| Along with the other major languages of Western | | | | Throughout the history of the English language, |
| Europe, both English and French are descendants | | | | considerable vocabulary has been adopted from |
| of proto-Indo-European. English is a Teutonic | | | | diverse phases of Latin. The Jutes, Angles and |
| language, derivative of proto-Germanic via West | | | | Saxons opposed and bartered with the Romans |
| Germanic (along with Dutch, Yiddish and German); | | | | before relocating to the British Islands and had |
| French is a Romance language, derivative of | | | | thus already acquired some Latin phrases before |
| proto-Italic via Latin (along with Italian, Spanish, | | | | the coalescence of Old English. Christian |
| Portuguese, Catalan and Romanian). Though | | | | missionaries to England brought in with them Latin |
| French and English are long-since separated on the | | | | spiritual terms and more words were adopted |
| Indo-European genealogy, the complex history of | | | | during the English Renaissance. During the Industrial |
| English and the role French plays in this chronicle | | | | period and up to modern days, newfound |
| create a few interesting issues in French/English | | | | knowledge and engineering science is frequently |
| translation. | | | | designated by direct Latin borrowings or coinages |
| English is frequently depicted as a Germanic | | | | created from Latinate roots. This has resulted in |
| language with a Romance lexicon. Old English | | | | the doubles for which the English is famous: a |
| started out as the language of various tribes of | | | | native Teutonic noun coupled with a Latinate |
| northern Europe – the Jutes, Angles, and | | | | adjective, for instance: eye and visual/ocular, |
| Saxons – who strayed to the British Isles and | | | | arachnidian and spider. Additionally a quarter of |
| dislodged the Celts. Once the Normans had | | | | English words are derived from Latin. |
| appropriated England in 1066, Norman French | | | | The extraordinary history of the English language |
| became the language of the royal court, | | | | and its relation to contemporary French simplifies |
| relegating English to the lingo of the common | | | | a great deal in French/English translation because |
| folks. As usage was confined to the day-to-day in | | | | there is a extensive body of cognate words that |
| this time period, English pared itself down and | | | | require no to little change, such as direct |
| turned into Middle English, the language of | | | | borrowings from English into French (marketing, |
| Geoffrey Chaucer. The Normans retained | | | | weekend); direct borrowings from French into |
| command of the British throne for more than 300 | | | | English (moustache, ballet); and Latin derivatives |
| years and, as they reigned, many words rolled | | | | common to both languages (molecule, allusion). |
| into English. By the time English got back into | | | | Those performing English/French translation must |
| favor as the main language of the Isles, it had | | | | be aware however, of the many delusive |
| metamorphosed into Early Modern English, the | | | | cognates, known as 'false friends,' in the two |
| language in which William Shakespeare composed | | | | nomenclatures. Some are homographs with |
| his sonnets and dramas. It is reckoned that from | | | | entirely different significances, such as coin |
| one quarter to one third of modern-day English | | | | ('neighborhood' in French, a form of money in |
| vocabulary is descended from French. | | | | English), or chair ('flesh' in French, a place to sit in |
| Linguistic adoption has not been a unilateral | | | | English). More critical are analogous words that |
| phenomenon in the history of French/English | | | | have acquired easily mistakable senses, such as |
| relations. With the ascension of the English | | | | eventually/eventuellement ('possibly'), actually |
| language as the planetary lingua franca of science | | | | actuellement ('currently'), or to attend/attendre |
| and business, many English neologisms have been | | | | ('to wait'). |
| brought into French directly. The French | | | | In brief, due to the vagaries of history, French |
| Academy, the guard dog body that patrols the | | | | English translation is relatively easy compared to |
| French terminology, has tried to restrain the | | | | other language pairs. The large body of cognates |
| number of adoptions, but its success has been | | | | and mutual Indo-European base make the two |
| moderate. | | | | languages more similar than dissimilar. |