Is English just badly pronounced French?

[@RobWords]

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]

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

[@CAP198462]

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

[@davidsturm7706]

Very doubleplus real!

[@philipcurnow7990]

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

[@mortitiaadams5545]

English is indeed bad German... 🙃🙃🙃

[@douglasstemke2444]

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]

Maladroitly pronounced French - even better!

[@jayhache5609]

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

[@tygrkhat4087]

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]

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

[@Runedragonx]

@@AlbertaGeek Oh no...

[@sailormatlac9114]

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]

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]

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]

@@jtotheb-ip2hh French has Germanic words too

[@Elchampolinbellacado]

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

[@lizsalazar7931]

@@Elchampolinbellacado French has more

[@JimFortune]

Isn't French just poorly pronounced Latin?

[@GreenGibbon]

Ha ha! 😄

[@JeanChordeiles]

It is ! Absolutely ! (I'm French)

[@CelestinWIDMER]

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

[@radadadadee]

ha ha! touché

[@CyprienArmand]

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

[@Chach2809]

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]

Yay, welcome aboard!

[@akarna69]

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

[@deadlyknights1119]

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

[@geronimocochise2033]

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

[@olafjerome]

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

[@juanitadudley4788]

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]

@@nonnayobiznus573 Well. no.

[@professeurjumeau8410]

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]

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]

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

[@baneofbanes]

@@rayzimmerman6740k

[@lecontroleurdepeagetresdem7581]

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]

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

[@rebeccaturkey7303]

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]

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]

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]

@@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

[@andeeanko7079]

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]

My pleasure

[@samroberts7404]

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]

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

[@embreis2257]

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]

​@@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

[@donnut_assortie3624]

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]

🥰🤙✌🤞🤞💛💙💙❤🍷🍷

[@evefischer6503]

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

[@gamataya9080]

@@evefischer6503demon hehe Another French word 👀

[@Artcore103]

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.

[@TheClintonio]

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]

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

[@BillGreenAZ]

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

[@slook7094]

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]

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]

​@@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.

[@knightrider585]

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]

Oui ^^

[@merc340sr]

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

[@Thomas-uu9ex]

So British ! 😊

[@harpo345]

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

[@Inconnu-z8w]

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

[@Charred_Pickles]

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

[@ReiKakariki]

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]

Actially from latin

[@IeremiasMoore-El]

estate is an English word also btw lol

[@soumyajitsingha9614]

English is part of Germanic language thank me later

[@Arturo.H.M]

Estado en español, es latín.

[@PaleFireNat]

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

[@boxsterman77]

I can join you in that thrill.

[@michaelkingsbury4305]

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

[@andred728]

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]

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]

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

[@mariekuijkenhistoricallyaw2598]

​@@hugokana6425😂🎉

[@gabrielbalbec883]

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

[@BernhardSchwarz-xs8kp]

Wow - an Irish dude speaking fluently French.

[@Mister_tchiki]

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

[@CAMRA_GUY]

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

[@bilsid]

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

[@okatanaje1477]

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

[@channelforcommentingstuff4960]

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

[@goodevening.3422]

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]

Truly and true evidences of Romanicity of Normand English brother.

[@_quelqu.un_7085]

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]

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]

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

[@garyblenkinsopp815]

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

[@vinopacino2423]

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

[@auldfouter8661]

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

[@viktor8552]

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

[@treeaboo]

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

[@maythesciencebewithyou]

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

[@vinopacino2423]

'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.

[@bricc9964]

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

[@rmdodsonbills]

It's certainly got some more ominous connotations :)

[@Aspen7780]

Sounds to me like a horror movie.

[@jaidee9570]

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]

Fresh meat !

[@KPA78]

yet 'fishmonger' is certainly still in use.

[@samuelbcn]

This video is nothing less than brilliant. Incredibly informative and entertaining.

[@KevinRibelMusic]

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!

[@smarterray]

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]

Why, thank you!

[@SierraNovemberKilo]

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

[@OliverTwist-vv4xh]

You sound fun

[@jeandixon586]

​@@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]

Do cocktail parties actually exist?

[@Clemjason14]

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]

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

[@Emka112]

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

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@Barril820]

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 KZbin 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 KZbinrs take exemple from you.

[@cheriem432]

Et moi aussi.

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

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

[@thomaslacornette1282]

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

[@Paddy-von-Sanchez]

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 KZbin content. Thanks so much Rob.

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

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

[@christianhohenstein1422]

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]

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]

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

[@joanxsky2971]

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

[@putinisakiller8093]

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

[@erichamilton3373]

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.

[@iPodGOTH]

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]

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

[@DoYouSeeBananaManTH]

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

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

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]

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

[@DSAhmed]

And mercy to pour your video too.

[@Ecapsora]

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]

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

[@leesin666]

@@jamesby All stolen fair and square, finders keepers

[@ecurewitz]

It’s my word now

[@SophieBonner-z1t]

Small dog syndrome

[@renastone9355]

Fair enough...

[@z9944x]

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 ! ! 🤣😉

[@captainboots]

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]

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

[@fsinjin60]

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]

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]

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]

@@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]

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

[@amerikawoche8243]

And “change” as well ?

[@dominiquebazie]

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

[@This-Is-The-End]

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

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

❤❤❤❤❤🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂

[@sacha2294]

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

[@rawkhawk414]

@@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]

French has a lot of Arabic loan words

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

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

[@kelliatlarge]

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]

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

[@anglewoden]

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

[@simontay4851]

I just pronounce it "Wot".

[@nicholasvinen]

You say whhhhhat?

[@kelliatlarge]

@@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.

[@kz6zd]

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]

Very nice addition. Good job / bravo.

[@mfjdv2020]

'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]

​@@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]

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]

@@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

[@BillSaltbush]

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? 😃

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

❤❤❤❤

[@daddythomas1389]

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]

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

[@ReiKakariki]

It's a linguistical reunion ever ❤

[@cheriem432]

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]

@@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]

@@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.

[@CreepersNeedHugs]

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]

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

[@jack8n]

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]

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

[@AWSMcube]

​@@pierremassines4981 💯

[@rsabinioan]

Bâtard>Bastard 😂

[@montebont]

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]

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

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

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]

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

[@montebont]

@@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"

[@amandakorjus6889]

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

[@thesarcasticsettler252]

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]

This is his own series, who needs TV

[@Charlie-Charlot]

TV is dead

[@thesarcasticsettler252]

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

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

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

[@crossleydd42]

....and vice versa!

[@Yvagne]

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]

💋💋💋🌹🌹🥂🥂🥂

[@nicolaasstempels8207]

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]

Merci infiniment Yvagne et bienvenue en France !!! ❤

[@elocinp9347]

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

[@MariaAlverenga]

Bravo 🎉 vous êtes à féliciter!

[@violenceislife1987]

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]

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]

Thats BS.. Gracias...

[@cheriem432]

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

[@jgarbo3541]

Or go to Quebec...

[@TheRealMycanthrope]

​@@craphead9842what is?

[@jeanmartin4446]

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 ! 😊😊😊

[@cheriem432]

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]

👍🌹🎸🎂💋💙🎶🎶🥂for her.

[@cheriem432]

@@ReiKakariki Cheers!

[@ReiKakariki]

@@cheriem432 Cheers 🥂

[@creolecajun9988]

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]

​@@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.🥂

[@mathieumorin7605]

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

[@freemind1923]

My favorite would be "communication"

[@jeffreyquinn3820]

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

[@binxbolling]

Languages*

[@mfjdv2020]

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

[@emile8178]

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

[@ronron2312]

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.

[@boxsterman77]

A couple of weeks?!? Wow.

[@jacquespoulemer3577]

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]

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

[@BenjaminLupton]

@@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]

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]

@@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]

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

[@xof-woodworkinghobbyist]

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

[@tannermcginn7330]

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

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

Sucess ❤

[@lucreciaxinico4879]

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 🥰

[@mattfitzpatrick4008]

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]

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

[@mattfitzpatrick4008]

@@chloe9500 thanks!

[@sarahtullamore1574]

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]

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]

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

[@rafidog]

Is there somewhere we can hear or read it?

[@brandenswan4847]

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]

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

[@boxsterman77]

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).

[@UN1TYMusic]

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!!

[@raumsogg]

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]

🎉❤💋🥂 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.

​​@@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]

@ 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]

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

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

@@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 😊🕊️♾️🥂🫂😊🪙

[@lmaoidkaboutnames6863]

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]

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]

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]

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

[@cheriem432]

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]

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.

[@millili7980]

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!

[@AmidalaEmma]

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]

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]

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]

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]

🤣

[@jollyrodgers7272]

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!

[@jpjunk4789]

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

[@mfjdv2020]

That's exactly the idea.

[@raphibus]

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

[@timtrainor9720]

Very well done, Ty.

[@tictacterminator]

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

[@JubioHDX]

@@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

[@PhilippeMarchand-xw1zp]

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"

[@NathalieBruneteauJoseph]

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]

❤💙💛🍷🍻👌🤗👏🥰🤙✌🤞

[@archibaldplays3982]

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]

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]

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

[@ReiKakariki]

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]

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

[@BenjaminGroff-qi6lc]

everything is native

[@Xingqiwu387]

And to see which language English speakers feel more comfortable with, compare the original English, French, and German here: educational possibilities / possibilités éducatives / Ausbildungsmöglichkeiten I conclude my argument / Je conclus mon argument / Ich schließe mein Argument ab.

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

🎉❤🎉❤

[@ReiKakariki]

Invecible demonstration English is ROMANIC Normand Aquitanian forever and neogreek, neolatin and celt. Your comparison it's invecible. Guillaume de Poitiers creates english from Viennes,Poitiers, Aquitaine, West France. 💎💙🫂🎁💙🥂🎶🍻🍷👍🤗🌄🛣️👏

[@stevenwarne69]

everything is just badly pronounced caveman grunts

[@supernate223]

Caveman grunts are just poorly understood atom farts

[@virtualatheist]

better pronounced caveman grunts surely ;-)

[@lisaedmondson780]

😆

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

😂😂😂😂

[@Batmannerz]

@@virtualatheist Found the French caveman.

[@scotmac]

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!

[@nelsonleeroy]

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

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

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]

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

[@dameanvil]

00:00 🇫🇷 The idea that English is just badly pronounced French is explored, tracing back to the influence of French on the English language. 02:07 🗡 French significantly impacted English during the Norman invasion in 1066, leading to profound linguistic changes and the infusion of French words into English vocabulary. 04:46 📚 French influence on English extends beyond vocabulary to include job titles, societal structures, and even culinary terminology. 06:01 🍽 French words also dominate English family and social terms, reflecting the prestige associated with the French language during certain historical periods. 08:42 💬 Despite significant French influence on English vocabulary, the core of the English language remains predominantly Germanic in terms of daily usage. 10:47 🔄 Interestingly, French has started re-borrowing English words, showcasing the reciprocal nature of language borrowing between the two. 12:27 ✍ French influence on English grammar is evident, including changes in possessive constructions and word order, possibly influenced by French language patterns. 13:52 🔊 French influence also affected English pronunciation, notably with the dropping of H's, which was perceived as prestigious due to French influence. 15:19 🖋 French poetic traditions, including rhyming schemes, influenced English poetry, leading to significant changes in poetic form. 17:12 🌍 French has played a significant role in shaping English into an international language, impacting vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and even poetic traditions.

[@ReiKakariki]

❤❤❤❤ Rob Watts the Normand boy of the UK ❤❤❤❤

[@LeJones457]

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

[@ggoannas]

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

[@blacknwhite5451]

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

[@GuitarMan22]

Die Präsentation war sehr informativ! Toll!🙂

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

You're welcome 🤗🤗💛💛 friend 😊

[@musyclover]

This is the channel I never knew I needed but I’m now addicted to. Merci Rob….do go on 👍

[@MegaLol232]

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]

"Kaufmann" in German.

[@Needlestitch]

Koopman in Dutch,

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

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]

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

[@tosgem]

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

[@mmh2065]

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 !

[@bealetm]

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!

[@ConfuSomu]

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!

[@YorranKlees]

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

[@babboon5764]

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]

​@@babboon5764😂

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

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

[@YorranKlees]

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

[@YorranKlees]

@@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.

[@davewave1982]

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]

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

[@allendracabal0819]

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

[@fsinjin60]

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

[@edwinpina7464]

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]

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

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

🫂💙💚💞😘

[@auntisthenes2754]

Rob is an excellent (certainly frustrated) teacher. He presents linguistic puzzles for all. he explains a lot and invites you to come and play !

[@SpiritmanProductions]

Very interesting, well researched and well presented. Thanks, Rob!

[@RobWords]

Thank you! And thanks for watching.

[@TheRatatouillator]

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]

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

[@mkmc94]

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

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

​​@@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]

​@@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]

@@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.

[@MarcTamlyn]

Another fun example of both multiple borrowings from french AND the "poshness" of french-derived words over germanic ones is found in the buildings in which we live (German, or abide, french...) The common folk live in a House (german/norse, before 1000), but the nobility may live in a manor (french, 1300s), or even in a mansion (french, 1500s). By the industrial revolution it was becoming fashionable to live in cities, perhaps in a flat (scots/germanic), but nicer in an apartment (french, 1800s in that context), or even a maisonette (french, 1800s). The sheer volume of words English has for very similar concepts, largely due to repeated borrowing from multiple different European language families, is perhaps its most distinguishing feature.

[@ReiKakariki]

A beautiful and plastic and descriptive and rich commentary on how English and a Creole Romance language, Celtic and French and Neo-Latin grammar using Germanic, Slavic and other continents slang jargons and glossaries whatever she wants without any qualms. This is what makes English Norman Occitan Angevin Poitevin English a multicultural language forever. ❤️💓⭐🥂😉👍👍🎆🏡💜🫂🥂🥂🥂🥂

[@norbzzz]

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

[@ahcuah9526]

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

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

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. 💙💙💙💙💙💙

[@BBQsaucemix]

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]

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

[@Aluenvey]

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

[@SinilkMudilaSama]

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]

Canadian fitlh

[@zikoadrian6059]

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

[@carllafong8360]

Another great video. Funny that old Cockney English, "In ‘ertford, ‘ereford, and ‘ampshire, ‘urricanes ‘ardly ever ‘appen,” is actually quite continental. 😊

[@paultaylor7082]

Ah, the exception of the 'h' aspiré in French (think Le Havre, le hibou, le homard), otherwise, like Spanish, the 'h' in a word usually isn't pronounced in French. Also note how few words in French contain the letter 'k', if they do, they're usually from another language (le parking, le weekend?)

[@ak5659]

I know where you found that example. Am I the only one??!

[@hugh_ghennaux]

My ancestors along with lots of other French Protestants escaped to Bethnal Green and Whitechapel in the 1680s. I'd be surprised if all those French settling in what became the East End didn't have a big influence on cockney pronunciation.

[@soupdragon151]

@@hugh_ghennaux Huguenot influence on pronunciation? Interesting idea

[@Manu-rp4sj]

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

[@AlastairWilliamson-m6c]

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

[@nonnayobiznus573]

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.

[@qerfqbAZRE]

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

[@lesacrecoeur9413]

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

[@kaki3151]

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]

💋💋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]

@@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]

​​@@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 💋🌹 💓 ❤️

[@yurlho490]

As a french from normandy I liked your video, and I can add that there were also words from norman dialect that have been exported to english. For example pocket comme from the norman pouquette, me too from mei itou and there's some more. And those are words that i've used to heard in my childhood as my grandparents spoke the dialect. But i never made the link with english until an aunt and a profesor told me about this. So I guess it's a pretty unknown fact, unfortunately the dialect is mostly spoken by very old generations so it's slowly disapearing with them.

[@ReiKakariki]

It's a dark notice 😞😞😞😞😞💔💔💔💔💔

[@soupdragon151]

Yes indeed and the use of the hard "c" sound is norman french rather than soft "ch" in modern french i.e. "carriage" in english, and there are many others

[@PrincessLockette]

Cabbage aswell

[@joaniedallaire4352]

Mei itou is also said here in Quebec!

[@ReiKakariki]

​@@joaniedallaire4352 pretty expression un normand spoken on Quebec, Me itou It's the same me too in normand english. 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀

[@minirop]

The H is dropped in French, but still ghostly present, like how we say "des haches" (axes) and not "des zaches" preventing the liaison when it was a Germanic H (IIRC), but we say "des zumans" (humans).

[@zetectic7968]

A hachet is a small axe

[@Katcycle]

Ah so is that the reason why some aitches aren't treated as silent in French? (ie no liaison) Because they're originally borrowed from a Germanic language? I've been learning French, and I still find it difficult to know which ones are silent which ones aren't. Especially as none of them are actually pronounced!!! I've learnt for example that it's "l'hôtel" (silent) but "le hall" (not silent, but which is pronounced "le 'all."). Perhaps this could be a way for me to try to remember which is which? I remember better if I understand something about it, rather than just rote-learning.

[@minirop]

@@Katcycle yes, "hall" is from English and "hache" is from old Germanic "happa" while "human" (humanis) and "hotel" (hospitale) are from Latin. but unfortunately, you'll have to remember them by heart, there are no easy way to know when an H is aspirated (i.e. prevents the liaison) or not. And there are strange cases where it changed, hence "le héros" but "l'héroïne".

[@soupdragon151]

@@zetectic7968 presumably from (old) french again, le hatchette or something like that, I imagine...

[@SCharlesDennicon]

Frenchman here. Loved your video. Subscribed!

[@artyy5944]

It is so intresting, I learn so much about the two languages that I speak the most (not perfectly but still) Thank you very much !