Seulement 91 !? Je te parle plus.
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- Thread starter Natetan
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Seulement 91 !? Je te parle plus.
Good job!
In my experience with the A1 exam. The pre material is harder than the exam. I thought I would do average on A1 and did nearly 100% starting from nothing and just studying with duolingo and an A1 book for about 10-ish weeks.
I'm really hoping I have a similar experience as you with B1 because I'm pretty sure I'm going to fail. The listening section is pretty much impossible for me, my salvation the reading section is pretty iffy. And writing, well let's just say the French person who read my test prep excercise decided to rewrite my entire example because it's so bad. I think I will bomb the oral section.
Basically I'm hoping to do fairly wel on the reading section to make up for my awful scores on the other sections, but I still need a 25% on every section which I'm not sure I can do.
I read somewhere that finishing duolingo put you through A2. I think I went to too high of a level too fast. I should have stuck with A2.
Well here's hoping anyway that I can pass B1. Then I can take a break for a year or so before I try B2.
I just took the B1 exam. I think I did ok.
Listening: the iffiest part for me. A few of the questions that weren't multiple choice I left blank because I didn't know the answer. But I think I did well enough to pass. We'll see.
Reading: pretty straightforward and like the practice books I used. I hope the points here will carry me through to pass the exam.
Writing: this was ok I think. I'm sure I made a few grammar mistakes but I probably got 80% or so.
Speaking: the test is in two weeks, so I have to prepare for that now.
Generally I think my reading is ok but I'm really not comfortable speaking . I think my prononciation is poor and people don't understand me. I think I need some actual classes where I have to speak to improve on that.
My writing has gotten better but still lots of mistakes and stuff. Guess it's just practice practice practice.
I think regardless of the result I'm going to take B2 in a years time or so. I think that should be doable.i could do it at the end of he year, but I've got other things going on that it would conflict with
Listening: the iffiest part for me. A few of the questions that weren't multiple choice I left blank because I didn't know the answer. But I think I did well enough to pass. We'll see.
Reading: pretty straightforward and like the practice books I used. I hope the points here will carry me through to pass the exam.
Writing: this was ok I think. I'm sure I made a few grammar mistakes but I probably got 80% or so.
Speaking: the test is in two weeks, so I have to prepare for that now.
Generally I think my reading is ok but I'm really not comfortable speaking . I think my prononciation is poor and people don't understand me. I think I need some actual classes where I have to speak to improve on that.
My writing has gotten better but still lots of mistakes and stuff. Guess it's just practice practice practice.
I think regardless of the result I'm going to take B2 in a years time or so. I think that should be doable.i could do it at the end of he year, but I've got other things going on that it would conflict with
As a former examinator, I can tell you this: as long as you don't fuck up the comprehension (especially listening comprehension) part of the exam, you should be ok.
The test is designed in such a way that it's really hard to give you a very bad grade in production as long as you simply understand what is asked of you and can give a reasonably structured answer, no matter the mistakes (until around B2). The listening comprehension part is where you can get crushed, and most people that fail have ho-hum production grades and get fucked by the comprehension (unless you're clearly not at the level you're trying to pass, in which case you will fail everything of course).
The test is designed in such a way that it's really hard to give you a very bad grade in production as long as you simply understand what is asked of you and can give a reasonably structured answer, no matter the mistakes (until around B2). The listening comprehension part is where you can get crushed, and most people that fail have ho-hum production grades and get fucked by the comprehension (unless you're clearly not at the level you're trying to pass, in which case you will fail everything of course).
marimorimo
Member
@Natetan: Wow, I didn't realize it's exam time already? I thought it would be later this month. Regardless, it seems we could hope for an optimistic result 
I wouldn't really worry too much about pronunciation for the exam, as two of the people I took the exam with had problems with it and they still passed. One was my Vietnamese classmate who had a good grasp of grammar and vocabulary but had such a strong accent our teacher kept on asking her to repeat herself. The other was a self-taught girl who pronounces words like "prends" and "nation" like "prawnds" and "neigh-shun". I hear they start getting stricter from the B2 level, though.
I would still recommend some speaking practice just so you'd know what to expect and feel more prepared (I'm pretty much a mess in oral exams so I need practice sessions). I scheduled a couple of online classes with a teacher (who formerly worked at Alliance) to help me with that and they were very helpful. She has an affordable rate. If you're interested in that, PM me
Good luck for the next phase!
I wouldn't really worry too much about pronunciation for the exam, as two of the people I took the exam with had problems with it and they still passed. One was my Vietnamese classmate who had a good grasp of grammar and vocabulary but had such a strong accent our teacher kept on asking her to repeat herself. The other was a self-taught girl who pronounces words like "prends" and "nation" like "prawnds" and "neigh-shun". I hear they start getting stricter from the B2 level, though.
I would still recommend some speaking practice just so you'd know what to expect and feel more prepared (I'm pretty much a mess in oral exams so I need practice sessions). I scheduled a couple of online classes with a teacher (who formerly worked at Alliance) to help me with that and they were very helpful. She has an affordable rate. If you're interested in that, PM me
Good luck for the next phase!
Strangelove77
Member
I've always wanted to learn French but at 31 I feel like I'm too old for it. My attention span and retention just isn't what it used to be.
Do it now. It will be easier than trying when you're 38... And moved to Quebec.
Well I'm 38 and moving to Paris this month. I guess necessity has been a good pressure for me to learn, but I don't think you're too old to learn.
I missed my oral part of the B1 exam for a Job interview and still haven't got the score for the rest of my test. I think I did pretty well, but I won't pass by default.
Making the big move to France this month. Regardless of what my B1 score is I'll probably take B2 late this year like November or something depending on how busy mys schedule is.
Bruce Springsteen
Member
Anyone recommend any French books to read as a novice French student to learn the language?
I Arrived in Paris yesterday and yep listening and speaking are still my weak points. There are words lurking in my brain but I don't have confidence practice to get them out.
I got my B1 test results finally: listening-10, reading-20, writing-15, speaking-0. I had to miss the speaking part for a job interview so that's why it's 0, but I would have passed I think, looking at my other scores, if I had been able to take it. 45/75 would have been a pass for sure, and even the minimum oral score would have given me a pass overall, just barely.
I need to start working on my listening and speaking, and being in France will hopefully help with that.
I got my B1 test results finally: listening-10, reading-20, writing-15, speaking-0. I had to miss the speaking part for a job interview so that's why it's 0, but I would have passed I think, looking at my other scores, if I had been able to take it. 45/75 would have been a pass for sure, and even the minimum oral score would have given me a pass overall, just barely.
I need to start working on my listening and speaking, and being in France will hopefully help with that.
This is definitely your last barrier. I've been there. I remember on my earlier days in France, spending a couple of minutes reviewing mentally every sentence I wanted to make (to then sometimes realize the conversation had changed topics and my sentence didn't make send anymore).
The sooner you get over your fear of making mistakes, the sooner you will start improving. In my personal experience, people were very receptive with my shitty early efforts. There is of course, plenty of assholes that won't help you or be rude, and moreso in Paris, but that's part of the deal, you just have to keep trying, and that would be the only way of improving some of those weird as fuck sound combinations (2 and a half years in France and I still sometimes struggle with the 'gru' sound, but is nowhere near the mess it was in my early days).
Once you get the ball rolling, make sure you ask your closest firends or colegues to correct you when you make mistakes, to maximize the learning, but first I think you have to have confidence in your french (at least, that was the case for me).
Do you have french roommates? Is french the main language in your work environment? It's always a good idea force yourself into daily situation where there is no option than speaking french (sport activity or meetups can help). I took a long as time before I began to speak in french because I was living alone and my boss talked perfect english.
Alx
Member
Here are a few classics of French litterature that should be easy enough for beginners since it's what kids get to read in primary/middle school :
Le Petit Prince (Saint Exupéry)
Les Contes du Chat Perché (Marcel Aymé)
Les Lettres de mon Moulin (Alphonse Daudet)
The first one is famous enough I suppose, and the next two are collections of short stories, which would make them easier to read.
I'd also recommend Pierre Boulle's original "Planet of the Apes" short novel, which is quite different from the more modern version re-imagined by the Charlton Heston movie.
But then you can also read French translations of books you're already familiar with, that way you'll know you'll be able to follow the plot.
Translated Harry Potter books are easy read (they are children book that suits all ages) but are still complex enough to give good practice.
Alx
Member
Just be warned that most secondary character names have been changed by the translation, that may be confusing at first.
Hey, I'm living in Toulouse, if you need any help of have particular questions, you can send me a PM.
Dictionnaires et grammaires
Lexilogos, mots et merveilles dici et dailleurs : Dictionnaires de langues, argot, citations, encyclopédie, cartes et atlas, paroles de chansons, etc.
http://www.lexilogos.com/index.htm
Wordreference : Dictionnaires bilingues http://www.wordreference.com/fr/
Conjugueur : Conjugaison de tous les verbes du français à tous les temps http://la-conjugaison.nouvelobs.com/ http://www.leconjugueur.com/
Connectigramme : Tableaux de révision des règles du français http://www.connectigramme.com/index.htm
Pour sévaluer
CNED : Test de français langue étrangère et seconde http://www.campus-electronique.tm.fr/TestFle/
Ressources culturelles
TV5 MONDE : chaîne de télévision généraliste francophone internationale. http://www.tv5monde.com/
RFI (Radio France Internationale) http://savoirs.rfi.fr/apprendre-enseigner
France Inter : un site du groupe Radio France. http://www.franceinter.fr/
Site du journal Le monde http://www.lemonde.fr/
Site du journal Le Figaro http://www.lefigaro.fr/
Compréhension orale/Phonétique
Les sons du français : http://www.french.hku.hk/starters/fonetik/fiche02web.htm
Présentations sonores de lalphabet français et de lalphabet phonétique international http://phonetique.free.fr/index.htm
Répertoire de différents sites internet : http://www.lepointdufle.net/phonetique.htm
La chanson francophone en cours de FLE (Carmen Vera Pérez): http://platea.pntic.mec.es/~cvera/hotpot/chansons/index.htm
Karaoké FLE - Bonjour de France : Pratiquez votre Français grâce à la musique. Un concept original qui mélange le visionnage d'une vidéo et le remplissage d'un texte à trous. http://www.bonjourdefrance.com/karaoke-fle/index.php/fr
Netprof.fr (Le savoir gratuit en vidéo) : 421 cours gratuits et téléchargeables sur différents thèmes. Voir notamment « Orthographe » (trucs et astuces)
http://www.netprof.fr/
Pour sexercer
Lexique FLE : Découvrez le vocabulaire en cliquant sur des images http://lexiquefle.free.fr/
Polar FLE : site se présentant sous la forme dune énigme à résoudre à travers une série dexercices variés http://www.polarfle.com/
Bonjour de France : Compréhension orale, grammaire, vocabulaire, expressions idiomatiques, culture, exercices et jeux http://www.bonjourdefrance.com/
Méthode de français « Accord » : Exercices autocorrectifs http://www.didieraccord.com/
Peinture FLE : apprendre et étudier le français en peinture http://peinturefle.free.fr/
TV5 MONDE : Exercices de compréhension orale tous niveaux, rubrique « Apprendre le français ». http://apprendre.tv5monde.com/
Grammaire française : orthographe, syntaxe, accord du verbe, ponctuation, conjugaison... http://grammaire.reverso.net/
REPSIT, à la découverte du monde francophone : Exercices de langue française interactifs et autocorrectifs (liens vers différents sites). http://fis.ucalgary.ca/repsit/langue.htm
Perfectionnement linguistique:
Lexique des termes littéraires : http://www.lettres.net/lexique/
Archives de la bibliothèque nationale de France : http://gallica.bnf.fr/
Bibliothèque numérique : http://bibliothequenumerique.tv5monde.com/
Glossaire du théâtre http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/c2545/glossaire.html
Français de spécialité Monde des affaires http://www.francais.cci-paris-idf.fr/francais-de-specialite-monde-des-affaires/
Dicofr.com : Dictionnaire de linformatique et dinternet http://www.dicofr.com/
Sites pour communiquer avec un correspondant étranger:
Toulangues : Sur Toulouse et sa région, des tandems linguistiques, des soirées jeux, des informations, etc. Dans un esprit d'échange interculturel, de coopération et d'entraide. http://www.toulangues.org/
Couchsurfing : Couchsurfing is the world's largest travel community. https://www.couchsurfing.org/
FriendsAbroad : réseau dapprentissage de langues étrangères pour apprendre gratuitement par correspondance avec le logiciel « skype » http://www.friendsabroad.com/
eTandem (correspondance par E-mail) : Vous pouvez trouver un correspondant par l'Agence Tandem du Réseau International Tandem à l'université de Bochum en Allemagne http://www.slf.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/etandem/etproj-fr.html
Shamefully copypasting from some notes of my french teacher:well in August I am moving to Toulouse, still working in London. so this will be a great incentive to learn french for me
but I am going through DuoLingo Slowly and well at work I don't have the time to listen to french lessons.
any good free resources that I could use?
Dictionnaires et grammaires
Lexilogos, mots et merveilles dici et dailleurs : Dictionnaires de langues, argot, citations, encyclopédie, cartes et atlas, paroles de chansons, etc.
http://www.lexilogos.com/index.htm
Wordreference : Dictionnaires bilingues http://www.wordreference.com/fr/
Conjugueur : Conjugaison de tous les verbes du français à tous les temps http://la-conjugaison.nouvelobs.com/ http://www.leconjugueur.com/
Connectigramme : Tableaux de révision des règles du français http://www.connectigramme.com/index.htm
Pour sévaluer
CNED : Test de français langue étrangère et seconde http://www.campus-electronique.tm.fr/TestFle/
Ressources culturelles
TV5 MONDE : chaîne de télévision généraliste francophone internationale. http://www.tv5monde.com/
RFI (Radio France Internationale) http://savoirs.rfi.fr/apprendre-enseigner
France Inter : un site du groupe Radio France. http://www.franceinter.fr/
Site du journal Le monde http://www.lemonde.fr/
Site du journal Le Figaro http://www.lefigaro.fr/
Compréhension orale/Phonétique
Les sons du français : http://www.french.hku.hk/starters/fonetik/fiche02web.htm
Présentations sonores de lalphabet français et de lalphabet phonétique international http://phonetique.free.fr/index.htm
Répertoire de différents sites internet : http://www.lepointdufle.net/phonetique.htm
La chanson francophone en cours de FLE (Carmen Vera Pérez): http://platea.pntic.mec.es/~cvera/hotpot/chansons/index.htm
Karaoké FLE - Bonjour de France : Pratiquez votre Français grâce à la musique. Un concept original qui mélange le visionnage d'une vidéo et le remplissage d'un texte à trous. http://www.bonjourdefrance.com/karaoke-fle/index.php/fr
Netprof.fr (Le savoir gratuit en vidéo) : 421 cours gratuits et téléchargeables sur différents thèmes. Voir notamment « Orthographe » (trucs et astuces)
http://www.netprof.fr/
Pour sexercer
Lexique FLE : Découvrez le vocabulaire en cliquant sur des images http://lexiquefle.free.fr/
Polar FLE : site se présentant sous la forme dune énigme à résoudre à travers une série dexercices variés http://www.polarfle.com/
Bonjour de France : Compréhension orale, grammaire, vocabulaire, expressions idiomatiques, culture, exercices et jeux http://www.bonjourdefrance.com/
Méthode de français « Accord » : Exercices autocorrectifs http://www.didieraccord.com/
Peinture FLE : apprendre et étudier le français en peinture http://peinturefle.free.fr/
TV5 MONDE : Exercices de compréhension orale tous niveaux, rubrique « Apprendre le français ». http://apprendre.tv5monde.com/
Grammaire française : orthographe, syntaxe, accord du verbe, ponctuation, conjugaison... http://grammaire.reverso.net/
REPSIT, à la découverte du monde francophone : Exercices de langue française interactifs et autocorrectifs (liens vers différents sites). http://fis.ucalgary.ca/repsit/langue.htm
Perfectionnement linguistique:
Lexique des termes littéraires : http://www.lettres.net/lexique/
Archives de la bibliothèque nationale de France : http://gallica.bnf.fr/
Bibliothèque numérique : http://bibliothequenumerique.tv5monde.com/
Glossaire du théâtre http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/c2545/glossaire.html
Français de spécialité Monde des affaires http://www.francais.cci-paris-idf.fr/francais-de-specialite-monde-des-affaires/
Dicofr.com : Dictionnaire de linformatique et dinternet http://www.dicofr.com/
Sites pour communiquer avec un correspondant étranger:
Toulangues : Sur Toulouse et sa région, des tandems linguistiques, des soirées jeux, des informations, etc. Dans un esprit d'échange interculturel, de coopération et d'entraide. http://www.toulangues.org/
Couchsurfing : Couchsurfing is the world's largest travel community. https://www.couchsurfing.org/
FriendsAbroad : réseau dapprentissage de langues étrangères pour apprendre gratuitement par correspondance avec le logiciel « skype » http://www.friendsabroad.com/
eTandem (correspondance par E-mail) : Vous pouvez trouver un correspondant par l'Agence Tandem du Réseau International Tandem à l'université de Bochum en Allemagne http://www.slf.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/etandem/etproj-fr.html
jufonuk
not tag worthy
cool I will be living not quite in Toulouse but in Beauzelle. but Toulouse is the closet city to where I will be living.
thank you for the info.
I will PM you will any question
Mercimarimorimo
Member
Haven't checked this thread for a while, but I've been continuing my French studies slowly but surely.
llehuty, thanks a lot for the resource goldmine! I already knew some of those but plenty are new.
I've gotten lazier and study less nowadays but the interesting thing is that with increased exposure, even just a few minutes a few times a week, my listening comprehension has noticeably improved. I started listening late last year to French Voices, an intermediate-to-advanced podcast where the host interviews people entirely in French, Just half a year ago it was hard for me to follow but nowadays I understand 90% of it with no trouble.
It's still impossible for me to watch French films and series without subs though. You people speak crazy fast. Not to mention I think I'm still missing a lot of argot vocabulary. Just yesterday I watched a youtube video of someone teaching how real colloquial French is spoken, and even with word-for-word subtitles provided in French I swear I couldn't catch what he was saying (;_ I rewinded 3 times. He sounded like a fast-forwarded recording.
There's a high chance I might be taking the B2 exam this October after all. I think I'll pass, although getting a 90+ grade again would be a tall order. I have a big problem with fluidity--I can speak and handle a conversation, have mostly OK grammar and vocab, but severely lack the confidence to sound fluid. Also, the B2 speaking exam requires a 10-minute monologue and it gives me panic attacks. I'm shit at public speaking in my native language, what more in French? I keep blanking-out mid-discourse. Ugh. Any tips?
llehuty, thanks a lot for the resource goldmine! I already knew some of those but plenty are new.
I've gotten lazier and study less nowadays but the interesting thing is that with increased exposure, even just a few minutes a few times a week, my listening comprehension has noticeably improved. I started listening late last year to French Voices, an intermediate-to-advanced podcast where the host interviews people entirely in French, Just half a year ago it was hard for me to follow but nowadays I understand 90% of it with no trouble.
It's still impossible for me to watch French films and series without subs though. You people speak crazy fast. Not to mention I think I'm still missing a lot of argot vocabulary. Just yesterday I watched a youtube video of someone teaching how real colloquial French is spoken, and even with word-for-word subtitles provided in French I swear I couldn't catch what he was saying (;_
I rewinded 3 times. He sounded like a fast-forwarded recording.There's a high chance I might be taking the B2 exam this October after all. I think I'll pass, although getting a 90+ grade again would be a tall order. I have a big problem with fluidity--I can speak and handle a conversation, have mostly OK grammar and vocab, but severely lack the confidence to sound fluid. Also, the B2 speaking exam requires a 10-minute monologue and it gives me panic attacks. I'm shit at public speaking in my native language, what more in French? I keep blanking-out mid-discourse. Ugh. Any tips?
I've been mostly set maintaining my French for the last few weeks. Not really putting too much effort into it other than maintaining my apps .
But might B2 book came today. I think I am going to try and take the exam in November . I don't want to just barely passed the exam like I did with the previous one though .
I have LCI television on during the day and it is too fast for me to understand. But at the City Hall there are free language classes that I am going to take starting next month and I hope these will help me with my speaking and listening abilities.
At an event I went to last night there was a Polish lawyer who did not speak very good English . So he spoke in French and I spoke and English and I could understand 80% of what he was saying . Hopefully in the next half year or so I will be able to speak to him in French
But might B2 book came today. I think I am going to try and take the exam in November . I don't want to just barely passed the exam like I did with the previous one though .
I have LCI television on during the day and it is too fast for me to understand. But at the City Hall there are free language classes that I am going to take starting next month and I hope these will help me with my speaking and listening abilities.
At an event I went to last night there was a Polish lawyer who did not speak very good English . So he spoke in French and I spoke and English and I could understand 80% of what he was saying . Hopefully in the next half year or so I will be able to speak to him in French
While it has an easier to learn grammar, English is far worse when it comes to exception. It's possibly one of the worst out of any languages out there as there are more exceptions than rules due to it heavily borrowing from other languages. With French atleast there are still some logic and rules governing those exceptions.
Edit: Woops I quoted a post that's a year old !
marimorimo
Member
Natetan, do you have people you speak French with on a regular basis? I bet in half a year you'll be speaking fluidly being surrounded by French all the time
If I had the means I'd like to move to Geneva right this instant!
Natetan, do you have people you speak French with on a regular basis? I bet in half a year you'll be speaking fluidly being surrounded by French all the time
If I had the means I'd like to move to Geneva right this instant!
I do but the minute I open my mouth I get the 'wtf are you saying?!' squint because I pronounce everything wrong. Like yesterday I pronounced mairie as mariée. Or I say boo-lone. For Boulogne and i always get a 'wtf?!' Look and they say 'ah, boo-lone-ye.
I just haven't had the practice speaking or had a positive reception in casual settings from my speaking that I just don't bother anymore right now. I really need a teacher where I can just start with boring stuff like my name is etc. I've zoomed along self studying and my reading and writing score on DELF show that, but I never have any speaking practice. For example I text my mother in law in french albeit we speak in English. She tried to speak to me in french a few times but I just don't understand stand what she's saying (even though if she wrote it down I would). And I certainly can't make a descent response.
I would move to Geneva too if I could ;-)
Mass_Pincup
Banned
I guess It's because I've learnt english as a second language but I picked up most of its exception rather easily. They seem more logic to me or at least, I pick it up easily when I saw the mistake if you see what I mean.
Maybe it's because I'm thinking of french exceptions not commonly used.
You Know Nothing
Member
My favorite French exception that I've encountered so far has been the complex gender fluidity of "les gens"
🤔
🤔
Yikes, that sounds annoying. You should keep trying though (or find more rexeptive people to talk to), it's the only way you will learn how words sound and how to pronounce them.
I didn't like it when people corrected me the smallest of details early on, so I actually told my friends to stop doing that. It's so annoying not being able to hold a normal conversation because they will stop you at any chance if you don't tell them to stop.
Once I got more confident I told them to go back to correcting me.
somecrazymember
Banned
Things to know:
- Yes it's hard. Sorry about that.
- Some stuff don't make sense to be honest.
- Native french make many mistakes themselves, so don't learn from some random people. A friend of mine makes about 10 mistakes in 1 full sentence, it's really embarrassing. He'll write 'ses' instead of 'c'est' for example.
- Bonne chance !
- Yes it's hard. Sorry about that.
- Some stuff don't make sense to be honest.
- Native french make many mistakes themselves, so don't learn from some random people. A friend of mine makes about 10 mistakes in 1 full sentence, it's really embarrassing. He'll write 'ses' instead of 'c'est' for example.
- Bonne chance !
timetokill
Banned
How do you know when to say the double-L with a "luh" sound and when to say it with a "yuh" sound?
AnotherDayAnotherDollar
Banned
How good is this? I'm tempted to take the test.
I tried to figure out as I never really thought about that, as a native speaker. I'm fairly confident in saying that the "yuh" sound you're refering to is only applicable when the double-L is following the vowel "i" (bille, quille, fille, abeille). With the other vowels, it's a "luh" sound (échelle, colle, balle, bulle, sibylle). As always, there are some exceptions : tranquille is a "luh" sound.
[FAKE EDIT] Putosaure beat me to it, but just for emphasis...
General rule of thumb is: if there's an "i" before the "ll", it's "yuh". So: "abeille", "Bastille", "myrtille", "bailler", "bille" are all said with a "yuh" sound. A notable exception is "ville", which you obviously wanna say with a "luh" sound. Or "tranquille", as Putosaure pointed out. Off the top of my head I can't really think of another exception to the rule. I'm sure there are a few, but not many at any rate.
If there's no "i" before the "ll", then it's always "luh".
timetokill
Banned
Merci beaucoup! That will help me a lot, my French professor was starting to get exasperated at me tending to default to "yuh" -- an area where learning spanish first has really messed me up lol
Alx
Member
Another notable exception is "mille" (1000) which is a "luh" sound too. Worth remembering since it's very common. Also the city of Lille in the north. But yeah there aren't too many of them.
For the anecdote, I've known people from specific regions of France saying "tranquille" with a "yuh", although it would be considered a mistake by most.
You also have words like "millet" which is kind enough to let you use whatever pronunciation you like.
For the anecdote, I've known people from specific regions of France saying "tranquille" with a "yuh", although it would be considered a mistake by most.
You also have words like "millet" which is kind enough to let you use whatever pronunciation you like.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Quels programmes en langue française vous diriez sont faciles à comprendre pour un débutant ? Ma copine et moi avons déjà regardé Miraculous Ladybug, mais le contenu devenait très ennuyeux après quelques épisodes. Nous allons essayer Wakfu suivant (nous sommes des admirateurs d'animé et Wakfu est la chose la plus similaire ).
).Mass_Pincup
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Quels programmes en langue française vous diriez sont faciles à comprendre pour un débutant ? Ma copine et moi avons déjà regardé Miraculous Ladybug, mais le contenu devenait très ennuyeux après quelques épisodes. Nous allons essayer Wakfu suivant (nous sommes des admirateurs d'animé et Wakfu est la chose la plus similaire
Vous pourriez essayer Last Man dans le style "animé". Pour quelque chose de plus sérieux, le Bureau des légendes ou encore Engrenage sont de bonnes série française.
Édit: en y réfléchissant, ces programmes peuvent être assez dur à assimiler pour un débutant. Code Lyoko peut être plus adapté.
It's not a simple "L" sound, even though phonetically is represented that way.
https://forvo.com/word/fr/ville/amp#fr
I think the english "luh" is a good aproximation.
I guess you could say there's a very faint "uh" sound, but if you were to actually say "luh" like an english word you would definitely sound weird.
Yes, pronunciation can be highly dependent on location, especially for towns or family names.
For example, Auray (a town in Brittany) is pronounced o-rè, whereas Nay (a town in Béarn) is pronounced na-ye.
I remember mocking a teacher who pronounced the final 'er' in 'cahier' as the 'è' sound, while I learned to pronounce it as 'é'.
Now, I'm being mocked by locals for the way I pronounce the 'o' in 'rose', so...
For example, Auray (a town in Brittany) is pronounced o-rè, whereas Nay (a town in Béarn) is pronounced na-ye.
I remember mocking a teacher who pronounced the final 'er' in 'cahier' as the 'è' sound, while I learned to pronounce it as 'é'.
Now, I'm being mocked by locals for the way I pronounce the 'o' in 'rose', so...
If you're going for 'standard' French, "cahier" should be said with an "é" (which is news to me, as I say it with an "è" or something inbetween), and "rose" should be said with an "ô". Not nice of these people to mock you, but know that, if you're not saying these words the way I indicated, you're technically not using standard pronunciation.
Let me use an example: I dabble in amateur voice acting from time to time, and there are people in my group (mostly people from Northern France) who say words like "chose" and "rose" with an open "o", i.e. the same "o" as in words like "bol". I routinely have to inform them that they shouldn't do that when they're voice acting (unless the part they're playing is literally from that region, i.e. never), because, well, again, that's not standard, and what's not standard in that context becomes distracting and jarring to the audience.
I have a feeling that, a few decades from now, the open "o" will become standard, as more and more people lose the ability to distinguish between the two sounds, and journalists on the radio are starting - for whatever reason - to say all o's that way. But, for the time being, it's non-standard.
Also I hate when people say "rose" with an open "o", but that's just personal preference, DON'T JUDGE ME
Good luck! I'm facing a lot of the same in Quebec.
My advice is searching a frequent activity that forces you to talk or listen to french people (unless you speak in french in your work environment or something).
What I did was having french roommates early on, and also attending dancing lessons. It did help me a lot loosing up.
What I did was having french roommates early on, and also attending dancing lessons. It did help me a lot loosing up.
marimorimo
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How is the French class going?
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My friend and I were entertaining the idea of taking the DELF B2 exam this October but decided to postpone to March after all. The main reason being that our B1 scores set a precedent that's pretty much impossible to live up to (-_-
90+ is a pipe dream but we're aiming for at least 70, hopefully 80. With our current abilities we probably can't hope for more than 60.Not to mention, I hate how I keep having these bouts of short-term memory loss while speaking. It makes my anxiety worse when doing 10-minute monologue practice sessions. Ugh. Why is there a monologue part in these exams anyway!? In real life people hardly do 10-minute speeches and even if they did, they read from a piece of paper well-prepared in advance! /rant
The good thing about postponing taking the DELF is that I can ease off on a few of the boring parts of reviewing for the exam and start on something else more interesting---learning argot! I think it could be the final link to finally understanding you francophones. When I watch French news or kids' shows (very comprehensible) then switch to French films or listen to real-life people talking to each other it's like they're totally different languages. I'm already looking forward to eavesdropping on the profs' conversation (who think the students can't understand them) >
lmao
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