Tag Archives: French pronunciation
French Pronunciation and…Squirrels? Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Mar 19, 2018
We all know that French pronunciation can be difficult (but not impossible!) for English speakers to master. The French “r” is particularly difficult, for example. But, according to legend, there is one word that the French themselves used during World War II to discover non-French spies…écureuil, which means “squirrel.” The word écureuil (nm) rhymes with the…
Celebrate Tongue Twister Contest Day with These Tricky French Sentences Posted by Josh Dougherty on Feb 25, 2018
Nothing better than having fun while learning, right? It’s been stated many times on this blog that mastering French pronunciation isn’t the most intuitive exercise, but with enough practice, you can sound quite fluid in your speech. Music is a popular language-learning method. It allows you to hear new words and expressions in context by…
Can You Pronounce These 10 Difficult French Words? Posted by Josh Dougherty on Aug 13, 2017
Last week, we shared a photo on Facebook listing the 10 hardest French words to pronounce. “Hardest” can definitely change from speaker to speaker, but I can attest that some of these words have certainly thrown me off in the past. Today, we’re going to look at all 10 of these words one by…
In the eye of the beholder Posted by Tim Hildreth on Jun 20, 2017
Belle isn’t just the name of the main character in Disney’s latest film. Belle is also a French adjective that means beautiful, lovely, pleasant, or agreable (unlike joli/jolie – pretty, belle doesn’t only pertain to appearances). Ok, so that’s not entirely true. In another oddity of the French language, belle is technically not its own…
French pronunciation basics part 2 Posted by Tim Hildreth on Mar 21, 2017
A few weeks ago, I shared a fun song that highlights proper pronunciation for the common ‘oo’ sound in French, based on requests for more help with pronunciation. This week in our continuing journey of sound, I thought it would be a good time to talk about final consonants. As many of you probably know…
French pronunciation basics part 1 Posted by Tim Hildreth on Mar 7, 2017
In a recent reader survey, one of the top requests you, chers lecteurs, (dear readers) of the Transparent Language French blog made, was for more help with pronunciation. Providing a comprehensive overview of French pronunciation would take une éternité (an eternity / forever), but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a go at it! A…
Learn French Pronunciation with Beyoncé, Britney, and Adele! Posted by Josh Dougherty on Sep 8, 2016
No, no, the title of this article isn’t just a bunch of click bait. All of these stars have sung in French, and today we’re going to look at their pronunciation errors to correct yours! See, French can be fun 😉 It’s not uncommon for singers to release songs in a foreign language. While English music…