This is an extract from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes:
Lestrade laughed. “I am afraid that I am still a sceptic,” he said. “Theories are all very well but we have to deal with a hard-headed British jury.”
“Nous verrons,” answered Holmes calmly. “You work your own method, and I shall work mine. …”
And this is from Pride and Prejudice:
“Yes; these four evenings have enabled them to ascertain that they both like Vingt-un better than Commerce; but with respect to any other leading characteristics, I do not imagine that much has been unfolded.”
I am quite struck by the usage of French words in these classics. To quote in French is one thing (as shown in my previous post), but to weave French words in normal conversation as if it belongs is quite another. It is just like when we speak in India at present. English words come and go as we speak in Hindi or any other regional language. We know that the person we are talking to will understand.
Evidently, French was a world language once upon a time, just as English is. What happened? How did French go out of style? It should be interesting to trace the history of the decline of French as the world language.
By the way, vingt-un used by Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice is not exactly correct. I should be vignt-et-un (twenty and one), but you could drop the "et" while talking, I suppose.
Pronunciations:
Nous verrons [hear] = (We will see)
Vingt-et-un [hear] = (Twenty-one)
Lestrade laughed. “I am afraid that I am still a sceptic,” he said. “Theories are all very well but we have to deal with a hard-headed British jury.”
“Nous verrons,” answered Holmes calmly. “You work your own method, and I shall work mine. …”
And this is from Pride and Prejudice:
“Yes; these four evenings have enabled them to ascertain that they both like Vingt-un better than Commerce; but with respect to any other leading characteristics, I do not imagine that much has been unfolded.”
I am quite struck by the usage of French words in these classics. To quote in French is one thing (as shown in my previous post), but to weave French words in normal conversation as if it belongs is quite another. It is just like when we speak in India at present. English words come and go as we speak in Hindi or any other regional language. We know that the person we are talking to will understand.
Evidently, French was a world language once upon a time, just as English is. What happened? How did French go out of style? It should be interesting to trace the history of the decline of French as the world language.
By the way, vingt-un used by Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice is not exactly correct. I should be vignt-et-un (twenty and one), but you could drop the "et" while talking, I suppose.
Pronunciations:
Nous verrons [hear] = (We will see)
Vingt-et-un [hear] = (Twenty-one)
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