Influence of Foreign Languages on English

English language has been evolving for a long time. There are many words in English that are adopted from other languages and a few of them are mixtures of different words. Here is a list of foreign languages that have influenced English.

Influence of Foreign Languages

French

French language is believed to be a high contributor to English, as nearly 30% of English words are believed to be of French origin. Legal, military, political terminology, words for meat of an animal, words referring to foods are mostly inspired from French. For example, chair (from chaise), bottle (from bouteille), stranger (from étranger), lizard (from lézard), etc. are some famous English words of French origin.

Latin

A lot of scientific and technical words, medical terminologies as well as academic and legal terminologies in English have been derived from Latin. For example, mind (from mens), water (from aqua), dog (from canis), rainbow (from iris), etc. are famous Latin to English words.

Dutch

Dutch words have a wide influence on English language. Words like skipper (from schipper), landscape (from landschap), forlorn hope (from verloren hoop), cookie (from koekie), the very famous Santa Claus (from sinterklaas), etc. are English words that originated from Dutch language.

Indian Languages

Indian languages contributed to English in many ways. Various words related to culture, mathematical terminologies, and others have originated from the colonial era. For instance, Bungalow (from bangla), Shampoo (from champo), cushy (from khusy), juggernaut (from Jagannath), mother (from mater), etc. have been derived from Indian languages.

Spanish

Many words relating to warfare and tactics that are a part of English language today have been derived from Spanish. For instance, albatross (from alcatraz), cannibal (from caníbal), cockroach (from cucaracha), galleon (from galeón), etc. are famous English words that are derived from Spanish.

You see there’s a big influence of foreign languages on English. Hence, if you are finding it difficult to appropriately translate your documents in English, it is advisable to contact a translation service provider for correct translation. For further information, dial 888-670-3369.

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