20 Foreign Language Phrases Cool Enough for You to Learn Them
There are more than 6,500 different languages spoken throughout the globe by people of different ethnicities and regions. With such a huge number, do you really expect them to remain unsullied? No way. Languages show a tendency to trade some of their assets, and it’s better you stay aware of them so that you don’t create a faux pas.
While we speak so many words every day, the fact that they have transcended from different languages remains obscure to us. This might be surprising to you, but your ‘English’ words like Kindergarten, Ad-Hoc, and Fest are not English words. These stolen words are better known as “loanwords”, a word given to some other language temporarily.
While using these words does embellish your communication, not knowing them might bewilder you at times. So it’s better you learn them by heart as it’s a fun activity in itself. Let’s shake a leg.
1. Déjà Vu
Pronunciation: they-jaa-voo
French for “already seen”, Deja Vu is used when you feel that you have already experienced the present situation.
2. Doppelgänger
Pronunciation: doppel-gang-err
Doppelgänger is the German for the double of a living person. The word literally means “double-goer”.
3. Faux Pas
Pronunciation: faw-pah
French word for an embarrassing situation or a blunder, Faux Pas literally means “false step”.
4. Ad Hoc
Pronunciation: add-hawk
This Latin phrase masquerading as an English one literally means “for this”. Ad Hoc is used to refer to circumstances when something is done solely for a particular purpose.
5. Carpe Diem
Pronunciation: car-pay-thee-am
Carpe Diem means “seize the day”. The phrase suggests making most of the present time.
6. Magnum Opus
Pronunciation: mag-num-o-pus
Magnum Opus is a Latin word meaning “great work”. It is used to indicate the best work of an artist.
7. Café
Pronunciation: kaa-fay
Though we have twisted its pronunciation a bit, Café remains one of the most popular foreign words used in English. Café is French for coffee.
8. Bona Fide
Pronunciation: boh-nuh-fied
Latin phrase meaning “with good faith”, Bona Fide is used to suggest that something is genuine. Authentically, it is pronounced as boh-nuh-fee-they.
9. De Facto
Pronunciation: d-fact-o
Latin for “fact”, De Facto means that something is a fact, whether right or not.
10. Kindergarten
Pronunciation: kin-der-gaar-ton
You must have never known that Kindergarten is a German word meaning “Children’s Garden”. Well, this is a real shock.
11. Vis-à-vis
Pronunciation: wiz-a-v
Literally meaning “face-to-face”, Vis-à-vis denotes comparison.
12. Modus Operandi
Pronunciation: mo-dus-o-puh-ran-dee
Latin for “way of operating”, Modus Operandi simply means the way of doing something.
13. Fest
Pronunciation: fest
We thought it to be an English word, but Fest is actually a German word meaning festival.
14. Rendezvous
Pronunciation: rawn-dei-voo
Literally meaning “appointment”, Rendezvous is used when a meeting is being planned.
15. Bon Voyage
Pronunciation: bawn-vo-ya-zh
Literally meaning “happy journey”, Bon Voyage is used to wish someone a nice trip.
16. Quid Pro Quo
Pronunciation: kwid-pro-ko
Latin for “something for something”, Quid Pro Quo is used to depict an equal exchange of something, like a favour for another favour.
17. Per Capita
Pronunciation: pur-cap-e-ta
Literally meaning “by heads”, this Latin phrase is used when something is done with respect to each person.
18. Genre
Pronunciation: zhaw-nruh
In French, this word means “kind” or “style”. Genre is commonly used to classify the style of a movie.
19. Status Quo
Pronunciation: stay-tus-ko
Latin for “the existing condition”, Status Quo is particularly used in case of political or social issues.
20. Entrepreneur
Pronunciation: awn-truh-pruh-nyow
A bit difficult to pronounce, this French word means “contractor”. It is used for a person who sets up a business on own and takes risks.
These words are really fun to learn and you can fancy them in your next convo. Your peers are surely gonna startle.
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