{"id":30328,"date":"2018-05-16T20:55:19","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T18:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=30328"},"modified":"2018-05-16T20:55:19","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T18:55:19","slug":"gee-or-jay-why-i-struggle-to-spell-my-name-in-french","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/gee-or-jay-why-i-struggle-to-spell-my-name-in-french\/","title":{"rendered":"Gee Or Jay – Why I Struggle To Spell My Name In French"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the first things covered in most French classes is, reasonably, the alphabet. L’alphabet fran\u00e7ais<\/strong> (the French alphabet) is almost the same as l’alphabet anglais<\/strong> (the English alphabet), but that similarity hides some easy mistakes<\/a>, especially when you need to spell something out loud.<\/p>\n

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Image<\/a> from Pixabay. Licensed under CC0.<\/p><\/div>\n

After learning l’alphabet fran\u00e7ais<\/strong>, I didn’t pay much attention to it. Those first few French lessons are filled with confusing things like l’accent aigu<\/strong><\/a> and les genres des mots<\/strong><\/a> (the gender of words) and if I only had to remember how to say i-grec et <\/em><\/strong>zed<\/em> <\/strong>(y and z) <\/em>then I was good. Anything that seemed to be the same as l’anglais<\/strong> was mostly forgotten as something unimportant.<\/p>\n

Jusqu’au moment o\u00f9 je devais \u00e9peler mon pr\u00e9nom.<\/strong>
\nUntil the moment I had to spell my name.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Au d\u00e9but<\/strong> (at the beginning), I could largely get by with la prononciation anglaise<\/strong> (the English pronunciation) of letters. It may sound funny or weird to les francophones<\/strong><\/a>, but I was mostly understood. Except je m’appelle John<\/em><\/strong> (my name is John<\/em>) and la lettre J<\/em><\/strong> (the letter J<\/em>) is very important for my name, especially on official documents where it really needs to be recorded correctly.<\/p>\n

J<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Le probl\u00e8me<\/strong> (the problem) is that la prononciation anglaise<\/strong> of J<\/strong> <\/em>sounds like la prononciation fran\u00e7aise<\/strong> of a different letter:<\/p>\n

G<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To make the whole thing more confusing la prononciation fran\u00e7aise<\/strong> of G<\/strong> <\/em>sounds like la prononciation anglaise<\/strong> of J<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Bref<\/strong> (in short), the confusing pairs end up sounding like this:<\/p>\n

French: G – Jay, J –\u00a0 Jee
\nEnglish: G – Gee), J – Jay<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or if you prefer l’Alphabet phon\u00e9tique international<\/strong> (the International Phonetic Alphabet):<\/p>\n

French: G – \/\u0292e\/<\/span>, J –\u00a0 \/\u0292i\/<\/span>
\nEnglish: G –\u00a0\/d\u0292i\u02d0\/, J – \/d\u0292e\u026a\/<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So if I think in English<\/a> mon pr\u00e9nom<\/strong> sounds something like:<\/p>\n

Jay Oh Aitch En<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which un francophone<\/strong> hears as:<\/p>\n

G O H N<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The best solution is, bien s\u00fbr<\/strong> (of course), to learn the correct French pronunciation of l’alphabet fran\u00e7ais<\/strong>. In time that’s what I did and now I can confidently tell people that my name is spelled:<\/p>\n

Ji Oh Ache \u00c8n : John<\/strong>
\nJee Oh Ash En: John<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Small things like la prononciation des lettres<\/strong> (the pronunciation of letters) and l’alphabet<\/a> fran\u00e7ais<\/strong> may not seem like they are very important, but they are a key part of the bumpy road to learning a language. It may be awkward<\/a> at times, but with every malentendu<\/strong><\/a> (misunderstanding) comes a new lesson in how to properly parler fran\u00e7ais<\/strong><\/a> (speak French)!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

One of the first things covered in most French classes is, reasonably, the alphabet. L’alphabet fran\u00e7ais (the French alphabet) is almost the same as l’alphabet anglais (the English alphabet), but that similarity hides some easy mistakes, especially when you need to spell something out loud. After learning l’alphabet fran\u00e7ais, I didn’t pay much attention to…<\/p>\n

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