English is like the second language of every person on this earth. The world has embraced English as its own language. In schools, a college, at offices or parties the English language is at the forefront. Everybody likes to walk and talk in English. People flaunt their English speaking skills. There was a rise in the number of people rushing to learn the language. The Internet was flooded with lesson plans and courses to learn the same. Also, the platforms providing English trainers were in demand. English is a language of such great importance.
But there has been a recent change to it. It’s not only English but a number of other languages that have managed to gain this place in the race of which English was once the sole winner. People are moving towards learning other languages. It’s no longer just the game about English. The people are not just learning it for namesake. The languages have soared in demand. For business purposes, for trade, for education, career, job opportunities, there are many sectors demanding languages other than English. So now the internet is loaded with information on other languages too.
French is the language which is in demand too. It is widely spoken in. Many people are opting towards learning this language. It is an international language spoken all over the world. It is also the official language of the United Nations and UNESCO.
Well, the good news is that this French language is a lot similar to the English language. It wouldn’t be wrong if I say that French has very much been influenced by the English language. That is something positive you read. Which means it will be easier to grasp French too. 45% of the English vocabulary originates from the French language.
So here we list down the similarities for you.
Déjà vu: a feeling of having already experienced the present situation.
Faux pas: social mistake
Avant-garde: new and experimental ideas and methods in modern art.
A la mode: up to date
Le selfie- a selfie
Le sandwich- a sandwich
L’email- an email
Cool- cool
Le dressing- a dressing room
Le week-end- weekend
Un pipeline
Un parking
Le shopping
In English, we have this concept of silent letters, where a letter is not heard in the pronunciation of a word. Like in the word ‘honest’- the letter ‘h’ is silent and while pronouncing it sounds ‘o-nest’ and not ‘ho-nest’. French also has this concept of silent letters similar to English. The letters x,h,s,n, and t are silent letters in French. Eg: deux(x is silent); homme(h is silent).
The French alphabet contains the same 26 letters as the English alphabet.
Both have an overlap of auxiliaries, participles, active/passive voice, past/present/future. Same Subject-Verb-Object syntax. Both the languages have similar articles.
Words that are spelled the same in English and French. A few English words and the French cognates.
Brilliant- brilliant(e)
Elephant-elephant
ignorant-ignorant(e)
important-important(e)
To the English speakers, French feels really subtle. There are a lot of sounds that are similar in both languages. The sound of letters l,m,n,o, and s is similar in both languages.
English and French, both the languages are being used by people Used world-wide. The way English is an important part of our school curriculums, French is slowly coming to that position. Many schools offer French subjects today. In colleges the students are given an option to choose French in India.
These were the 7 similarities between the English and French languages. But there are also many differences between them as well. The similarities are only to show you that these similarities make the French language a little simpler to learn since we know English well.