How to translate French words WITHOUT KNOWING FRENCH (3 clever tricks)

Comments · 6.3K

• SE

  @sebastiendine4834 · 4 years ago (edited)

  There is one more trick also explained by the norman language:  if a word starts with "ch"  then try to drop the h letter after the c letter . For example with "chat" you get cat, with "char" you get car, with "chaudron" you get caudron (cauldron) and with "château" you get "casteau" (castle).

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• CD

  @cdemr · 4 years ago

  As a French speaker this video was just as fascinating. <br>I have to admit, I never considered the similarities between such words as Guêpe and Wasp, Guerre and War, Gardien and Warden... <br>That third trick was mind-blowing!

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• IA

  @iain349 · 5 years ago

  Damn. I&apos;ve been studying French for 25 years and never knew this. Well done man. Guell done.

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• BR

  @BrendanBeckett · 2 years ago

  I&apos;ve always been amused that English has 2 French words for guardian/warden while French only has one.

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• AR

  @arckene · 4 years ago (edited)

  Trick 4: replace &quot;eu&quot; with &quot;o&quot; in most words<br>FR -&gt; EN<br>majeur -&gt; major <br>interieur -&gt; interior <br>terreur -&gt; terror<br>erreur -&gt; error

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• ST

  @SteveGardnerUK · 5 years ago

  Needs more of that disapproving French woman

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• MI

  @mitchblank · 5 years ago

  Another thing that demonstrates how the Norman &quot;es-&quot; &nbsp;words in trick #1 is how some of those words still have English forms that DIDN&apos;T lose the &quot;e&quot;. &nbsp; &nbsp;For example from your list modern French &quot;état&quot; not only is related to &quot;state&quot; but also &quot;estate&quot;; French &quot;étranger&quot; is related to not just &quot;stranger&quot; but also &quot;estranged&quot;

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• MA

  @masterpointstrategies3413 · 2 years ago

  I&apos;ve been fighting with French for years. I think I&apos;ve learned as much in the last ten minutes. Thanks for that!

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• AL

  @allandnothing5338 · 4 years ago

  I&apos;m French. First year of junior high, I was in a class in which we started learning English and German. Both languages were new to us, so every word was a discovery. Yet we quickly noticed that some words looked alike (for example certain weekdays: &quot;Monday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday&quot; vs &quot;Montag, Freitag, Samstag, Sonntag&quot;). When mentioned to our (really bad) teacher, she forbid us to compare both languages and ever talk about it (she was a bit jealous, because let&apos;s face it we had much a preference for English which seemed easier to grasp).<br><br>Now, as an adult &nbsp;speaking a few languages and armed with more knowledge of Europe&apos;s history, I am amazed how backward it is to teach a language as if it had evolved in a silo with no connection with neighboring languages...

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• KE

  @KevinMcMurphyDoes · 4 years ago

  Absolutely brilliant. Most progress I’ve ever made in French in under 15 minutes.

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• RO

  @RobManser77 · 4 years ago

  Can I add some tricks?<br><br>TRICK 4: All but four English words ending in &quot;ion&quot; are the same in French: impression, condition, indication etc.<br><br>TRICK 5: Replace &quot;ical&quot; in English with &quot;ique&quot; in French and you&apos;re almost there. For example: practical, economical, strategical become pratique, economique, strategique.

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• AL

  @alfredrothmuller8833 · 3 years ago

  I &apos;ve studied both languages and know the similarities of many words because of their French origin. But, no one has put this in such an entertaining way. Thank you.

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