Re: [OT] Is English just badly pronounced French?

On Sun, 31 Mar 2024 20:16:46 +1300
Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:

On 2024-03-31 06:06:45 +0000, anim8rfsk said:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote: 

 
I apologize in advance to Americans who are inevitably aggrieved
by all things French just on principle but this video actually
makes a pretty good case for saying that English is
badly-pronounced French to a large extent.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUL29y0vJ8Q [18 minutes]
 
When he explains all the English words that are borrowed from
French with only slight spelling and pronunciation changes, you
may well be persuaded by his argument. 

 
Once again, Cecil Adams had the answer:
 
https://www.straightdope.com/21341920/what-s-the-international-language-of-business-french-or-english
 
 
What’s the international language of business, French or English?
By  Cecil Adams    Aug 3, 1989, 11:00pm MST
 
Dear Cecil: Our high school French teacher always insisted learning
French was important because it was going to become the
international language of business. Now I hear English is mandatory
in international aviation, and the Chinese students in Beijing
spoke English to the international media. Was our French teacher
shucking us? Merde! Les Petites, South Boston 

 
French comes in at number 20 in the current list of most widely
spoken native languages. English comes in at number 3, just after
Mandarin and Spanish.
 
   Mandarin Chinese = 941 million native speakers
   Spanish          = 486 million native speakers
   English          = 380 million native speakers
   ...
   French           =  74 million native speakers
 

The video I linked at the start of this thread claimed 1.5 billion
English speakers, presumably including many who have it as a second,
third or fourth language. I expect different organizations may citr
different numbers.

  
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers>
 
 
For the astronauts, the two languages they have to know are English
and Russian, because of course all launches to the International
Space Station had to be done by Russia when the Americans dropped
stupidly discontinued the Space Shuttle without any sensible
replacement option.
 
 
 

Cecil replies:
 
Now, now. He/she probably just didn’t know any better. French
teachers lead such empty lives as it is that no one has the heart
to tell them the awful truth, which is that French is a language on
the way down, not up. Once the language of diplomacy, French was
used in the royal courts of Germany, Russia, and Italy during the
19th century. Fifty years ago Somerset Maugham called it “the
common language of educated men” (women too, one presumes). But
it’s been in a state of decline since World War II, having long ago
been supplanted by — you guessed it — English.
 
English is the primary language of more than 400 million people and
is the second language of hundreds of millions more. It’s essential
in science, technology, economics, and finance. It’s the official
language of airport control towers, might as well be the official
language of computer software, and of course is vital to a perfect
comprehension of MTV, Madonna, and other pillars of modern culture.
French is the primary language of maybe 114 million, including such
outposts of world commerce as Haiti, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso,
and is essential chiefly to reading menus at Le Cirque.
 
The French have been desperately attempting to reverse this trend.
In addition to hosting international conferences of “Francophone”
(French-speaking) nations, France as of 1986 was spending $750
million per year to support 20,000 French teachers in 155
countries. It also employs language police to guard against
un-Gallic intrusions such as le compact-disc. But all in vain.
 
Not that French doesn’t have its uses. Au contraire. It remains the
language of international pretension par excellence, having a
certain je ne sais quoi that appeals irresistibly to the nouveaux
riches. Also, let’s face it, je t’aime sounds infinitely classier
than “luv ya, babe.” But French is more likely to come in handy in
the intimate hours after the business meeting than during.
 
Cecil Adams 

 
 

--
Rhino