french influence

Are almost half the words in the English language of French origin? It’s a claim one of our loyal listeners found surprising. Tim Harford talks to Dr Beth Malory, lecturer in English Linguistics at University College London, who explains why so many words derived from French have ended up in English.

Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Daniel Gordon Series Producer: Jon Bithrey Editor: Richard Vadon Sound Engineer: Graham Puddifoot

(Picture: A French dictionary showing the entry 'Dictionnaire' Credit: NSA Digital Archive / iStock / Getty Images Plus)

Day 540.

Today, we discuss a drone strike close to the Kremlin, how a Russian commander says Putin won’t defeat Ukraine in the near term and should seek a ‘truce’ and how another 400 Ukrainian children have been sent to so-called summer camps in Russia in recent weeks for ‘patriotic training’.

Contributors:

Dominic Nicholls (Host, Associate Editor, Defence). @DomNicholls on Twitter.

Henry Samuel (Paris Correspondent). @H_E_Samuel on Twitter.

Jordana Seal (Telegraph Reporter).

Subscribe to The Telegraph: telegraph.co.uk/ukrainethelatest

Email: ukrainepod@telegraph.co.uk

You can vote for Ukraine: the latest in the 'Listener's Choice' category of this year's British Podcast Awards: https://www.britishpodcastawards.com/voting

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.