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From: Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: [OT] Is English just badly pronounced French?
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2024 14:06:57 -0400
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On Sat, 30 Mar 2024 23:06:45 -0700
anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:

> 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.
> >=20
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DTUL29y0vJ8Q [18 minutes]
> >=20
> > 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.=20
> >  =20
>=20
> Once again, Cecil Adams had the answer:
>=20
> https://www.straightdope.com/21341920/what-s-the-international-language-o=
f-business-french-or-english
>=20
> What=E2=80=99s the international language of business, French or English?
> By  Cecil Adams    Aug 3, 1989, 11:00pm MST
>=20
> 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
>=20
> Cecil replies:
>=20
> Now, now. He/she probably just didn=E2=80=99t 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 =E2=80=9Cthe common
> language of educated men=E2=80=9D (women too, one presumes). But it=E2=80=
=99s been in
> a state of decline since World War II, having long ago been
> supplanted by =E2=80=94 you guessed it =E2=80=94 English.
>=20
> English is the primary language of more than 400 million people and
> is the second language of hundreds of millions more. It=E2=80=99s essenti=
al
> in science, technology, economics, and finance. It=E2=80=99s 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.
>=20
Haiti may have French as an official language but I've heard Haitians
speak and I can hardly make out a single word of so-called Metropolitan
French (the language as spoken in France) despite several years of
French. I think the Haitians actually speak a Creole with only tiny
bits of French in it.=20

Mind you, I have a co-worker who is from Haiti and every time he
speaks English, I'd swear he just got off a plane from Paris: his
accent is pure Parisian!
>=20
> The French have been desperately attempting to reverse this trend. In
> addition to hosting international conferences of =E2=80=9CFrancophone=E2=
=80=9D
> (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.
>=20
Quebec goes them one better: they have TWO organizations dedicated to
keeping Quebec French pure! Seriously. They have the power to fine the
use of improper French and aren't afraid to use it. (I *think* they
confine themselves mostly to signage and publications; I've never heard
of them fining someone for *speaking* French improperly.)=20

> Not that French doesn=E2=80=99t have its uses. Au contraire. It remains t=
he
> language of international pretension par excellence, having a certain
> je ne sais quoi that appeals irresistibly to the nouveaux riches.
> Also, let=E2=80=99s face it, je t=E2=80=99aime sounds infinitely classier=
 than =E2=80=9Cluv
> ya, babe.=E2=80=9D But French is more likely to come in handy in the inti=
mate
> hours after the business meeting than during.
>=20
> Cecil Adams
>=20
>=20
>=20



--=20
Rhino