the English vs French old theme... If anything, it tells us how much we're cousins more than adversaries.
    Congrats from France for another excellent video!

    • @headlibrarian1996
      @headlibrarian1996 7 місяців тому +2

      How can it not be adversarial given that England imported French vocabulary and grammar only after conquest?

    • @mkmc94
      @mkmc94 7 місяців тому +2

      ​@@headlibrarian1996Because the invader are part of English history. They are the descendant of both conqueror and conquered.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 6 місяців тому +3

      ​​@@mkmc94 Nice answer.
      Anglophony and Francophony are heavily and deeply mixed forever, both did with each other ther mutual colonization in true history.
      In fact, England also colonized France and had a lot of land there too.
      It was no surprise that they both fought a lot politically, financially and culturally in medieval and in modern times.
      And brits are and were part of history of french colonization by them, wars and liberation from nazis etc...
      Its unideniable fact.

    • @DaDa-ui3sw
      @DaDa-ui3sw 3 місяці тому +2

      ​@@SinilkMudilaSama England is France's little sister, who has grown into both a rival and a friend. And this relationship of rivalry and deep-rooted alliance extends, in a way, to the entire English-speaking world.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 2 місяці тому +2

      @@DaDa-ui3sw In fact France's relationship with England is one of marriage, love, hate, desire, passion, quarrel and reconciliation and mutual help.
      I would use the metaphor of warring tribes: France is the female Amazon warrior and England is the solitary warrior Swordsman, they both attract and help each other because deep down they are the same even though they have different mentalities, they live similar and equal customs.
      This is why they are still married today.

  • @yeomantrader9505
    @yeomantrader9505 2 місяці тому +1

    I've been arguing this for years, well, since high school french. sympathique is the one that initially grabbed my attention to the similarities.

  • @YorranKlees
    @YorranKlees 8 місяців тому +243

    I'm astounded. I knew French was about 30% of English, but I was nowhere near considering all the ramifications that it meant.

    • @babboon5764
      @babboon5764 7 місяців тому +10

      But never mind the proposition 'English might just badly pronounced French?'
      Think of it this way .....Chunks of it were conveniently available
      *AND ENGLISH SORTED THE PRONOUNCIATION PROPERLY FOR THEM* 😋

    • @jeandixon586
      @jeandixon586 7 місяців тому +1

      ​@@babboon5764😂

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +8

      Its more than 30% it's the double 60% only French.

    • @YorranKlees
      @YorranKlees 7 місяців тому +1

      @@SinilkMudilaSama Unlikely. 30% French, 30%Latin, 30% the rest including anglo-saxon.

    • @YorranKlees
      @YorranKlees 7 місяців тому +1

      @@babboon5764 Considering English isn't even using the proper alphabet (sources can be found on this very channel), English just just did what it could, with what it had.

  • @GuitarMan22
    @GuitarMan22 7 місяців тому +31

    Die Präsentation war sehr informativ! Toll!🙂

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 6 місяців тому +1

      You're welcome 🤗🤗💛💛 friend 😊

  • @bobbysox897
    @bobbysox897 7 місяців тому +523

    Actually modern French is just badly pronounced French.

    • @David-tn9lg
      @David-tn9lg 7 місяців тому +99

      Actually english is just badly pronounced english that is actually badly pronounced french that is actyally badly pronounced latin that is actually badly pronounced ooga booga

    • @Thoyn
      @Thoyn 7 місяців тому +13

      Your mispelling ooga booga (and im mispellin the next language)

    • @hoplitletroisieme8502
      @hoplitletroisieme8502 7 місяців тому +11

      Haha i'm french and i confirm

    • @gillesblanchard1699
      @gillesblanchard1699 7 місяців тому +4

      Frightful to see ignorance in action!

    • @notng
      @notng 7 місяців тому +5

      C'est malheureusement vraie 🫡

  • @scotmac
    @scotmac 2 місяці тому

    Wow. I LOVE this video! Merci very much. I'm a native of Louisiana, l9ved 5 yrs in Deutschland and 25 years en France. This discussion/lecture was so interesting and well done. Bravo!

  • @qerfqbAZRE
    @qerfqbAZRE 6 місяців тому +11

    Maybe la meilleure video I've seen so far qui parle de ce sujet !

  • @ENSB4YT
    @ENSB4YT 7 місяців тому +37

    Hi, I'm a French speaker. I've heard that many English words are derived from French but pronounced differently. However, I must say, you've made a very remarkable video on the subject. It's very interesting, and I've learned a lot. This is my first time watching a video from your channel. Keep up the good work. Bravo!

    • @christophercudiamat5695
      @christophercudiamat5695 7 місяців тому

      it didnt derived from french its from latin. 😂

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +2

      Romans brought Latin 🔤🔠 to english and Normand triplicates the balances of Latin inside of english, this why english in top of the 🏔️🌄 mountains is romanic in all senses and sides.

    • @baneofbanes
      @baneofbanes 7 місяців тому

      @@christophercudiamat5695no a lot of words were from French. In fact a lot of the Latin words we have wer walks brought in y the Normans.

    • @baneofbanes
      @baneofbanes 7 місяців тому +1

      @@SinilkMudilaSamathe English didn’t arrive in Britain until after the Romans were already gone.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +2

      @@baneofbanes Yes we know this part and we the parts that romans lefts descedants romans too in Great Britain that will not accept germanic invasions of anglos, saxons and jutes.
      Celts,romans, dutches and frisians after germanics wars and oppression in great Britain gonna be allies of normands and help them to conquers all saxons jutes and anglos in great Britain too, this was the success of Normand conquest and victory too.
      Theses peoples and tribes were informants for the Normans about the holes and fails in germanics management of Great Britain.
      This is explain why normands were victorius there.

  • @edwinpina7464
    @edwinpina7464 7 місяців тому +4

    It’s kinda cool how you emphasize what words in what you say come from French and then you make a slight nod/hint to it and helps us understand more

    • @edwinpina7464
      @edwinpina7464 7 місяців тому +3

      And I’m specifically speaking on the one who you didn’t highlight but very cool dude!

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +4

      🫂💙💚💞😘

  • @norbzzz
    @norbzzz 4 місяці тому +2

    As a frenchman, your video was incredibely interesting and remineded me our history was more intricate that I remembered from school :)

  • @eclectichoosier5474
    @eclectichoosier5474 7 місяців тому +108

    The great Terry Pratchett observed that English didn't so much borrow from other languages as it followed them down dark alleys, knocked them over the head, and rifled through their pockets looking for loose grammar.
    The source seems to be disputed, but I remember seeing it in one of his works.

    • @lizj5740
      @lizj5740 7 місяців тому +15

      It was used in a modified form on a t-shirt after Pratchett died and incorrectly attributed to him. Several sources on the internet say it originated with James D. Nicoll.

    • @DoubleBob
      @DoubleBob 7 місяців тому

      So getting conquered and ruled by Normans is "knocking them over the head and rifling through their pockets"?
      What a weird worldview.

    • @anthonyjackson280
      @anthonyjackson280 7 місяців тому +4

      Sounds very Adamsish to me (as in Douglas).

    • @robertmatch6550
      @robertmatch6550 7 місяців тому +7

      I saw and copied theat great line in a comment, uncredited:"English does not borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys whacks other languages over their heads goes through their pockets for loose words and phrases usually to misuse them."
      Sounds like you guys are getting me closer to the origin.

    • @squirlmy
      @squirlmy 7 місяців тому +3

      @@robertmatch6550 yeah, well maybe in the name of self-defence you should learn kung fu, or karate, or other mangled words from Asia!

  • @AlastairWilliamson-m6c
    @AlastairWilliamson-m6c 7 місяців тому +5

    Great show sir, as always. Nice balance of good explanations and facts with humour. The wonderful ways of words!

  • @ahcuah9526
    @ahcuah9526 7 місяців тому +7

    This is one of your best videos ever (and that's saying a lot!).

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +2

      This video is the 💎💎 of all French,Normand and British linguistics forever.
      It's pratical, sucinte and 🥇🪙 and high and giver of life love, respect and union between normand, parisine and english forever.
      The perfect fatal linguistic video 📷 📸 📷 📸 forever.
      💙💙💙💙💙💙

  • @NathalieBruneteauJoseph
    @NathalieBruneteauJoseph 4 місяці тому +1

    Thank you so much.
    This video reminds me of my linguistics courses at uni.
    And now, years later, I've become an English teacher in Bordeaux and I spend my time teacher my pupils all the similarities between English and Roman languages.

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 3 місяці тому +1

      ❤💙💛🍷🍻👌🤗👏🥰🤙✌🤞

  • @malaakalabri978
    @malaakalabri978 6 місяців тому +12

    What a lovely video. Such smooth transitions and interesting facts. Your passion is palpable and the scene is majestic ✨

  • @kaki3151
    @kaki3151 7 місяців тому +5

    Very interesting for a french native speaker, thank you! I would love that our english teacher explain to our kids the origins of some english words, from french or other languages, it is more interesting to know the language story than learning stupidly!

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 6 місяців тому +3

      💋💋When you teach the phonology, history and linguistics of a real language without hiding its origins.
      Students do not need to be afraid of grammar or resort to it all the time because they know how the mind and body of the language studied works, be it Catalan, French, English or Romansh, this applies to any language.
      A wise teacher teaches the language in its logical, linguistic, semiosis and grammar functions, and not just grammar to memorize as many obsolete teachers still unfortunately do today.
      💋💋💋💋
      Your comment is wise 🦉💋💋💋💋

    • @kaki3151
      @kaki3151 6 місяців тому +2

      @@SinilkMudilaSama thank you! I loved studying ancient greek and latin in school, to understand the origins of modern french languages. And other ones...
      But doing scientific studies, it was not possible to continue, as if studying language was not useful to better express scientific theories!🙃

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 6 місяців тому +2

      ​​@@kaki3151
      💋❤🌹
      The error of many sciences, beliefs, philosophies and policies and societies and nations consists in disregarding human language.
      Mate,Bro, a powerfully thought out, planned human language harmonizes the world in love, solidarity and mutual care on a global level.
      True human language carries all humanity and becomes the energy and body, action and thought of this humanity.
      Language is something profoundly majestic, you can solve ten problems with it in 1 second, but you can create 1000 problems with a poorly written language or with an anti-language kisses in your heart 💋🌹 💓 ❤️

  • @sofianeBELLEPERCHE-d3v
    @sofianeBELLEPERCHE-d3v 7 місяців тому +139

    As a frenchmen this makes my moustache shivers with pride
    Bonjour de Lille ! 😊

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +6

      🎉❤🍷🕊️🕊️

    • @EXO_0fficial
      @EXO_0fficial 7 місяців тому +6

      Je viens de Lomme ! (Lille)

    • @Wow-iw5vh
      @Wow-iw5vh 7 місяців тому +9

      The French lost their native Celtic language (Gaulish) because of the Roman empire French is also badly pronounced Latin it is dialect of Latin that evolved from Roman occupation and Germanic invasions, French now use badly pronounced Latin words, Greek words, Iatlian words, Dutch words, other Germanic words, Eastern words (Persian, Aramaic, Arabic)

    • @EXO_0fficial
      @EXO_0fficial 7 місяців тому +4

      @@Wow-iw5vh We're still proud to have an official language.

    • @nijihimester
      @nijihimester Місяць тому

      > "as a frenchmen"
      > sofiane
      Désolée Sofiane mais tu n'es pas un Français.
      Stop larping as a Frenchman, please.

  • @arjungajja432
    @arjungajja432 5 місяців тому +1

    Amazing video. The rich history behind languages is so intriguing. And how so many languages are connected because of it

  • @vigneronf
    @vigneronf 7 місяців тому +4

    Awesome review that is very inspiring and enjoyable. No wonder there are so many views. 18 minutes well worth it!

  • @2hard2knock
    @2hard2knock 7 місяців тому +16

    I am from Haiti and most French speakers have a phobia of the English language (the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic sounds), but I would reassure them that 99 percent of the vocabulary is made up of French words…. And that goes to 100 percent for words ending in “tion”, like nation. Great documentary. Thank you.

    • @allendracabal0819
      @allendracabal0819 7 місяців тому +1

      Anion and cation take issue with your claim.

    • @2hard2knock
      @2hard2knock 7 місяців тому +4

      @@allendracabal0819 Both are *strangely* words employed in the French language.,

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 7 місяців тому +3

      ​@@2hard2knock you're prudent and wise 🦉❣️ Thanks for your text that linkage english,french and haitian caribbean too.
      All theses 3 Langs shares common glossary which is romanic, english is romanic too ❤❤❤❤

  • @davewave1982
    @davewave1982 7 місяців тому +5

    Your production values are incredible for “free” content. How is it that you aren’t world famous. Your videos are spot on, funny, witty, educational and don’t drag on.
    You are the English teacher everyone should have had at school.
    Well done on skyrocketing your likes and subscriptions.
    What is your background? Post grad? PHD?

    • @fsinjin60
      @fsinjin60 7 місяців тому +3

      He is a journalist by full profession. I have seen him reporting on the BBC.

    • @allendracabal0819
      @allendracabal0819 7 місяців тому +1

      @@fsinjin60 I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

    • @fsinjin60
      @fsinjin60 7 місяців тому +2

      @@allendracabal0819 His name is Rob Watts but he tries to keep his career separate from his pod casts

  • @sonariumstudio
    @sonariumstudio 4 місяці тому +2

    J'ai trouvé ton point de vue, ton exposé très intéressant. Merci

  • @Sir77Hill
    @Sir77Hill 6 місяців тому +61

    As a Frenchman, I love the English language so much. After all, it’s a bit ours too!

    • @SinilkMudilaSama
      @SinilkMudilaSama 6 місяців тому +5

      ❤❤❤❤Cheers 🥂🎈🍾🍾🥂🥂🎂🍬🫂💙💙♾️♾️🏡🏡🎈🍾🍾

    • @nicolaspetit6718
      @nicolaspetit6718 6 місяців тому

      Et c'est vrai qu'avec la mondialisation et les médias on en bouffe pas assez mon dieu quelle tristesse

    • @goofygrandlouis6296
      @goofygrandlouis6296 5 місяців тому +2

      Wtf ? it's become the rival language !
      omg.. 😦

    • @VenusEvan_1885
      @VenusEvan_1885 4 місяці тому +2

      It's not yours, English is a Germanic language

    • @lafamilleerre7733
      @lafamilleerre7733 4 місяці тому +4

      @@VenusEvan_1885 Sprache. English is a Germanic sprache. Language is French...😁