By using the phonetic alphabet (presented in this article) you can do several things with French to better your pronunciation:
1. Know all the sounds of the French Language
2. Be able to read French dictionaires and be able to pronounce words correctly from the given pronunciation
3. Be able to read / write / speak more proficiently by sounding out words correctly.
French Phonetic Exercises
For the first exercise, I’m going to write down French words using only IPA symbols. You should be able to properly say the words out loud and guess what they are (to make the task easier, I placed spaces between syllables). Answers are provided right below… try not to cheat!
Example: [sy btɛR fyʒ] = subterfuge
[klak] =
[pɔʀ] =
[ble] =
[ʃa to] =
[tRẽ] =
[ʃə miz] =
[sol] =
[ø ʀɔp] =
[si ɛʒ] =
[vi] =
[mõ te] =
[vwa tyʀ] =
[lyt] =
[ʃɑ̃ paɲ] =
Answers:
[ble] = blé
[sol] = saule (note [sɔl] = le sol)
[ø ʀɔp] = Europe
[mõ te] = monter
[vwa tyʀ] = voiture
[lyt] = lutte
[ʃɑ̃ paɲ] = champagne
French Phonetic Transcription
Now, place the following French words into IPA format. You do not need to transcribe the genders; I simply added them to avoid confusion.
Example: plusieurs = [plyzjœR]
un enfant =
fleur =
moi =
le vin =
deuxième =
le chocolat =
minuit =
le public =
un cambriolage =
danser =
vendredi =
une heure =
le monde =
nous =
Answers:
un enfant = [ɑ̃fɑ̃]
fleur = [flœʀ]
moi = [mwa]
le vin = [vẽ]
deuxième = [døzjɛm]
le chocolat = [ʃɔkɔla]
minuit = [minɥi]
le public = [pyblik]
un cambriolage = [kɑ̃bʀijɔlaʒ]
danser = [dɑ̃se]
vendredi = [vɑ̃dʀədi]
une heure = [œʀ]
le monde = [mõd]
nous = [nu]
John,
Congratulations on your site, which is very comprehensive and fun.
I am a French national, teaching French to British people. I came across your site whilst looking for help in comparing pronunciation between the two languages, as this is the greatest difficulty that I encounter with English speaking people.
I note however that some of your examples are incorrect. This could of course just be a typo, but if you make this information public, it needs to be accurate, since apparently a lot of people rely on your site to learn. You might want to correct the following, where you indicate the wrong gender:
la public should be le public
une cambriolage should be un cambriolage
la monde should be le monde
I hope this helps.
All the best
Hey anonymous,
Thanks for catching those, the difference between you and the other hundred people who read this before you is you posted a comment to do something about it
Yes you’re right I need to spend more time proofreading my articles. In my defense, I wrote this a while ago and kind of forgot about it. It’s surprising to me that I would ever write “la monde”, typo or not.
Merci,
John
John,
Moi aussi, j’aime beaucoup le francais! A great and very intelligent site with great detail and very well planned.
Jai etudie en France, a Tours. Je suis maintenant un cours de phonetique a l’universite de la Caroline du sud ou je fais beaucoup de transcription. [I studied in France, at Tours. I am currently taking a phonetics course at the University of SC (USC) where I do a lot of transcription] As you have listed we have learned about the vowels, nasals vowels, semi-vowels, consonants, liaison, the “e muet” or mute e, etc. Phonetics goes into how the sounds are pronounced with the shape of the mouth and the placement of the tongue, etc. It is a very technical study.
The more a person has that “drive”, motivation and passion to learn French the more they will work to find and use resources for learning. It takes patience and a lot of dedication, as in learning anything else, to become fluent in a language.
Great job on the site
Mike
Salut Mike!
I appreciate the comment! I think when I studied abroad I met somebody from your university.. Anyways, I’m glad I’m not the only one who really enjoys this type of subject matter. I agree with your statement about motivation 100% - I’m actually doing some personal research here on campus regarding Language Motivation.
Lastly, you are right; phonology and phonetics does look at how people produce the sounds as well, but I decided to spare the community (and myself) the headache of trying to describe them.
Merci pour le commentaire en quasi-Français!