In ballet, how come some terms are in French but others in English?

Question:Particularly positions such as first position, second position, third position, etc but then they will say changement, pirouette and other French terms mixed in with English.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Particularly positions such as first position, second position, third position, etc but then they will say changement, pirouette and other French terms mixed in with English.

I totally agree with the answers above, just to give you some more information; in the netherlands, some teachers give the ballet terms dutch names like 'puntje' in stead of point and stuff like that. I think every country has the official names and the own language to teach ballet. (Although my teacher finds it something horrible to not use the French terms, because you wouldn't know what a foreign choreographer wants you to do when he says plié in stead of 'buigen' what you're used to)
I hope this is a useful addition to the answers already given.

It is most likely because the French made it up. They were the ones to create the dance, so they used their language.

I believe that there are actually French terms for all the positions, aka "en bas" for low fifth, but given there are so many schools of thought when it comes to arms, it's probably just easier to have a common base to start from.

Ballet originated in France, so many of the terms are french, however ballet schools in English speaking countries often use english names for the basic positions - just to make it easier for younger children learning.

Ballet originated in France (Louis XIV's court), it is just the international language of ballet. I am a ballet dancer (11 and en pointe) and my teacher insists that all of the students (including 3 year olds) start to learn all the positions in French. Since one of the girls in my class is french (her grandparents) she speaks it, and even though my teacher knows them we can just ask her for a translation like pax du chat (step of the cat) is not a really good example but we are require to know all the french terms and their English translations.