Post: #1

It's already 2nd week of my semester and I recently learned of Masculine/Feminine adjectives and noticed with my this:

Feminine form of "courageux" is "courageuse", which sounds like "courageous" in the English language.

I feel like the more I learn the French language, the more I learn how feminine Anglo culture is.

Post: #2

I think this is a pretty pointless conclusion. The male adjective, courageux, also sounds like courageous.

Also, I think that when spoken properly, English is actually a more masculine language than French.

Post: #3

(03-05-2015 02:12 AM)britchard Wrote:  I think this is a pretty pointless conclusion. The male adjective, courageux, also sounds like courageous.

Also, I think that when spoken properly, English is actually a more masculine language than French.

"~eux" French suffix always has silent "s-like" sound, while "~euse" French suffix sounds closer to "~eous" English suffix. I even repeat the vocabulary list, as I practice proper French pronunciations and makes me think how "~euse" feminine French suffix reminds me of "~eous" English suffix.

Given the gynocratic state of England...

I'm just sharing my own personal observation. Besides, I'm not even an Angle in real life, but I even agree with Continental Europeans how badly the Angles make Europeans look bad.

Post: #4

I remember way back in the late 90s when I was living with a French family as an exchange student and they had all of these crazy preconceived notions about us "Americans" (although I'm Canadian), which were entirely based on what they saw on TV and cinema. I explained to them that in English, we don't differentiate between people when saying "you are" as they do in French when they say "vous etes" and "tu est", the former being a familiar term which you would use with a friend or a person younger than you, while the latter being used in a formal context such as an older person or someone who commands your respect. After explaining this, my host mother quipped, "well its no wonder that you Americans have such a lack of respect and act like such morons!" Its been 16 years since she said that and I've learned another language and traveled all over the world and met numerous people and I haven't heard such a retarded observation of a foreign language since I read your OP, well done et bonne chance!

Post: #5

I study French and I'm trying to get up to intermediate (currently at a higher basic). There is one word that has carried over to the English language from French and it holds the same masculine/feminine agreement in English.

That word is blond. You have a blond man and a blonde woman.

Post: #6

(03-05-2015 04:07 AM)scotian Wrote:  I remember way back in the late 90s when I was living with a French family as an exchange student and they had all of these crazy preconceived notions about us "Americans" (although I'm Canadian), which were entirely based on what they saw on TV and cinema. I explained to them that in English, we don't differentiate between people when saying "you are" as they do in French when they say "vous etes" and "tu est", the former being a familiar term which you would use with a friend or a person younger than you, while the latter being used in a formal context such as an older person or someone who commands your respect. After explaining this, my host mother quipped, "well its no wonder that you Americans have such a lack of respect and act like such morons!" Its been 16 years since she said that and I've learned another language and traveled all over the world and met numerous people and I haven't heard such a retarded observation of a foreign language since I read your OP, well done et bonne chance!

I thought "tu" was the familiar, while "vous" was more formal and plural

Post: #7

Alex, vous avez raison! You are right!

Post: #8

LOL scotian what is it with French being so rude and ignorant

Post: #9

(03-05-2015 10:09 AM)Brian Shima Wrote:  LOL scotian what is it with French being so rude and ignorant

^^^I confused the use of former and latter, my bad. As far as the French coming across as rude and ignorant, I think that its a cultural and historical thing, basically a beef they've had with the English for centuries. They used to be a lot more important on the international scene and still resent their power being usurped by the British and later on, the Americans. French people are actually pretty cool if you get to know them, which can be a bit hard if you don't speak the language. They aren't such big assholes you just have to learn how to take them, for example, they will always complain about US politics and bash the US in general but if you point out they consume US products en masse just like everyone else, they will shut up pretty quick. French is a nice language and I would encourage anyone to learn to but I'm still confused as to what the OP's point was and how Anglo culture is supposedly feminine because of a cognate word.

Post: #10

(03-05-2015 01:57 AM)Tim in real life Wrote:  It's already 2nd week of my semester and I recently learned of Masculine/Feminine adjectives and noticed with my this:

Feminine form of "courageux" is "courageuse", which sounds like "courageous" in the English language.

I feel like the more I learn the French language, the more I learn how feminine Anglo culture is.

You're onto something: I've got a clock with Roman numerals in my house and The Roman Empire fell centuries ago. So clearly the US is going to fall!!

Or maybe it will ok because we only use it sometimes??



Don't let the "decline of the West" motif of the Everything Else subforum permeate into your everyday life.

You're going to notice alot of cognates and loan-words...about 25% of English vocabulary is from French.

It can be fun depending on your teacher: I had a Vietnamese lady who was more interested in telling us stories about how she'd get drunk in Paris than actually teaching us,haha.

Post: #11

It's shit like this that reminds me of the years I spent studying German at the university.

Every time someone pointed out and/or made up a fake story about how Gift in German means poison in English I wanted to pull out a knife and stab a motherfucker.

No shit, some dumb ugly bitch made up a story that ended with her exchange student (pointing at some random object) saying "Gift" over and over and some other dipshit eating whatever it was.

To make this sort of relevant, yes, many foreign languages differentiate between "masculine" and "feminine" words. 90% of the time they aren't based on anything "red pill". Bus in German is a masculine word, however, a bus is not alpha and doesn't have a dick.

Post: #12

(03-05-2015 12:30 PM)Goldin Boy Wrote:  You're going to notice alot of cognates and loan-words...about 25% of English vocabulary is from French.

Goldin Boy, I will raise you and say that it's even higher than 25%, it's about 70 percent to my recollection, I also study French but haven't been as aggressive as I should..I'm higher basic.

Post: #13

Well the English lived under a French occupation so this goes both ways and back a long time.

It's interesting how when there are multiple words for the same thing in English, the word with French origins is usually considered to be more sophisticated than the word with Anglo-Saxon origins.

Post: #14

(03-06-2015 07:29 AM)Moma Wrote:  

(03-05-2015 12:30 PM)Goldin Boy Wrote:  You're going to notice alot of cognates and loan-words...about 25% of English vocabulary is from French.

Goldin Boy, I will raise you and say that it's even higher than 25%, it's about 70 percent to my recollection, I also study French but haven't been as aggressive as I should..I'm higher basic.

70% English words are of Latin origin, but I don't how much of that is french or Latin and other romance languages (though majority is from French)

Post: #15

Alex, English is composed of German and French. If you extract all the German and French words from English, you'd probably be left with nowt but a smidgin.

Post: #16

(03-06-2015 11:08 AM)Moma Wrote:  Alex, English is composed of German and French. If you extract all the German and French words from English, you'd probably be left with nowt but a smidgin.

ehh, about 13% of the most common used words aren't of Latin (ironically higher class when you look at how much of it is science) or Teutonic (basic) origin, that 13% can be communicable (some languages use less than 800 words)

Post: #17

English had the "tu" and "vous" as French has

Only the formal treatment, "you" remains, because the informal was "thou"

Post: #18

(03-05-2015 02:12 AM)britchard Wrote:  Also, I think that when spoken properly, English is actually a more masculine language than French.

Not that I want to argue about that, but I'm sincerely curious to know what makes you think that french is more feminine than english? Are you talking about the genre or about the way it sounds?

Post: #19

^ The way it sounds. It's less gruff and guttural. I suppose I'm equating femininity to pleasantness.

Post: #20

I think English and German sound more masculine due to the rough sound of either language in comparison to French. That said, I wouldn't claim French is feminine, but rather more sensual..and classy.

G

Post: #21

Interesting, now that I think about it, it's true that speaking english or german takes me much more energy and breath than speaking french.

We have some very masculine french speakers, but I'm often amazed to hear how foreign men speak louder than most french men when I visit foreign countries. I myself have a much deeper voice when I speak english, if I use the same voice in french it just sounds unnatural or theatrical, some french men manage to pull that without this fake impression though.

Post: #22

(03-11-2015 03:30 PM)solipsis85 Wrote:  Interesting, now that I think about it, it's true that speaking english or german takes me much more energy and breath than speaking french.

We have some very masculine french speakers, but I'm often amazed to hear how foreign men speak louder than most french men when I visit foreign countries. I myself have a much deeper voice when I speak english, if I use the same voice in french it just sounds unnatural or theatrical, some french men manage to pull that without this fake impression though.

Interesting. My voice goes half an octave lower when I speak French.

G