Just like some of our previous articles where we talked about the idiomatic differences that turn professional translations into conceptual approximations, the different languages of the world have many similarities. So much so, that some of them even take words from other languages and make them part of their day-to-day language. So, not everything is made out of differences in the universe of languages.
As there are English words that are used in modern Spanish – such as “selfie”, “hater” and “spoiler” – there are words that the English language has adopted from other languages (mainly from French and German) that are used by its native speakers regularly. So even words that we all know and are very common like “fiancé”, “café”, “delicatessen” and “lingerie” are actually “borrowed words” that came to stay.
However, this phenomenon has a very clear explanation: English, French and German are sibling languages that had mutual influence throughout history. So much so, that between the IX and XIV centuries the official language of the British court was actually a French dialect. Whilst the lower classes of British society at the time used Old English to communicate, royalty used their own version of the French language.
In this article, we invite you to learn 12 “borrowed words” that are used by English native speakers regularly: