Sample chapter from my book Franglais

Franglais is a French vocabulary book with a difference. It teaches you approximately 2,000 words in 1 hour.  How can it teach you so many words so quickly?

Simple these words are common to English and French.

Below is a sample chapter from Franglais.

Do you want to learn French?

Did you study French at school? I studied French for 5 years at senior school and yet I left school barely able to speak a single sentence in French, and yet somehow I still scored relatively highly in the exam. In fact I'm half tempted to re-write the previous sentence because it has the word “study” in it. It should really say “I failed to learn French for 5 years at senior school”.

Was it that I was a useless student? Hmmm. Most of my class must have been equally useless then.

Is it because French is a difficult language to learn?

Nope. French is one the easiest languages for native English speakers to learn.

So what went wrong? I firmly believe the reason I failed to learn French at school was that the teaching method didn't build upon what I already knew. By senior school I was fluent in English. French is after all just English badly pronounced!

The purpose of this short book is to help native English speakers studying the French language to quickly build their vocabulary. I'll achieve this by showing you the vast number of words which are common to both the English and French languages.

If you already know something, it's very easy for your brain to apply that knowledge elsewhere.

In the many years since I left school I have become fascinated with etymology – the origin of words. The English language has very little English in it. It's full of French, Germanic and Scandinavian words. By pointing out the French words and just as importantly showing where the meaning has deviated over time, I will rapidly build your French vocabulary. There are also lots of English words which have found their way into French.

My goal is to teach you more French vocabulary in the one hour it takes to read this book, than I learnt in the 5 years (400 hours) of French lessons I had at school.

This book does not teach you French grammar so you will not finish this book and be able to speak or write French as a result. That is not the purpose of this book. Its purpose is to give you, very quickly, a large working vocabulary of French words so you feel more confident about going on to learn French.

If you have a basic grounding on French grammar, or indeed are a more experienced French language student, you can quickly use this new vocabulary to build and understand more complex sentences.

Let's commence.

Are you comfortable?

A large number of English words ending in ~able are the same in French.

All of these ~able words have French origins so you have now instantly increased your vocabulary allowing you to recognise them in French as well as use them in sentences you're constructing.

Take a look at the last sentence. You'll notice I've underlined some words or parts of words. Why have I done this? Well these words or parts of words are the same word or same stem as in French.

You can see in just one sentence that there are several words that are the same or similar. You already have a large working vocabulaire.

The convention I will utilise is a single underline ( ) for words that have the same meaning or common word origins. I will explain if the meaning has changed significantly.

I will occassionally change words into their French spelling too!

Words ending in ~able may have the same spelling but the pronunciation is different.

Take comfortable. Cum-fort-bl The French pronunciation is Cum-for-taar-b-le

The ending is ~aar-b-le with a real emphasis on the “aa” sound.

I would recommend using Google Translate - it does a reasonable job of showing the different pronunciation.

Your First 72 Words

Acceptable	Admirable	Actionable
Adorable	Agreeable	Amiable
Applicable	Appréciable	Arable
Biodégradable	Câble	Capable
Charitable	Comfortable	Comparable
Concevable (conceivable)	Considerable	Delectable
Enjoyable	Fable	Habitable
Honorable	Impeccable	Impénétrable
Impressionable	Improbable	Incapable
Incomparable	Incompréhensible	Inconceivable
Inconsolable	Incurable	Indescribable
Indispensable	Inévitable	Inexcusable
Inexplicable	Inextricable	Inflammable
Inimitable	Innombrable (innumerable)	Insatiable
Inséperable	Insoluble	Inséperable
Insurmountable	Interchangeable	Intolérable
Invariable	Irréconciliable	Irréparable
Justifiable	Navigable	Négociable
Notable	Portable	Préférable
Probable	Remarqable	Respectable
Sociable	Stable	Table
Tolérable	Inacceptable	Incomfortable
Indésirable	Inimaginable	Insociable
Instable	Viable	Vulnérable

The meaning of these words in the same and the spelling is similar.

Words in English beginning with un~ are in~ instead so “insociable” is “unsociable”. There is only one exception which unanimous (unanime). This rule does not apply to words starting uni~.

If you are stuck, use the rule that all words finishing in ~able are the same will help you get talking, but be aware that there are lots of exceptions. For example uninhabitable is inhabitable in French. Completely the opposite meaning!

Your decision

There is a large group of words ending in ~ion. As a simple rule to help you, all words ending in ~ion are the same. There are a few exceptions, but not many.

Now we have your first tranche of 46 words ending in ~ion.

The pronounciation is a little different

For example: Addition in English = Ad-dish-on but in French = Add-issh-ee-on

Abréviation	Absolution	Absorption
Abstention	Abstraction	Accélération
Accession	Accumulation	Accusation
Acquisition	Adaptation	Addition
Administration	Admiration	Admission
Adoration	Adulation	Affection
Affiliation	Aggravation	Agitation
Aggession	Aliénation	Allégation
Allocation	Altercation	Ambition
Amplification	Amputation	Application
Appréciation	Appréhension	Approximation
Argumentation	Articulation	Aspiration
Assertion	Association	Assomption (assumption)
Attention	Attraction	Attribution
Audition	Automation	Aversion
Autorisation (authorisation)

OK you have now learnt 118 words in a few minutes.

Some of these words you may think you rarely use in English. That may be true but these words often have other derivatives that are also the same or similar in French and are used more frequently. For example Adoration → Adore. We will cover these derivatives later.

Now for some fun. Let's learn some English words that have found their way into French. These are all nouns (things).

Le Jogging	Le Weekend	Le Shopping
Le Gadget	Le Snack	Le Fast Food
Les Teenagers	Le Parking

Total = 126 words.

OK. Let's quickly learn another 71 words ending in ~ion.

Billion	Célébration	Cessation (suspension)
Champion	Circulation	Clarification
Cohabitation	Cohésion	Collaboration
Collection	Collision	Collusion
Colonisation	Combinaison (combination)	Commission
Communication	Comparaison	Compassion
Compensation	Compétition	Complication
Compréhension	Compression	Concentration
Conception	Concession	Conciliation
Conclusion	Combustion	Condensation
Condition	Confédération	Configuration
Confirmation	Confiscation	Confrontation
Confusion	Congestion	Congrégation
Connotation	Conscription	Consécration
Consolation	Consolidation	Constellation
Consternation	Constipation	Constitution
Construction	Consultation	Contamination
Contemplation	Continuation	Contorsion (contortion)
Contraception	Contraction	Contravention
Contribution	Convention	Conversation
Conversion	Conviction	Convulsion
Coopération	Coordination	Copulation
Corporation	Correction	Corrélation
Corrosion	Crémation

Total = 197 words.

Time for something else. We'll come back to some more ~ion words later.

As a general rule all words beginning with con~ are the same. We will cover the majority of words starting with con~ with other rules eg condition is covered by the ~ion rules. We'll cover the remainder of the con~ words at the end of the book.

French is formidable

The word formidable is found in both the English and French language but it is one of those words where things have diverged. It is rarely used in English and when it is used, it is most likely to appear in a sentence like “He was a formidable opponent”.

Formidable is frequently used in French as a statement of surprise. Think of it being used as “Wow that is amazing”. “Tremendous!” “Marvellous!”.

Total = 198 words

No difference

Let's take a break from ~ion words as there are lots more to come. Let's do words that end in ~ence

The pronounciation is a little different

For example: Difference in English = Diff-ehrr-ence but in French = Diff-eerr-on-cse

Expérience	Différence	Influence
Défense	Science	Conférence
Référence	Présence	Existence
Silence	Absence	Violence
Séquence	Licence	Préférence
Indépendance	Essence	Résidence
Incidence	Compétence	Conscience
Interférences	Négligence	Occurrence
Émergence	Prévalence	Coïncidence
Excellence	Inférence	Patience
Adolescence	Innocence	Convergence
Turbulence	Incompétence	Cohérence
Indifférence	Indulgence	Divergence
Résurgence	Équivalence	Révérence
Diligence	Déférence	Impatience
Persistance	Affluence	Ambiance

I've stuck in some examples where the spelling has changed from ~ence to ~ance.

Total = 246 words

We've got a lot of ~ion words to learn so here's another 44

Damnation	Décision	Déclaration
Décompression	Délégation	Délibération
Démarcation	Démolition	Démonstration
Démoralisation	Dépréciation	Dépression
Description	Désignation	Destruction
Détection	Détérioration	Détermination
Détonation	Dévaluation	Dévastation
Déviation	Dévotion	Diction
Digestion	Dilution	Dimension
Direction	Discrétion	Discrimination
Discussion	Disproportion	Disqualification
Dissection	Dissémination	Distillation
Distinction	Distortion	Distraction
Diversion	Division	Documentation
Donation	Duplication

Total = 290 words

Dead Bodies

The word corpse in English refers to a dead body. The English medical term is a cadavre.

There's plenty of room for confusion if you heard a Frenchman talking about a corps. In France the body (corps) is not dead and still very much alive! Corps means body in French. In the unlikely event you really do need to talk about a dead body then in French it is a cadavre.

Total = 292 words

End of the sample

Want to learn the remaining 1,800 words and have a French vocabulary of 2,000 words in 1 hour?

Franglais is available on Kindle.