I think “le”/“la” is one of those French words most (well-)educated English speakers already know. English uses French phrases containing it anyway (e.g. avant

I think “le”/“la” is one of those French words most (well-)educated English speakers already know. English uses French phrases containing it anyway (e.g. avant la lettre) I know almost zero Spanish, but I know what “el” means. And I know almost zero Arabic, but I know “al-“ and “ibn”. I think that level of (extremely minimal) knowledge of Spanish and Arabic is rather common among Anglophones; and “le”/“la”/“un”/“de”/etc is the same thing for French