Perhaps most if not all of our readers will agree that one of the hardest things about learning and dominating the French language is pronunciation!!  So, today, I’m going to try to help you out a little bit on this one with some technique talk.  This is what you should do to correctly pronounce the vowels:

VOWEL	WHERE IS YOUR TONGUE?	WHAT IS YOUR MOUTH DOING?
[i] as in joli	very far in front	smiley, almost closed
[y] as in salut	very far back	almost closed and rounded
[e] as in étude	in front	a little open
[ε ] as in faire	in front	open
[a] as in la	in front	very open
[ə] as in le	in front	a little open
[œ] as in neuf	in front	open and rounded
[Ø] as in bleu	very far back	a little open and rounded
as in pomme	a little back	open and rounded
[o] as in mot	in back	open and very rounded
[u] as in jour	a little back	a little open and very rounded
as in vin	in front *remember this one is nasal as if you have a cold	open and smiley
as in dans	a little back *remember this one is nasal as if you have a cold	very open and rounded
as in pont	in back *remember this one is nasal as if you have a cold	a little open and really rounded

Practice them in front of a mirror…I know, I know…it’s not that easy!  But, the important thing is to have fun when you’re learning and believe me this makes for some laughs!