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Has your French affected the way you speak English ?


Hoddy
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I noticed some time ago that I was using ‘one’ as a pronoun more often than I used to. This morning I used pharmacy where I would previously have said chemists. Do you do this ? I’m wondering if there are more words that I’ve changed without noticing.

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No, I'm certain it hasn't. Teaching English as a foreign language has made sure of it.

On the other hand, years and years ago, working for a French boss played havoc with my English, as he'd use franglais words with such total conviction that on occasion I'd start to question my own belief, and even reach for the dictionary to check!

Plus, certain affectation really grate with me. Like calling a tradesperson an artisan.

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It causes hesitations in my English as sometimes the French word or phrase springs into my mind first.
Just occasionally I use a French word as if it were an English one when in fact that word doesn't exist, or isn't used like that in English.

I think WB picked me up on that  in a post here not long ago...

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NormanH wrote : Just occasionally I use a French word as if it were an English one when in fact that word doesn't exist, or isn't used like that in English.

Exactly so .. my dear OH, who has struggled with learning French since we arrived here in 2005, now often uses 'rest' when he means stay when he speaks English.

Example of a dialogue about us agreeing where to meet up in a fairly large town :

Him : I will rest there (place X) until you ring me to say where you find yourself.
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I mix up both languages when speaking, certainly, and some English words don't come to hand immediately, especially when hubby says - what's this in English !  But then, my French is sometimes completely wrong too!

I do find myself thinking, that's the wrong side of the road when in England, driving or being driven!!

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Stangely enough, I hesitate more when speaking in English than I do in French.  Could be because, in day to day life, OH is the only person I speak English to.  Even then, he is Welsh and we both sometimes use a Welsh construction even when speaking in English and certainly we use many Welsh words.

For English, it's not just speaking but writing too, stupid hesitations like, well,like writing "stupid" and I think I need an e as in stupide.

With speaking, it's words like responsabilité, qualité, capacité, etc.

Mind you, English isn't my first language either though, when I was in university, I was classed as a "native speaker" (a course that requires the student to be a "native speaker" of English, whatever native speaker means).

As for words like bache (no it's not exactly tarpaulin, is it) or poele or devis, I stopped thinking of these things in English a very long time ago[:)]

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  • 1 year later...
Yes, and when pronouncing place names like Montpellier and Grenoble and St Malo; can no longer do it the English way without thinking about how the sound is going to come out beforehand!

Even when talking about the Dordogne or la Dordogne.....quite a difference[:D]  Can't avoid this one because I live there[:-))]

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