Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
It's hard to discern the differences in pronunciation with
some words, although there are nuances that you will learn
eventually. For instance,
hôtel
and
autel
(altar) are pronounced
almost identically, as are
faim
(hunger) and
fin
(end). There's
no embarrassment in asking someone (politely) to repeat
something —the French are pleased when a foreigner makes
an effort to learn their language.
It Just Takes Practice
É/é (
accent aigu
): the letter 'e' is pronounced as in the
English word 'say'.
È/è (
accent grave
): the letter 'e' is pronounced as in
'desk'.
Ç/ç (
cédille
): the letter 'c' is pronounced with a 's'
sound, as in 'see', and not a 'k' sound as in 'key'.
¨(
le tréma
) over a vowel: the vowel is pronounced
separately from the one directly before. Thus, the word
'
laïc
' is pronounced 'lah-eek'.
The letter 'r' is not at all produced from the front
of the mouth as we do when speaking English, but
from the back of the throat, near the uvula. If you
try to pronounce the 'r' by lowering your tongue in
front and raising it in back, you might feel like you
are beginning to gargle, but the French will better
understand what you are saying.
The letter 'n'. If the letter 'n' comes after a vowel, it
is not pronounced in itself. Instead, the preceding
vowel is nasalised. Also, if there is an 'n' after a 'g',
as in the word '
agneau
(lamb)', the combination is
pronounced 'nya'.
EU/Œ: This two-vowel combination has little reference
in English. Words such as
peu
,
jeux
and
Sacré-Coeur
are pronounced like the English interjection 'er', but
without the 'r' at the end. Form your mouth as though
you were going to blow a bubble, then say 'er' by
slightly puckering your lips.
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