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Subject: Re: [OT] Is English just badly pronounced French?
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2024 20:16:46 +1300
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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

   
<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