Qui parle français ?

[keyhero]

What part of america are you talking about? Because i am fom Mexico and i speak a little French, Italian, English and Spanish, and Ameica is a continet not a country.
And most of the continet´s population speaks either spanish or portuguese.

 

[Freddie53]

Originally posted by Solis25@Jan 4 2005, 06:43 PM
Freddie and titan (and whoever else): you're very welcome! languages are a passion for me, and like a number of passionate people, i'm glad to be able to share it with others.

Patinero: Op frans bent je een 'flamand', maar 'flandrien' is al grappig... ;o)

Freddie: Dutch is also one of english's closest relatives, as far as language families go so it's no wonder you can pick up some of it when you see it written down. hearing it is another story. i love dutch! it always puts me in a good mood somehow. it'll probably become my 5th language.

oh and democracy is spelt with -cie and the end in french... may have been borrowed from the french language at some point, not sure... can anyone confirm/infirm this?

[post=272111]Quoted post[/post]​

Thanks for the posts that follow that tell the history of the word. The Latins borrowed the oriignal word for democracy from the Greeks, Then the French borrowed it from the Latin language. I don't know if the English got it straight from the Latin or if it came from Latin to French then to Engish. At one time high society in England spoke French So I'm not sure the exact sequence of the development of the English word with the spelling we have now.

 

[Freddie53]

Originally posted by keyhero@Jan 6 2005, 03:50 PM
What part of america are you talking about? Because i am fom Mexico and i speak a little French, Italian, English and Spanish, and Ameica is a continet not a country.
And most of the continet´s population speaks either spanish or portuguese.

[post=272652]Quoted post[/post]​

Which geography class did you take? America is not a continent. There are two continents - North America where English is the most spoken language and South America where Spaish is the most spoken word followed by Portuguese. English is not the native tongue of many people in South America. There are also some areas where several different Native American tongues are still spoken as the pri8mary languare

Generally the word America refers to the country called the United States of America. The word American refers to people from that country.

 

[jonb]

a.k.a. Merkins.

 

[Solis25]

Originally posted by Freddie53+Jan 6 2005, 11:10 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Freddie53 &#064; Jan 6 2005, 11:10 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-keyhero@Jan 6 2005, 03:50 PM
What part of america are you talking about? Because i am fom Mexico and i speak a little French, Italian, English and Spanish, and Ameica is a continet not a country.
And most of the continet´s population speaks either spanish or portuguese.

[post=272652]Quoted post[/post]​

Which geography class did you take? America is not a continent. There are two continents - North America where English is the most spoken language and South America where Spaish is the most spoken word followed by Portuguese. English is not the native tongue of many people in South America. There are also some areas where several different Native American tongues are still spoken as the pri8mary languare

Generally the word America refers to the country called the United States of America. The word American refers to people from that country.

[post=272658]Quoted post[/post]​

[/b][/quote]

hmm well it all depends on which geography book you open and/or which atlas you have. some view america as being one continent, some as two, and some as three (north, central, south). some count mexico as being part of north america, some don&#39;t.

and just for the sake of the debate, america IS a continent and NOT a country. i make a point of saying us-american or us-citizen when I mean someone from the usa and never say america when meaning the usa, because it&#39;s a bit off...

boy, i just love straying off topic... does anyone else speak french? *g*

 

[bbrutus14]

All the latin and French words came into the English language via the Norman conquest of England in 1066 AD. English was a very limited Germanic language until the Norman French vastly increased out vocabulary. For instance there was. only one word for king in Germanic English. The French gave us monarch, monarchy, royal, majesty, and regal. There is bloom which is of German orgin and flower which is latin/French. There is green (grun) and verdent which is of latin/French origin. If it hadn&#39;t been for the French our language wouldn&#39;t have become as expressive, useful, and accurate in expression. Et oui, j&#39;aime bien la langue et la culture francaise. Les francais ont raison&#33; Anyone who demeans the French and what they&#39;ve contributed to our language just doesn&#39;t know history very well.

 

[Solis25]

Originally posted by bbrutus14@Jan 7 2005, 03:57 AM
All the latin and French words came into the English language via the Norman conquest of England in 1066 AD. English was a very limited Germanic language until the Norman French vastly increased out vocabulary. For instance there was. only one word for king in Germanic English. The French gave us monarch, monarchy, royal, majesty, and regal. There is bloom which is of German orgin and flower which is latin/French. There is green (grun) and verdent which is of latin/French origin. If it hadn&#39;t been for the French our language wouldn&#39;t have become as expressive, useful, and accurate in expression. Et oui, j&#39;aime bien la langue et la culture francaise. Les francais ont raison&#33; Anyone who demeans the French and what they&#39;ve contributed to our language just doesn&#39;t know history very well.

[post=272748]Quoted post[/post]​

not to mention the fact that the english aristocracy spoke french for a very very very long time... In fact somebody tld me the queen still speaks french, dunno if that&#39;s true though.

thanks for your info&#33;

 

[Freddie53]

Originally posted by Solis25+Jan 7 2005, 05:40 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Solis25 &#064; Jan 7 2005, 05:40 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-bbrutus14@Jan 7 2005, 03:57 AM
All the latin and French words came into the English language via the Norman conquest of England in 1066 AD.  English was a very limited Germanic language until the Norman French vastly increased out vocabulary.  For instance there was. only one word for king in Germanic English.  The French gave us monarch, monarchy, royal, majesty, and regal.  There is bloom which is of German orgin and flower which is latin/French.  There is green (grun) and verdent which is of latin/French origin.  If it hadn&#39;t been for the French our language wouldn&#39;t have become as expressive, useful, and accurate in expression.  Et oui, j&#39;aime bien la langue et la culture francaise.  Les francais ont raison&#33;  Anyone who demeans the French and what they&#39;ve contributed to our language just doesn&#39;t know history very well.

[post=272748]Quoted post[/post]​

not to mention the fact that the english aristocracy spoke french for a very very very long time... In fact somebody tld me the queen still speaks french, dunno if that&#39;s true though.

thanks for your info&#33;

[post=272797]Quoted post[/post]​

[/b][/quote]
Yes, that is why I said that 70% of words in our English dictionary have a Latin Origin. The French language is even higher. So most of our French based words came from Latin. The word and meaning was changed as it became a
French word. Then sometimes changed again as it became an English word.

The French language is a Latin based language not only in words but many sentence structures.

The effect on our languge can be noticed in this way. The French name was pork. The English name was pig. Since the aristocracy spoke French. Evenually pork became the word used at the table for the meat prepared to eat and pig became the word for the animal on the hoof out in the pasture.

I used to know just examples and the tens of words like this. But anytime one wod refers to the animal dead and ready to eat and one word describes the animal on the hoof then this pattern is probably true.

Think about it. At the table the arisstocracy said we are havnig pork. And so it became fashionable among the peasentes to refer to the animal at the table as pork with the peasents trying to act as an arestocrat.

English has 400 basic words that will get you by in basic communication. Most of our real colorful words have an non-English backgroun. The Vikings invaded England as well and added words to our language. Shirt and skirt use to mean the same thing. One word came from the Vikings and the othe from the Anglo-Saxons in England. I dont remember which one was Viking.

 

[B_DoubleMeatWhopper]

Originally posted by Freddie53@Jan 7 2005, 10:53 AM
I used to know just examples and the tens of words like this. But anytime one wod refers to the animal dead and ready to eat and one word describes the animal on the hoof then this pattern is probably true.

Among others:
English ox = French bœuf = Anglo-Normanbeef
English sheep = mouton = Anglo-Norman mutton
English calf = French veau = Anglo-Norman veal

Those are the ones that I can remember off the top of my head.