Examples of Similarities
-
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 when reading French texts, yet when listening to same, they would have a greater challenge to face .
At times, the French words may be a lot more complex to recognize by the English learner, however the
similarities can still be traced.
Eg. in the English word SCHOOL replace the S by E and bingo, you got closer to catch sight of the French word "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 now what I meant?
French would have to be very easy for the
English speaker, wouldn't you agree? All what you need is a touch of enthusiasm to study my suggestions and you can start speaking/reading French today.
TASK : wake up to the fact that you already know thousands of French words
- Click on either site 1 or site 2 these words are also used in English even if you personally do not know them yet.
- Find all the French words from the lists that you understand and have already encountered/used in English. But only those that you know in English; no more at this stage.
- According to the word's last syllable ( word ending ) you are asked to build them into groups: eg. those that end in -ment or -tion or sion or -able etc. Be aware that if you know them in English, you can use them in French too as they are originally French words, except you might have to pronounce them slightly differently in French. That's why you need to learn the pronunciation rules in this unit as soon as you can; so that you can start actively use these words in your French.
- Pronounce every syllable and be sure to remember how you say the word ending eg. -ment. Well, in English it sounds like -mnt but in French it is -ment (m+en nasal vowel and a silent final t). Now, that word ending will always be pronounced the same in any word. Do you get it? So you have a rule that you apply to any other French word with the same element in it.
- Send your personal word lists for each category/group to your teacher
- WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE A LONG LIST OF FRENCH_ENGLISH COGNATES (connections)?
- Click on either site 1 or site 2 and visualize a list of the words which is far from being a full and comprehensive one.
- Next, launch the AUDIO VERSION HERE for the A words, which carries the pronunciation of the French-English cognate words that start with A only. It should give you however a good feel of how many French words you already know without having even started learning French.You will only hear the French pronunciation, as you should be able to pronounce them in English on your own. Let the audio running in the background then go back to either site 1 or 2 window to see the A words' list.
- Say the word out aloud in French as you hear them but immediately after the French you must also pronounce the word in English so that you can clearly hear the difference.
- STOP/PAUSE the PLAYER to give yourself more time to practise/perfect your pronunciation. Say it out aloud several times!!!