As far as I’ve been taught, English is not a romance language like French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish or Romanian. The Roman Empire didn’t stretch as far as the United Kingdom, and English is an Anglo-Saxonic language closer to German or Dutch than, say, Italian. So… how come words like “ambulance” (ambulat) and “transition” (transit) seem to be directly ripped from the original Latin?
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You need to recheck your History. The Roman Empire did reach the British Isles and was in control of England and Wales. They build Hadrian’s Wall. So there is some direct Latin Influence from this.
Secondly there is direct Latin influence from the Church which used Latin in its religious ceremonies up until 1970s. Tangentially because the first Universities in Europe were an offshoot of Monasteries as that was where knowledge was collected and stored use of Latin and Greek became a major component of being(or seeming to be) well educated. This has even continued into modernity with the Sciences retaining a lot of Latin and Greek roots for the terms they use and create.
Thirdly you have the Norman Conquest where most of the Aristocratic ruling Class of the British Isles was replaced by people loyal to William the Conqueror who were Norman and thus spoke French. As such many French words entered the English vocabulary list, particularly terms pertaining to the upper classes (which includes formal cooking) and military.
And Finally, English readily borrows words from other languages as it is exposed to new things. For example many place names in the US are from Native American Words, as are many of the plants in the New World.
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