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Archive for category French lessons

Foreign to English

Dec 3

Posted by Nicolas Connault in French lessons | No Comments

To me, one of the biggest con­trasts in pro­nun­ci­ation between Eng­lish and French, is that Eng­lish seems to have its ortho­graphy (spelling) much more dis­con­nec­ted from its pro­nun­ci­ation than French does. The con­trast is even more pro­nounced between Eng­lish and most other European lan­guages such as Span­ish, Italian, Ger­man etc...

What is the nature of this dis­con­nect, and how can I best describe it? Let’s start with a simple, yet reveal­ing example:

  • I want to record this program
  • I want a record of this program

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French lesson: Liaisons dangereuses

Dec 2

Posted by Nicolas Connault in French lessons | No Comments

Even though it is true that the pro­nun­ci­ation of indi­vidual French words can be guessed by how they are spelled, there is a slight com­plic­a­tion in the lan­guage that tends to drive French learners crazy: the pro­nun­ci­ation of the last char­ac­ter in the word may or may not be silent, depend­ing on which word comes after it in the sen­tence. Let me give you an example:

* Je vois deux oiseaux et un chat.
* I see two birds and a cat.

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First lesson of French Pronunciation

Apr 13

Posted by Nicolas Connault in French lessons | 1 Comment

As some of you may already know, I am French and Aus­tralian. I speak Eng­lish and French with almost equal flu­ency, although my French com­pat­ri­ots assure me that, since I have returned from my 6 years in Aus­tralia, I have a slight Eng­lish accent.

I have a great interest in lan­guages, and I am always eager to help people learn how to bet­ter speak or write Eng­lish or French. I have taught my wife the basic found­a­tions of French pro­nun­ci­ation, and the efforts have borne their fruits, since she has little dif­fi­culty pro­noun­cing new words she learns in her daily French classes. I decided to make my rather unusual approach to the study of the French lan­guage avail­able to the pub­lic: this is the first in a series of short les­sons on the French lan­guage, start­ing with pronunciation.