I’m sorry for not coming back in September as I said I would.
This blog was created for the purpose of getting started with French pronunciation resources while building a companion website.
Well, the website is far from being ready, and I don’t know when it will be…
An off the peg blog (like this one) is not the best place to make resources available because stuff gets buried in it. For example, in this blog:
• February 1 has the address of a cool website to help you with your pronunciation;
• February 15 has a downloadable PDF about French pronunciation;
• February 23 has a downloadable PDF about the letter H;
• March 15 has a downloadable PDF showing you how to separate French words into syllables.
You will find other interesting information if you take the time to read the other entries.
I am going to leave it at this for the moment. Hopefully you’ll find that the information available to you is helpful. I still want to get the website up and running so come back from time to time to see what’s happening.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
The diaeresis (tréma): as in ë, ï, ü
Please note this is the last post for now, but I'll be back in September 2010. Look up my previous posts there are resources that could help with French.
The diaeresis (in French: le tréma) can be put on the vowels e, i, and u to indicate that the vowel is detached from the preceding or following vowel and pronounced as a separate syllable.
In French there are vowel combinations that produce one sound, for example the vowels ai: they can be pronounced like an é or an è. But with the word naïve (naive in English) because there is a tréma it is pronounced na-i-ve, as opposed to nai-ve.
The tréma is also found in unusual vowel combination such as Gaël, Israël, and Noël (pronounced Ga-el, Is-ra-el, and No-el), which are often proper names.
The diaeresis (in French: le tréma) can be put on the vowels e, i, and u to indicate that the vowel is detached from the preceding or following vowel and pronounced as a separate syllable.
In French there are vowel combinations that produce one sound, for example the vowels ai: they can be pronounced like an é or an è. But with the word naïve (naive in English) because there is a tréma it is pronounced na-i-ve, as opposed to nai-ve.
The tréma is also found in unusual vowel combination such as Gaël, Israël, and Noël (pronounced Ga-el, Is-ra-el, and No-el), which are often proper names.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Dictation – more about syllables
When you want to help your child to write in French, you probably give him/her dictations, e.g. few vocabulary words or simple sentences.
Here are few tips to help you help them. First, read the words or text. Better, let your child read it, now the dictation is more a visual memory exercise. Then, go over the words or text to point out difficulties: silent letters, liaison, s between two vowels, etc.
Next, give the dictation. For single words, read one word at a time. The first time you read it, pronounce it like it is supposed to be pronounced, and then read it again by breaking it down into syllables. For example:
• la maison, you say the two words, then you sound them out: “la, espace (space), mai-son”; you say mai-zon although it is written with an s (the s between two vowels rule), which you should have discuss with your child before the exercise;
• la pomme: you say the two words, then you sound them out: “la, espace, pom-me. In this example the m seems extended because the first m belongs with the first syllable and the second one with the final syllable; you do pronounce the silent e because the syllable is me (not m on its own).
With words ending with a silent consonant, for example the words grand (tall, big) and petit (small), you do not pronounce the d of grand or the t of petit when you pronounce or sound them out. What you can do is discuss with your child that these words are masculine words, but when they are feminine the last consonant is sounded: grande and petite (gran-de, pe-ti-te). The feminine word becomes the clue to remember the silent consonant.
For full sentences, read a full sentence first, for example: Le chat mange la souris. (The cat eats the mouse.) Then break it down in chunk: Le chat / mange / la souris. Use the same strategy as the single words for each chunk; pronounce all the syllables, the spaces and punctuation marks.
Finally, with your help let the child corrects its own dictation discussing why mistakes were made.
Here are few tips to help you help them. First, read the words or text. Better, let your child read it, now the dictation is more a visual memory exercise. Then, go over the words or text to point out difficulties: silent letters, liaison, s between two vowels, etc.
Next, give the dictation. For single words, read one word at a time. The first time you read it, pronounce it like it is supposed to be pronounced, and then read it again by breaking it down into syllables. For example:
• la maison, you say the two words, then you sound them out: “la, espace (space), mai-son”; you say mai-zon although it is written with an s (the s between two vowels rule), which you should have discuss with your child before the exercise;
• la pomme: you say the two words, then you sound them out: “la, espace, pom-me. In this example the m seems extended because the first m belongs with the first syllable and the second one with the final syllable; you do pronounce the silent e because the syllable is me (not m on its own).
With words ending with a silent consonant, for example the words grand (tall, big) and petit (small), you do not pronounce the d of grand or the t of petit when you pronounce or sound them out. What you can do is discuss with your child that these words are masculine words, but when they are feminine the last consonant is sounded: grande and petite (gran-de, pe-ti-te). The feminine word becomes the clue to remember the silent consonant.
For full sentences, read a full sentence first, for example: Le chat mange la souris. (The cat eats the mouse.) Then break it down in chunk: Le chat / mange / la souris. Use the same strategy as the single words for each chunk; pronounce all the syllables, the spaces and punctuation marks.
Finally, with your help let the child corrects its own dictation discussing why mistakes were made.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Is your child in a French Immersion class?
I’ll bet that sometimes you wonder why you enrolled them:
• Do you feel left out and sometimes don’t understand what your child is saying?
• If they are having difficulty you may think: ‘How can I help my child? I’m in no position to do so.’
The good news is…
Your child is certainly becoming bilingual. Did you realize that you can piggy-back on your child’s French education (for free!) and become bilingual too?
How can you do that?...
First you have to acknowledge that you won’t speak fluent French overnight, but over time you can and will.
By having a child in French Immersion, you have 24x7 access to a French speaker. When children learn they don’t try to understand pronunciation like adults do, they just repeat accurately what the teacher says. As an adult, you need to know why a string of letters is pronounced in a way that doesn’t make sense to you. This is why I created my PDF Introduction to French Pronunciation (see posts below).
Once you understand French pronunciation mechanics, you’ll feel happier and more confident, and your child will sense it and benefit from it. Then, your focus can shift to learning new vocabulary words and phrases and before you know it you’ll be pretty good in French!
• Do you feel left out and sometimes don’t understand what your child is saying?
• If they are having difficulty you may think: ‘How can I help my child? I’m in no position to do so.’
The good news is…
Your child is certainly becoming bilingual. Did you realize that you can piggy-back on your child’s French education (for free!) and become bilingual too?
How can you do that?...
First you have to acknowledge that you won’t speak fluent French overnight, but over time you can and will.
By having a child in French Immersion, you have 24x7 access to a French speaker. When children learn they don’t try to understand pronunciation like adults do, they just repeat accurately what the teacher says. As an adult, you need to know why a string of letters is pronounced in a way that doesn’t make sense to you. This is why I created my PDF Introduction to French Pronunciation (see posts below).
Once you understand French pronunciation mechanics, you’ll feel happier and more confident, and your child will sense it and benefit from it. Then, your focus can shift to learning new vocabulary words and phrases and before you know it you’ll be pretty good in French!
Monday, March 22, 2010
The French language’s rhythm
Last week I showed you how to separate French words into syllables. This week we will see how syllables are used to mark rhythm in French.
In French we pronounce each syllable with the same weight, or length if you prefer, except for the last one, which is slightly longer, but only a tiny bit longer. Which last syllable, I hear you thinking? That would be the last syllable of a word pronounced on its own or the last syllable of a group of words representing a single thought/idea. For example:
| le chapeau | le cha-peau |
| le chapeau noir | le cha-peau noir |
| Le chapeau noir est beau. | Le cha-peau noir / est beau. |
On its own, le chapeau (the hat), has its last syllable peau pronounced slightly longer.
Le chapeau noir (the black hat) is a complete idea; le and noir do belong with chapeau, so noir is the last syllable in the group and is pronounced a bit longer.
In the final example, a new group is introduced: est beau (is nice). This is the group relating to the verb (the action word); the word is on its own dangles, the reader/listener thinks is what? (Is nice, in this case.) In this group the last syllable beau is pronounced slightly longer.
Granted, these examples are simple, but simple is always a good starting point.
Can you begin to see (or hear) how some people say that French sounds musical? It is because of all these slightly longer syllables here and there in an otherwise steady stream of sounds!
Monday, March 15, 2010
How to separate French words into syllables
Sounds make up syllables, syllables make up words, and words make up sentences.
Not understanding the mechanics of the French syllable undermines your ability to pronounce French words correctly and to communicate. Why? Syllables do make up words! Without knowing how to separate French syllables your pronunciation could be unrecognisable by both, French and English speakers.
Take the word spaghetti, as a Francophone having lived so many years in Anglophones cities, I really never mastered its English pronunciation; most of the time I pronounce it spa-ghet-ti (the French way). If I say this word in English inevitably the Anglophone person’s face to whom I’m speaking to will go blank and he/she will say after a while: “You mean spaghetti?” (without any syllable separation; or so it seems to me!)
To help you learn how to separate French words into syllables I have prepared this document:
Not understanding the mechanics of the French syllable undermines your ability to pronounce French words correctly and to communicate. Why? Syllables do make up words! Without knowing how to separate French syllables your pronunciation could be unrecognisable by both, French and English speakers.
Take the word spaghetti, as a Francophone having lived so many years in Anglophones cities, I really never mastered its English pronunciation; most of the time I pronounce it spa-ghet-ti (the French way). If I say this word in English inevitably the Anglophone person’s face to whom I’m speaking to will go blank and he/she will say after a while: “You mean spaghetti?” (without any syllable separation; or so it seems to me!)
To help you learn how to separate French words into syllables I have prepared this document:
Monday, March 8, 2010
Different word pronunciations
How do you pronounce the word les in French?
The, in French translate into le (for a masculine noun – le garçon), la (for a feminine noun – la fille) and les (for plural nouns – les enfants (no matter the gender.)
I pronounce les like the word \let\ in English (but without the t). You may come across people who will pronounce it \lay\. I have seen the IPA transcription written both ways in different French dictionaries. I suspect that the pronunciation \lay\ is more common in France than it is in Québec, but I could be wrong.
Online last week, I came across in interesting thread about the pronunciation of word ending in il, like fusil (gun), baril (barrel), and persil (parsley). I never pronounced the l, but found out that people have been pronouncing it both ways (pronouncing the l and not pronouncing it). The amazing thing (to me) was both pronunciations were in used in Québec and in France.
When you suspect that people are pronouncing a particular word differently to what you know, check your dictionary, survey French speaking people around you to see which way they pronounce it and go with the majority.
The, in French translate into le (for a masculine noun – le garçon), la (for a feminine noun – la fille) and les (for plural nouns – les enfants (no matter the gender.)
I pronounce les like the word \let\ in English (but without the t). You may come across people who will pronounce it \lay\. I have seen the IPA transcription written both ways in different French dictionaries. I suspect that the pronunciation \lay\ is more common in France than it is in Québec, but I could be wrong.
Online last week, I came across in interesting thread about the pronunciation of word ending in il, like fusil (gun), baril (barrel), and persil (parsley). I never pronounced the l, but found out that people have been pronouncing it both ways (pronouncing the l and not pronouncing it). The amazing thing (to me) was both pronunciations were in used in Québec and in France.
When you suspect that people are pronouncing a particular word differently to what you know, check your dictionary, survey French speaking people around you to see which way they pronounce it and go with the majority.
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