How Many English Words From Foreign Languages Do You Know?

Sign in Japanese, Portuguese and English. Photo by Abasaa in Wikipedia.

One of the joys of travel is realising how many foreign words we already know.

Here are a few: (alphabetically by country)

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL

boomerang

kangaroo

FRENCH

ballet

banquette

bizarre

bouquet

croquet

mortgage

naive

sanguine

silhouette

suave

That's just ten. My family has listed 400.

We did not count any food or culinary terms. There would be too many: bain marie, croissant, creme brulee, croque monsieur, petits pots de chocolat, 

GERMAN

kindergarten (child garden)

ersatz

INDIAN/ Hindi

bungalow

jodhpur

jungle

pyjama

shampoo

ITALIAN

millefeuille - flaky pastry (a thousand leaves)

maestro

opera

pianoforte

villa

THE NETHERLANDS

Yacht

SPANISH

cafeteria

cocoa

cockroach

fiesta

mosquito

patio

siesta

sombrero

vertigo

SWAHILI

safari - journey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_English_words_by_country_or_language_of_origin

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.