Language

Language has been around for a long time.

The word language comes from Latin. It originates from the Latin word for tongue, lingua.

There was a time when the word tongue also meant language and you may have heard of people “speaking in tongues” or in their “mother tongue”, which is the language they speak.

The French word for tongue is langue. It almost looks like the word, language.

Langue is a noun in French. French nouns have gender and the gender may make no sense whatsoever, as I have discovered. Gender is designated by using an article. English articles you already know are a, an, and the. They are neither masculine or feminine.

In French, the tongue is a feminine noun, so we use the feminine article “la”. It almost makes you want to sing if you don’t know the words to a song. Tongue is la langue. Langue sounds almost like the English word, long.

Articulation, Pronunciation, and Enunciation

How do we form sounds when we speak? We use the tongue, the lips, the teeth, the jaw, and the soft palate. Consonants and vowels have sounds in English and in French. Some are similar and some are not.

The soft palate is used in French, more than in English, when forming some nasal-sounding vowels.

The good news is that phonation is phonation, in French. It’s pronounced differently, but it is a clue about words which end in -tion. They are often spelled the same in French as they are in English. When we have words spelled the same in two different languages, they are called cognates.

It’s time to catch up.

Let’s look at some English words translated to French words.

Tongue – la langue

Tooth – la dent

Teeth – les dents

Lip – la lèvre

Lips – les lèvres

Soft palate – le palais mous

Hard palate – le palais dur

Gum – la gencive

Gums – les gencives

Vocal folds (vocal cords) – cordes vocales

Lick – lécher

Suck – sucer

Chew – mâcher

Bite – mordre

Swallow – avaler

Eat – manger

Drink – boire

Breathe – respirer

Inhale – inhaler

Exhale – exhaler

Food – la nourriture, l’alimentation, la bouffe

Drink – la boisson

Enjoy your meals today! Bon appétit!