41% of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE is FRENCH. How did this happen?

We look at the history of the English language and particularly why there are so many French words and expressions in English. We'll also discuss the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings and more. In part two Jon and Gideon look at French expressions that we still use in English today. If you're a native speaker or you're learning English you'll find this interesting.

0:00 Jon and Gideon on the streets of Paris
0:29 The origin of English words
1:20 The Norman Conquests and the Anglo-Saxons
4:01 The Vikings
5:53 French vocabulary in English
11:26 Pardon my French
12:42 Part 2: French expressions in English with Jon

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MEDIA CREDITS
PHOTOS

MUSIC

[SteveBene]

French was for a time the international language of communication through out Europe.
It dominated in the royal courts.

[Karlyper]

I'm French speaking and I have an English-speaking friend who works on medieval history.What I find very interesting is that he is able to read and understand 15th and 16th century French texts, whereas I don't understand them at all as French texts. It's true that when you read them out loud, you find a lot of words that sound like English words today.

[dldnthc]

As an Italian speaker I can tell you for a fact that I can recognise over 40% of the English language due to its Latin roots which found their way through the French language

[eglantinepapeau]

"41% of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE is FRENCH"
most french speakers know this instinctively, same for all speakers whose languages were born from latin ( spanish, italian, portuguese) . all of us can see the way english has strong latin influences despite being a germanic language at its source .

[fwcolb]

In anglophone Canada we try to pronounce French expressions as French with varying success from east to west.

[EarlJohn]

I, as an English speaker of Australian origins, have often said that "English is a very humble language, it's not ashamed to steal words from anywhere/anyone."

[bertrandcarel]

Very sincere love from France ! I'm a Norman, I lived for 45 years in Caen, were William the conqueror is buried, and my mother was born in the region were the norman army weapons for Hastings were made. The master blacksmith was Henri de Ferrières, (from the village of Ferrières Saint-Hilaire). He crossed the channel and fought with William who, as a reward, gave him 210 counties in England. That made Henri de Ferrières one of the richest men of England. Later, he contributed to the creation of the Doomsday Book. He became known through History as Henry de Fereers, (from the anglicisation of de Ferrières), and is the oldest known ancestor of W. Churchill and Georges Washington ! That's why, although I'm french, I can't help considering the English as very close cousins of mine and once again : love from Normandy - France, and thank you for this very interesting video !

[xqatrez]

In Esprit de corps, the word corps doesn't refer to the human body, but to a body of soldiers -- corps has that meaning in English. Team spirit would be a close enough translation

[virriathus]

20:33 in French "Raison d'être" means more : "the thing (hobbies, job, passion, person we love) that makes us want to live for" or "the thing that gives meaning in our lives".

I am a native Hungarian who currently learns French with a native French teacher and our common language is th English. So, I found your video très interessent et utile :)

[alwantamalus]

There's a fact not mentioned in the video, French influenced English also by medieval litterature and songs, most of medieval tales introduced in England were originally in french language like the tales of King Arthur, the knights of the round table....the traduction of these tales and troubadours songs introduced French words into English language

[jeannea]

All these expressions are used in French, except, as you said, "double entendre" - the correct form is "double sens". "Crème de la créme" is used and I think everyone would understand it in France. There is also another way to say "crème de la crème", and it is also coming from fooe: you can say "le gratin", the best of the best.

[Immopimmo]

In Swedish we also have a lot of French words from when French was the fashionable language among the upper classes. Interestingly enough we don't use the word cul-de-sac but "Återvändsgränd" which literally translates to

[volbound]

From a historical perspective, you had one mistake (which ironically the truth supports your argument even more), during the Norman rule of English, a lot of the Kings actually held palace in Normandy, Anjou, or Gascony and spent very little time in England itself. For example, Richard the Lionheart spent less than a year of his life in England.

[armindogenero]

One of the best videos I have ever been able to watch on the History of the English Language, particularly regarding the influence of the French Language on English and vice versa.

[tb]

As a Frenchman, I quote Georges Clémenceau (1841-1929, French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920) who said, referring to the history of William the Conqueror, "What is England ? England is a former French colony which has gone wrong"....

[hellohjbgjh]

As a French native I have a few favorite English words (demise, dismiss, miscealleanous). Don't know why but I love these words and pronunciation

[compphysgeek]

I'm German and at school we had to have English and could have another language. I tried French first but struggled so hard that I switched to Spanish instead. Now that I feel very comfortable in English I began to learn French again and I can't believe how much I can already understand.

I just hope that one day I'll reach the level of fluency in French, and Spanish again, that I have in English now.

[fenrisdeguyenne]

"Esprit de corps"
In french, you find it in teams, military corps, syndicates, work corporations and strongly united groups involved in a cause or values. It's a strong feeling of belonging to the same group and the solidarity within.
When a member of the group is in danger, difficulty or attacked, the whole group gather to help, defend, protect, fight back depending on the situation due to that feeling.

"Double entendre"
Not used in french, we use "double sens".

"En suite"
Not used, no equivalence.

"Cul de sac"
You're right, we don't pronounce the "l".

[mep]

As a Spanish speaker, after learning English I started to learn French. I knew I was going to find many similar words because Spanish and French are romance languages. What I didn't know was that I would find many English words similar to French.
For example: to pay (English) payer (French) pagar (Spanish)
to change (English) changer (French) cambiar (Spanish)
combination (English/French) combinación (Spanish)
capable (English/French) capaz (Spanish)

Many similar words. Knowing another romance language and English makes you learn French vocabulary faster and easier to remember