Archive for the ‘French Language’ Category

Now that you’ve got a few French words and phrases under your belt, it’s time to work on your pronunciation. I have a French friend who told me that when he was in London on holiday he tried to ask for a bottle of water from a vendor. Unfortunately, although he was using the right words, he had to repeat himself maybe ten times for the vendor to understand. It wasn’t what my friend was saying, but the way he was saying it.

This is likely to happen to you when practicing your French on native speakers. Get a vowel wrong, and you are likely to be misunderstood. Giving things like your name and address can be problematic, too, for your Anglo-Saxon name, if you have one, or your address will sound alien and be hard to recognize.

This happens to me a lot in France, even though after living here for several years my French is of a high standard. My problem is my surname, Lewis. Pronouncing it the English way is completely unintelligible to French ears, who often think that I should be saying ‘Levi’s', like the jeans!

A good idea when having difficulties understanding or being understood is to ask how it’s spelled or to spell it yourself. Spelling in English, though, won’t help you very much. The way the French pronounce the alphabet is not the same, although they use the same twenty-six letters.

There are two approaches that I recommend for learning the French alphabet. Both are effective, but if you are not shy or self-conscious, I would go for the first option.

Method One

Go to youtube.com or any other video sharing site that also has pages in French. Do a search for ‘chanson alphabet’. You should find lots of videos of kids singing the alphabet in French to the tune of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ just like we teach our kids in English. Sing along with them! The melody and the rhythm will help you to remember the right pronunciation. Try to shake off any feelings you may have of being foolish or childish, remembering that child are incredibly efficient language learners and that you can learn something from their methods. Children learn languages by reciting songs and rhymes over and over. Do the same, it works.

Method Two

This is the grown-up way. Instead of reciting the alphabet in (alphabetic!) order, divide the letters in to similar sounds. The sounds you will hear in the French alphabet are roughly as follows:

‘ar’: A, H, K

‘ay’: B, C, D, G, P, T, V, W (pronounced ‘doobluh vay’ – double ‘v’)

‘e’: (like in ‘bed’) F, L, M, N, S, Z (pronounced ‘zed’)

‘ee’: I, J, X, Y (pronounced ‘eegrek’ meaning ‘Greek I’)

‘uh’: E

‘oh’: O

‘air’: R

‘oo’: U (say ‘oo’ not ‘you’, Q (say ‘koo’ not ‘queue’)

It is also a good idea to associate each of the letter sounds to a word that you know that contains that sound. For example, the French word for ‘tea’ is ‘le thé’ and has the same vowel as all the letters that are pronounced with ‘ay’.

Now you’re equipped with the French alphabet, one last thing you need to know is the question, ‘how do you spell that?’ It’s comment ça s’écrit, which literally means ‘how do you write it?’

Practice spelling your name in French, then your address. You now have a reliable communication tool to get you through those awkward moments when you can’t make yourself understood in French.

Learn French Now [http://speak-french-now.blogspot.com]. There are French courses [http://speak-french-now.blogspot.com] today that are not only effective, but fun too.

Jonathan Lewis has helped thousands of French speakers learn English, and can help you learn French. Since moving to France in 2001, he has worked on language projects for the French Ministry of Education and published a book on learning French with HarperCollins. Visit his Learn French website [http://speak-french-now.blogspot.com]

Author: Jon Lewis
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The French Language.

Roughly around 200 million people around the world speak French. This number includes people who speak French as a native language, as a second language and students of all ages who do not live in a francophone (French-speaking) country but have learned French. In fact French as a foreign language is the second most commonly taught language worldwide after English. It is also the only foreign language that can be useful throughout the world as well as in the United States. French comes in second after English on the list of the world’s 10 most influential languages. Proof of this is the pivotal role French holds. It is one of the official working languages in dozens of powerful international organisations such as the European Union (EU), United Nations (UN), World Health Organisation (WHO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), and a host of other worldwide institutions.

The French language of today is a direct result of long periods of evolution. France, throughout its long history, had been invaded by different ethnic tribal groups. The most distinguished of these are the Franks. They adopted the Latin being spoken at that time. Thus, the French language is a descendant from Latin. It is also known as one of the Romance languages which include Catalan, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. They are called such because their parent tongue Latin was the language of the Romans. Over the years, the early French language has undergone changes in words and grammatical structures. It has evolved into today’s global French.

Frenchspeak – Here, There and Everywhere

The French-speaking world spans the entire globe with its language heard in all the continents. Aside from English, French is the only language spoken as a native or first language on 5 continents.

In Europe, French is the official language of France, Luxembourg, Monaco, Belgium and Switzerland. France with a population of more than 60 million is one of the most modern countries in the world. It is one of the predominant leaders in the European Union. French is a co-official language in Switzerland. This picturesque country is one of the world’s richest countries. It is the centre of many international associations. Belgium, in the half past century, has emerged as a progressive European state. Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is home to the headquarters of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

In Africa, the French-speaking countries include Algeria, Burundi, Benin, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Comoros. Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Guinea, Madagascar, Morocco, Rwanda, Togo, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia, Mauritius, Reunion and Seychelles.

In the Americas and the Caribbean, French is spoken in Canada, Haiti, French Guiana, Martinique and Guadeloupe (these last three are French territories).

In Australia and the Pacifics, Vanuatu and the overseas French territories French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Wallis and Fortuna are French-speaking.

In many other countries, French plays a significant role either as an administrative, commercial or international language. Some of these countries are Andorra, Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Egypt, Greece, India, Italy, Laos, Lebanon, Mauritania, Poland, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom (Channel Islands), United States particularly Louisiana and New England, the Vatican City and Vietnam. Clearly, the French language is spoken everywhere.

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Bonne chance! Good Luck!

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Author: Philip Nicosia
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