Sound Files: France

Amber, Jamie, and Renita

Good Afternoon Students! We are going to be learning to speak with French today. This will help you along the road to greatness. Well, let's get started!

Let's talk about the French alphabet, and it's pronunciation. Here's a chart that tells the letter of the alphabet, and how it is pronounced.

"A" - Pronounced 'ah' "N" - Pronounced 'en'
"B" - Pronounced 'bay' "O" - Pronounced 'op'
"C" - Pronounced 'say' "P" - Pronounced 'pay'
"D" - Pronounced 'day' "Q" - Pronounced 'koo'

"E" - Pronounced 'uk' "R" - Pronounced 'ehr'

"F" - Pronounced 'ef' "S" - Pronounced 'es'

"G" - Pronounced 'ghay' "T" - Pronounced 'tay'

"H" - Pronounced 'ash' "U" - Pronounced 'oo'

"I" - Pronounced 'ee' "V" - Pronounced 'vay'

"J" - Pronounced 'jhay' "W" - Pronounced 'doo-blaw-vay'

"K" - Pronounced 'ka' "X" - Pronounced 'ex'

"L" - Pronounced 'el' "Y" - Pronounced 'ee-grek'

"M"- Pronounced 'em' "Z" - Pronounced 'zed'

Some of these letters can also have accents, this will change the way they sound. Here are different versions of some of the letters: â, ç, é, è, ê, î, ï. They are not different, they are merely letters with accents. Also, the letter 'H' is not pronounced, or it is typically pronounced very lightly. One last thing, for words with more than one syllable, you would stress the last syllable the heaviest. (Info courtesy of: http://www.france-property-and-information.com/french_alphabet.htm )

If you are trying to speak English with a French accent, here are a few tips:

1. Roll your 'r's. This is done by pushing your tongue to the back of your throat and pronuncing the r while your tongue is in the back of your mouth. You can also replace the r with a rough h sound. While doing this, think about gargling, hacking, or groaning. It is essentially the same sound.

2. Eeeeeelongate your e's.

3. Remember that a 'th' sound in English is more of a 'z' sound in French.

4. If you have to pause to think about what you are going to say next, you do not want to say, "hmm." The French equivalent of this moment of thought is "euh." If you are a Frenchman who speaks English a little uncomfortably, you will want to throw in a lot of "euh"'s.

(Info courtesy of: wikihow)

Try some examples:
a) Riding in the rusty red Rio with Rachel made me really reconsider her driving abilities.
b) Raoul loves rice and risqué reality shows.
c) The rain in Spain -- excuse me, France -- falls mainly on the plain!
d) These turkies have not been thoroughly cooked in this oven; the thing is broken!

Here is our first clip of a French speaker.
(Right click and save to desktop, open it from the desktop)


The following is a clip from the French film, Amelie. Watch it and listen to how the native language sounds.


This next clip is taken from Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Of course, the accent is fake (as noted by the French taunter). This could, perhaps, be a great example of how not to use the accent.


And finally, the last video is a "Learn French" clip in which a man slowly goes through the French alphabet while the camera focuses on his mouth. He shows how the letters are formed.

Good Luck!