How many of these French words do you use in your English conversation everyday...?
cuisine
rendez-vous
RSVP (Répondez, s'il vous plaît)
protégé
petit
à la carte
au naturel
bon appétit
chic
critique
cul de sac
déjà vu
en route
faux pas
foie gras
hors d'œuvre
pot-pourri
sans
souvenir
touché
I just wanted to 'thumbs up' the Michel Thomas reference. For English speakers wanting to study major European languages, it is a great place to begin.
Here is a BBC program about Michel Thomas, in three parts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8jhy7ZQC38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k733oJ9DEvk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBs0AuZEvNs
Thanks Jane, Michel Thomas says on his French CD that 60% of the English language are French words. In fact all English words ending in; ible, able, ent, ant, ical, ance, ence, ary... are from French, and the list continues.
You are right, I should have included 'Aperitif', we use that in restaurants all the time.
Thanks Norman Invasion.
You forgot some...
Aide memoire
Amuse bouche
Aperitif
Art nouveau
Au contraire
Au pair
Au revoir
Avant garde
Baguette
Billet-doux
Blasé
Bon appétit
Bon mot
Bon vivant
Bourgeois
Bric-à-brac
Brioche
Cachet
Carte blanche
C'est la vie
Cliché
Communiqué
Contretemps
Coquette
Cortège
Cordon bleu
Coup d'état
Couture
Crèche
De rigeur
Découpage....
I'll stop there as I'm only at the begining of the letter D...
I just thought of something, most of the French words above are actually the English word. There is no other English word for cuisine or souvenir, we use the French word.
There is also the word Affaire
Like in " love affair "
And many words related to dating and gallatery