Do you want to sound fancy? 我們今天要帶給你一個很有趣的小技巧。 讓你隨時聽起來很有點昂貴, 高貴, 也有點時尚。

Why does French feel expensive?

History

French used to be the international language of nobles

French influence has dominated the world at different points in history. From the wealth of Versailles, to the relief of the burgeoning United States, and further into the Napoleonic era, France has been a vastly wealthy nation with incredible cultural influence.

French vocab were borrowed to English after Norman Conquest with fancier connotations

Early in English history, Anglo-Saxon culture was repressed by their Norman invaders (predecessors of France as we know it today.) The Normans greatly impacted key areas of vocabulary, such as politics, law, religion and fine dining:

• “minister” (ministre) / “government” (gouvernement) / “coup d’état”
• “military” (militaire) / “army” (armée) / “commander”
• “court” (cour) / “jury” / “verdict”
• “religion” / “virgin” (vierge) / “confession”
• The aristocracy of French-speakers introduced words for meats such as beef, veal, mutton, bacon, pork, and venison, common dishes among the elite. In the meantime, the Anglo-Saxon commoners, who tended the domestic animals, retained English words of German origin for animals such as ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine, and deer.

French was seen as a high- class language while English is low-class.

Phonology

Pronunciation

• Consonants at the end of a word normally are not pronounced unless it’s followed by a vowel
• Contain less plosives sounds
• The nasal sounds (both vowels and consonants) give the language a unique and delightful quality

Intonation