To many British people, learning a foreign language is difficult, time-consuming and, to be honest, too much like hard work. However, there are already many words taken from other languages which have been assimilated into everyday English without translation, yet everyone knows their meaning.
Examples include ‘cul-de-sac’, ‘bona fide’, ‘déjà vu’, ‘kosher’, ‘ad infinitum’, ‘fait accompli’, ‘pro bono’ and even ‘RSVP’ on the bottom of an invitation.
It has been claimed that some 30% of English words in a standard dictionary may be of French descent, not least when discussing food, i.e. ‘nouvelle cuisine’, ‘aperitif’, ‘á la carte’, etc.
In France however, they try very hard to avoid the adoption of foreign words into their culture, although certain words have crept in, including ‘weekend’, ‘sandwich’ and ’email’.
Vocabulary from other languages have also been absorbed. Many English words have descended originally from the language of Latin, a language commonly used hundreds of years ago. Some of these Latin words and phrases are so widely known and used in modern language, that people are unaware of where they originated. Examples include ‘per annum’, ‘pro rata’, ‘status quo’, ‘vice versa’ and ‘rigor mortis’.
The sharing of words and phrases from language to language has been assisted by the amount of people now travelling the world for both work and pleasure and this is likely to increase further.
