27 September 2022

More romantic phrases translations have been made into French than any other language, Google Translate finds.
Around the world, the French language is considered the language of love and passion; let’s explore why!

Why is French the language of love?

Vocabulary

Let’s start with the obvious! You may have noticed that some English words from the lexical field of love come from French. Perhaps, you met a femme fatale, started a little romance until she said “yes” and became your fiancée… this is a starting point of a magnifique love story, and one of the reasons why French is associated with love!

Culture

Popular culture can be a major driver when it comes stereotypes about the French. We all remember Rose asking Jack to “draw [her] like one of your French girls” in the film Titanic (1997), or Satine, dancer and courtesan at the Moulin Rouge in Baz Luhrmann’s film (2001), reinforcing the commonly held view that France is a romantic place and French the language of love.

 

Accent & pronunciation

All around the world, French accent has been ingrained one of the sexiest (oh la la).  Linguists explain this comes from the musicality of the language, the melodic intonation, and vowel distribution.

Moreover, the French has an overall total of 23 vowels (13 oral vowels, 4 nasal vowels, 3 semivowels and 3 glides), compared to 14 to 16 in English. As a vowel-dominated language, French is considered by some to sound attractive, due to the sheer number of oral vowels and their distribution.

In addition, the French language sounds softer, as consonants at the end of a word are not pronounced, unless followed by a vowel. For example: “Je t'aime de tout mon coeur” should be pronounced [ʒə tɛm də tu mɔ̃ koer].

Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Embrace French culture and speak the language of love with us!

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