English to French Translation

Beware of ‘false friends’

If often happens that different languages have some amount of shared vocabulary. This mainly happens for two reasons. Firstly, there is a lot of shared vocabulary between related languages. For instance, English and French are both Indo-European languages, they have the same historical roots, which results in some shared vocabulary. Secondly, languages that ‘interact’ with each other borrow words from each other, no matter if they are related or not. The English and French languages have interacted a lot with each other throughout history.

This has a great influence on English to French translation. On the one hand, there are a lot of similar words, which can make things easier. On the other hand, there are so-called ‘false friends’: words that look similar in both languages but have very different meanings. You need to pay special attention to them when you translate English to French, especially when you translate documents and other important types of texts.  

For instance, the word ‘caution’ exists both in English and French, but in French it means ‘guarantee’, and not ‘caution’.

Do not translate word for word

As English and French are closely related and share a lot of history, there are quite a few similarities (mostly lexical, but some grammatical ones, as well) between the two languages. This does not mean, however, that you can translate English to French word for word.

This is especially important to keep in mind when you translate idioms. For instance, ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’ is ‘c’est la goutte d’eau qui fait déborder le vase’, literally ‘the drop of water that made the vase overflow’ – nothing to do with camels or straws.

Idioms are essential in English to French translation, and they should never be translated word for word. Our translation company in Singapore has the best translations experienced in dealing even with the trickiest of idioms.

Inconsistent spelling

English is notorious for its inconsistent spelling and pronunciation rules. For instance, there are seven different ways to pronounce the word combination ‘ough’ in the English language: though, through, cough, rough, plough, ought, borough.

This has happened as a result of multiple foreign influences on the English language. As it spread throughout the world, English borrowed – sometimes quite heavily – from other languages, which influenced the structure and spelling of the language itself.

Heavy French influence

In the times of the Norman conquest that began in 1066, for over 300 years, French was the dominant language in what is not Great Britain. It was the language of royalty, authority, and power. During these times, a lot of French words were borrowed by the English language.

It is hard to give an exact number, but according to some estimates, as much as 70% of the English vocabulary has French roots. In general, this has led to the expansion of the English vocabulary (for instance, ‘admire’ and ‘adore’ were added to express different shades of ‘like’ and ‘love’).  

As was mentioned above, this can have both a positive and a negative influence on English to French translation: there are ‘false friends’ that can lead to confusion and misunderstanding. The professionals from our translation company in Singapore always pay close attention to them and offer the highest quality English to French translation.