A Basic Understanding Of The French Language

When you start learning French, you might be pleasantly surprised to find that you already have a bit of a head start. There are a surprising number of French phrases and words that are part of the English language, some which were introduced during the Norman Conquest and some much later. In fact, more than 25% of English has its origins in French or at least has some influence from it, so some French translations may be as simple as taking away the accents! For example, words such as competition, force, role, routine and table all have French roots.

There are also a number of words and phrases that the average person may know, and which were introduced later, so they have not been 'anglicised'. Some of these are occasionally even used in conversation or in writing. For example: bonjour (hello), au revoir (goodbye), baguette, blasé, brioche, café, charlatan, cliché, clique, crèche, crème brûlée, croissant, décor, entrepreneur. The list could go on.

There are already many points of familiarity that can give you a good starting point for learning French. Words that come from a similar source like some of those above are called cognates. With such a large number of cognates, even a native speaker of English who's never tried to learn French may be surprised about how many words they already know.

Moving on from your starting point of writing down the words you already know, another idea is to join an immersion class, where you learn by speaking French the whole time. If it's impossible to join one of these, you can effectively do the same thing by watching movies or streaming TV with subtitles. Hearing French while reading English subtitles will help you pick up a number of common words and phrases - and a few unusual ones.

If you do get a chance to practice your French with someone, it's worth noting that there are informal and formal phrases in French, so be careful about how you say certain things in a formal situation. As things get more complicated, this is where you may need to call the services of a company specialising in French translations! Until then, here are a few phrases and words for beginners - including both formal and informal options.

Your beginner's French translation dictionary
Bonjour - Hello
Bonsoir - Good evening
Bonne nuit - Goodnight
Salut - Hello / Hi (informal)
Merci - Thank you
S'il vous plaît - Please
Comment allez-vous? - How are you? (formal)
Ça va? - How are you? (informal)
Très bien - Very good
Comment vous appelez-vous? - What is your name? (formal)
Tu t'appelles comment? - What's your name? (informal)
Comment? - pardon?
Comprenez-vous? - Do you understand? (formal)
Tu comprends? - Do you understand? (informal)

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