Can I Learn to Read/Say French Texts on My Own?

The answer is YES,YES,YES!
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Help with French Pronunciation

Combine the following with the pronunciation resources at HERE


French and English are closely related languages. There is a huge stock of French words and syntactic features in the English language thanks to the French Norman invasion of England by Guillaume le Conquérant in 1066 and the ensuing centuries of cultural, political, military and economic contacts. Consequently there are many cognates, identical words, similar or identifiable words that will help to accelerate the English learner to acquire French. Tens of thousands of French words inyour pocket right at the outset, without having done any French. But of course the Angles, the Jutes, the Danes, the Saxons, the descendents of the Vikings and of the Celtes had trouble to learn to pronounce the French words from the French William the Conqueror correctly, so today even though very often the French words are written the same as the English counterparts, you will have to invest a bit of energy to speak French correctly.

If you follow my tricks and suggestions, the exercise should actually be fun.


Just to let you see the tip of the iceberg.



Most of the French words ending in:
-tion, -sion, -ment, -ique, -eur, -age, -cien, -é etc. can be easily identified by the English learner reading French texts.

But many French words may be harder to recognize by the English learner, yet the similarities are still there. Eg. in the english SCHOOL replace the S by E and bingo, you got closer to understand the French école. But of course you will have to learn to use your analytical and imaginative skills. Can you guess what these French words might be in English:
école, autre, musée, parler etc.?
Can you see what I mean?
French would have to be very easy for the English, would you agree? Al what you need is a touch of enthusiasme and you have got it.
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BE VERY AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING DIFFERENCE

English is a stress-timed language : dpartmnt, -partmnt

French is a syllabic language : dé-par-te-ment, a-ppar-te-ment


Just a WARNING; there will always be some unexpected exceptions in any language.
French is no exception!

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The French ALPHABET :

a bcd e fgh i jklmn o pqrst u vwx y z
Each of these letters stands for a SINGLE SOUND.

However this French ALPHABET cannot cater for all the sounds we use in French oral communication, so the French introduced accents onto the vowels, nasalized the vowels, combined the vowels into vowel clusters and combined the consonants also, so as to create "new characters" to avoid clashes and confusion in the French language. Did they really succeed? Well, see it for yourself.

The ACCENTS:
You will find the following accents in French ` ' ^ "
The accent on the A I O and U does not change the alphabetic pronunciation of it. Only the French E's pronunciation is affected by the accents.
  1. a à ä â pronounced like the Alphabet A :::: BUT if you do not use the accents correctly, the meaning can be altered:::: il a = he has BUT à = to, in, at
  2. In the case of the accent on the U: pronunciation does not change but the meaning DOES!!!!:::: ou = or où= where
  3. Accents on the O and I? Yes, but pronunciation remains like in the Alphabet.
  4. SO FOCUS YOURSELF ON THE "e" . The accents on the E definitely change the alphabetic pronunciation of it ( your instructor will help you or click on the highlighted vowels): e     è     é     ê     ë :::: le, père, été, être, Noë
    père,être,Noël contain similar E vowel sounds. été is different ( the E in this one sounds like the E sound in "says"
    CAREFUL: in (e+ consonants) the "e" is pronouced é like in 'les' or è like in "tu es" or "il est"
The VOWEL CLUSTERS
The COLUMN 1 vowel clusters will produce a SINGLE SOUND !!!

WARNING: However, the reversed order of COLUMN 1 vowel clusters, like in COLUMN 2, will be read as separate alphabet vowel sounds, as well as all other vowel combinations.

So MEMORIZE THE 1ST COLUMN as they produce ONE/SINGLE sound but all other combinations are read as separate alphabet vowel sounds. I know, I am repeating myself but this is critical to remember if you want nice French sounds when you talk French.
ai je vais .... like A in “bad” Exception: j’ai (cake)ia French eg.: ma-ri-age
au / eau autoua French eg. nu-age
ou douze, ou, oùuo French eg.:du-o
oi moi io French eg.: i-di-ot
eu / oeu / oe deux BUT neuf, soeur, oeuf, oeilue French eg.: du-el
ei like AY in "he says". French eg.: seize, treize ie French eg.: ci-el


The NASAL VOWELS

A SINGLE N or M after a vowel, at the end of a syllable, will turn the normal N, where the tongue flaps on the roof of the mouth, into a nasal vowel where after the pronounced vowel base the tongue stops for the N or M half way up in the mouth, and the AIR ESCAPES THROUGH THE NOSTRILS. Now, that is the nasal vowel. Make sure NOT TO CLOSE your lips for the M just let the aair through your nose as for N. Warning:double NN or double MM must be pronounced just as a NORMAL N or M, that is, the tongue must hit the palate in your mouth for the N and the lips must close up for the M.

Un/um :::: begin with the French alphabet E sound and then let the air through your nose: un, parfum
In/im yn/ym ::::begin with the French AI sound then let the air through your nose: cinq, impossible, synthèse, sympathique
On :::: begin with the French O sound then let the air through your nose: on, nation, maison
En/em an/am ::::begin with the English U sound, like in HUNG, then let the air through your nose: enfant, emploi, ambassade
Exception:-ien australien, chien, mien, je viens


FROGS TREASURES:

Do you know the following FROG rules and savouries?
They will have to be remembered and applied when you read French texts.

1. No U is pronounced after Q or G

2. final consonants are mostly silent with the exception of CRFL

3. silent final consonants can become linking sounds before a vowel or h

4. double consonants are read as one

5. –er at the end of polysyllabic words is pronounced like é ;eg. parler, manger

6. –er at the end of monosyllabic words is pronounced like air; eg. le fer, la mer

7. –er- inside polysyllabic words is pronounced like air; eg. merci, une personne

8. How to pronounce the French r ? ; get assistance from teacher or click HERE and find relevant info. But here is a quick idea: glue the tip of your tongue behind the lower front teeth while you try to curle up the back of your tongue as a mad cat. In doing so you create a narrow passage for the air flow from your lungs. That high jet air stream flaps the UVULA ( the hanging bit of your sof patate in the back of your mouth) a few times and that's the French R.
NOW, practise saying the following GR+VOWEL combinations: GRand, GRis, GRos, GRé, GRu, GRond, GRou and then start again and again. But by the time you start reading some French text, please try to forget this practice session. OK?

9. No aspiration after p, t, k; get assistance from teacher

10. How to pronounce the French u ? ; eg. get assistance from teacher or click HERE and find relevant info for U.

11. the French H is silent like the English ; eg. honest, honor, hour .......or click HERE and find relevant info.

12. the consonant cluster GT is silent: eg. vingt

13. GN is pronounced the ni in onion = oignon

14. -il after a vowel is pronounced like Y in English SAY. eg. le travail

15. -ille after a vowel is pronounced like Y in English SAY. eg. je travaille ..... Exception: ville, tranquille where ity is pronounced (VEEL and TRUNKEEL)

16. -ille when not preceded by a vowel is pronounced -EEY, eg FILLE ( pronounced FEEY)

17. -e the final -E without an accent on it, in the last syllable of a word, is SILENT in French, just like the English one. Eg. English ...table... French ... table ... BUT society = société, beauty = beauté, I worked = j'ai travaillé

18.Negative VERBS only take a DE or D' without paying attention to the gender of the following noun. Eg. je n'ai pas de copains. Je n'ai pas d'amis.

19. Mesure words also ONLy take a DE or D' without paying attention to the gender of the following noun. Eg. un kilo de, une bouteille de, un packet de, beaucoup de, peu de etc.

20. DE.....BUT BUT BUT when you mean SOME in English you pay attention to the gender and number of the following noun and apply the fusion rules de+le= du, de+ les= des de+ la= de la, de + l' = de l'///// ..........
eg. du fromage svp, merci
de la bière svp, merci
des bananes svp, merci
21.À.....BUT BUT BUT when in English you mean TO, IN, WITH please pay attention to the gender and number of the following noun and apply the fusion rules à+ le= au, à + la= à la, à + les = aux, à + l' = à l'//////
eg. au cinéma, un sandwich au jambon, à la laitue, aux petis pois, à l'huile..... etc

22.The French do not often use prepositions in time phrases:
on Monday = lundi,
on Mondays = le lundi. Also, le matin, le soir , le weekend .... etc

23. When TWO VERBS meet the 2nd verb can be in the INFINITIVE ( to= -er,-re,ir);

some do not have preposition between them. eg. j'aime manger

some have the À preposition compulsorily between them. eg. je continue à travailler

some have DE between them. eg. j'oublie de téléphoner


NOTE:

I will continue adding to this list. You might wish to suggest some. Please send your idea to Frank and I will show your nickname as credit/acknowledgement after the published idea right here.

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How to write French accents and characters

in computer applications

À ALT+0192 à ALT+0224
 ALT+0194 â ALT+0226
Ä ALT+0196 ä ALT+0228
È ALT+0200 è ALT+0232
É ALT+0201 é ALT+0233
Ê ALT+0202 ê ALT+0234
Ë ALT+0203 ë ALT+0235
Î ALT+0206 î ALT+0238
Ï ALT+0207 ï ALT+0239
Ô ALT+0212 ô ALT+0244
Œ ALT+0140 œ ALT+0156
Ù ALT+0217 ù ALT+0249
Û ALT+0219 û ALT+0251
Ü ALT+0220 ü ALT+0252
Ÿ ALT+0159 ÿ ALT+0255
Ç ALT+0199 (caps)
ç ALT+0231 (lower)
€ ALT+0128 (The EURO currency symbol.)

Your LAPTOP requires a different approach. Email me frank antal




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