So I have been learning french for a few months now. It wasn't that difficult but I had significantly harder time learning it than any other language and I couldn't quite put it on why it was. And today I think that I have come to a breakthrough. I realized that French is a very condensed language (well in pronunciation at least).

Like I have shown on the image, it is usually the case that a single phoneme in French sentence can carry an entire word of meaning. And this I guess was an obstacle that was just mentally very hard for me to overcome because it really isn't the case in any other language that I know (I know English, Polish, Spanish, Japanese and a little bit of German and Turkish). The most condensed language up to this point that I knew was actually English, but even it uses at least 2-3 phonemes to represent most of it's words.

I guess this is also why some french teachers are really strict about correct pronunciation, because pronouncing even a single letter wrong in french would most likely change the entire meaning of a sentence, because of how condensed the pronunciation is. The example also shows how much disparity there is between writing and pronunciation of french, which is just an objectively hard thing about learning this language.

Maybe this will help some people who also learn French and maybe have the same problem that I had.

I live in Tennessee (U.S.) and named my cat Cadeau. It's been four months now and I have yet to meet anyone who can say it correctly! It's not even just from reading it. I can say it and people repeat back something else. Like, that's not what I just said to you. *sigh* Anyway, j'adore mon beau Cadeau. His name is purrfect for him.

Just curious, is this video easy to follow for non-native speakers? I’m getting like 60% of it I think she speaks really fast

Salut à tous ! Je suis à Paris en ce moment et il m'arrive un truc assez fou que je voulais partager avec vous.

Petite précision importante : je parle couramment français. Ces derniers jours, j'ai eu plein de conversations super fluides en français et la plupart des gens me répondent d'ailleurs naturellement en français. Mais le truc bizarre, c'est que dès que certains comprennent que je suis italienne, ils basculent instantanément en italien.
Le plus dingue, c'est qu'on me capte même quand je ne décroche pas un mot !
Aujourd'hui, j'entre dans un musée, je me dirige vers la sécurité dans le silence le plus total. Les agents me regardent et me sortent un grand : « Buongiorno ,italiane c'ero». J'étais sous le choc. Un peu plus tard, je vais chercher deux cafés. Pour faire plus simple et rapide, je décide de passer commande en anglais. Le serveur me prépare mes cafés, me regarde avec un sourire et me dit : « Grazie, arrivederci ! ».
Mais comment vous faites ?! J'ai un panneau invisible au-dessus de la tête avec écrit "ITALIE" ? 😂

I hope this makes sense; liking the sound of a particular word.

« Oiseau » is so fun to say for me, it sounds cute. I also love « mouette » in the same way. (I live in Maine with constant seagull noises in the background, had to look it up!)

While I am slowly making peace with the French 'R', words like trois come easily enough. However, attempting words like quatre (pronounce the R at the end) feels like my tongue is going to explode. Do you have any tips for mastering this sound? More importantly, if I end up softening or dropping the 'R' in these tricky combinations, will native speakers still understand me, or will it completely compromise my clarity?

Literally 100% of cooks in English-language cooking shows pronounce it as "blank". I'm okay with the "eu" and the "r" in "beurre" not being pronounced like a native French speaker would because those sounds are legitimately difficult to pronounce for non-natives. But keeping the "c" silent is an easy way to improve your French!

Edit: Thank you all for your comments! Didn't expect this topic to bring out so many perspectives. I got to learn a few different things. The bottom line for me, given the original intention behind this post, is that if you are learning French (which I believe this subreddit is for), know that if you hear the "c" pronounced in the French word "blanc" (for example in "beurre blanc" in an English-language cooking show), the "c" in blanc should actually be silent if you want to say the word in French.

Aujourd’hui, on a eu nos notes pour nos épreuves orales de français qu’on a faites la semaine dernière. Mon épreuve s’est bien passée mais, ma prof a écrit que j’avais mal prononcé «mes camarades» car je n’avais pas fait de liaison entre les deux mots.
Je lui ai dit que j’avais raison de ne pas avoir fait la liaison, mais elle m’a assuré que ça se prononce comme «me.z camarades» que pendant ses années en France, on lui a dit que c’est obligatoire et plus naturel dans la région où elle était.
C’est vrai que ceci existe quelque part en France ou est-ce qu’elle essaie de cacher son erreur ?

Im not studying french, i just think this is a fun question

I'm from Québec, and I thought it'd be fun to see how much of a heavily exaggerated, rural Québécois French text people could actually understand.

I leaned pretty hard into the pronunciation, contractions, and local expressions, so the spelling might look a little unusual, even if you're familiar with French.

I'm curious how much of it you can make out, whether you're a native French speaker or still learning. Feel free to mention where you're from, too.

Here's the text:

Mon grand-pére, y v'nait d'un p'tit rang pas mal creux dans l'fond du bois, pis y'avait une drôle de manière d'nous montrer des affaires quand on était ti-culs. Y'était po bein porté à faire des grandes explications, tsé, mais y'avait l'don d'te laisser avec une p'tite idée qui t'trottait dans caboche pour l'restant d'la journée. Y t'contait quequ'chose drette de même, bein tranquille, pis quand tu pensais avoir catché l'boutte important, y t'en sortait un aut' qu'y'avait l'air de rien, mais qu'y finissait par toute changer. Pis l'pire, c'est qu'si tu r'venais l'vouère pour y d'mander c'qu'y'avait voulu dire, y t'argardait avec son p'tit sourire en coin, comme si c'tait toé qui v'nait d'y apprendre de quoi.

Y'avait surtout c'te manie-là d'te conter des histoires sans jamais t'dire toute c'qu'y s'était passé. Dès fois, y partait s'une affaire, virait su' une aut', pis r'venait à première comme si y'avait jamais changé d'sujet. Là, toé, t'essayais d'suivre, mais y'avait tout l'temps un boutte qu't'avais l'impression d'avoir manqué. Fak tu y d'mandais d'répéter, pis y t'arcontait la même affaire, sauf qu'y changeait deux-trois p'tits détails en passant. C'qui était drôle, c'est qu'à force d'l'écouter, tu finissais par pus trop savouère si c'tait lui qui s'mêlait dans son histoire ou bein toé qui t'en faisais une dans tête. Y disait qu'c'était po bein grave, tant qu't'arrivais à t'y r'trouver un peu.

Asteure, j'cré bein qu'j'ai pogné un brin d'sa manière d'faire, même si j'pourrais po trop vous dire quand c'est arrivé. Pis c'est drôle pareil, parce qu'y'en a sûrement une couple qui sont déjà rendus icitte sans avoir toute lu c'qu'y'avait avant. Y'en a d'aut' qui sont p't'être encore après démêler un boutte du premier paragraphe, pis y'en a qui lisent ça comme si c'tait rien pantoute. En téka, j'suppose qu'on s'rejoint toute à quequ'part, même si c'pas nécessairement à même place.

Pis là, j'viens d'me r'dre compte qu'j'ai p't'être oublié d'vous dire c'que mon grand-pére m'avait montré au juste. J'pourrais bein r'commencer, mais j'ai comme l'impression qu'ça aiderait po grand-monde. Surtout ceux qui viennent d'r'monter deux paragraphes pour vouère si j'l'avais po déjà dit. Mais si vous l'avez faite, gênez-vous po, moé itou j'l'aurais faite, haha.

En téka, pour ceux qui ont encore un peu d'misère à suivre, inquiétez-vous po trop. Mon grand-pére disait souvent qu'y'avait pas d'mal à po toute comprendre du premier coup. Même qu'des fois, y trouvait ça pas mal plus drôle quand on finissait par catcher qu'y'avait rien à catcher.

Pis là, avant qu'vous m'demandiez si c'était ça, sa fameuse leçon, j'vas vous dire la même affaire qu'y m'aurait probablement répondue.

Ça dépend d'c'que t'as compris.

Tsé.

Hi everyone. So, I’ve been studying French since 2022 I think, and I know I will always have a foreign accent but I do put some effort to reduce it to be intelligible enough.

The thing is that while in France and Québec a while ago, many times people would just switch to English when I tried speaking French with them. I don’t know if they were being nice or just had no patience for my cadence – this is not a rant on Parisians, most of them were really nice to me btw. But what about you, do you think it sounds unintelligible? Should I invest more time in “neutralizing” my accent so people can understand it better?

My tutor (native, narbonnais) says he was surprised people reacted like this, because he says he can understand me well. However, he also said he might be biased because we have been interacting for a while and he got used to my accent. I think both of us ended up frustrated with this situation, and I’m afraid I might be butchering the pronunciation despite my efforts.

Anyway, this sample text was not written by me, I asked AI to focus on sounds that are more particularly French so that people could evaluate how difficult or easy it is to understand me.

Thanks in advance for any feedback or thoughts!

I was curious about this because recently i got on a phone call for a project with someone who knew nothing about me, only my first name. She’s never met me in real life or seen my face, we just exchanged briefly over email to set it up. After about 5 minutes she casually mentioned “hm you have an English accent, i would say american actually? is that right?”

I was surprised and said yes, how did she know? She said I just sound american lol. Cause most of the time people do pick up an anglophone accent when i speak (i think it’s the overpronunciation of consonants, too much intonation and maybe confusion of nasal vowels), but usually they don’t know from where. Is it easy for a french speaker to distinguish an english speaker from a different country like a british person versus an american speaking english? What are some traits or mispronunciations that can make you sound american when u speak french?

je suis prof de français (ainsi que d’espagnol et d’anglais), j’ai obtenu le DALF C1 et j’ai plus de 4 ans d’expérience dans l’enseignement du FLE ( mais je suis pas francophone ).
malheureusement, je n’ai pas encore eu l’occasion d’aller en France ( mes demarches sont en cours ). honnêtement, j’ai peur que les français me cancèlent sur mon léger accent… j’ai une très bonne prononciation, mais quand même…

vous pensez quoi ? est-ce q c’est un problème grave ou un stéréotype ?

merci pour toutes vos réponses 🙏

Without context, is it possible to tell?

Hi, I have a first name that is commonly pronounced in two different ways. I say it one way but I don't mind if people call me by the other pronunciation.

It recently occurred to me that this other way sounds a lot better when someone speaking French. It flows better with the accent, in my opinion. Would it be strange to start going by this pronunciation when I'm in francophone spaces, but not in English?

What are the pronunciation differences and common mistakes that give away someone is (specifically) English in their French speaking? Asking out of pure curiosity.

Yeah so as the title says im wondering how much time is needed to be able to sound like an native, and is it late to start learning french at 19. Is it impossible or can it be done in like 5 years or so? Any advice or myb some hopeful message to see if i have any chance to do it?

Right now, I'm doing a lot of work on my speaking and the thing I'm struggling with most is that "R" sound in words like "arbre" and "rue". I thought I'd be fine if I didn't master it, but I'm finding it's virtually everywhere. At best, I sound like I'm speaking French with an American accent, but at it's worst, francophones don't even understand what I'm saying. I understand it's supposed to come from the throat (or something like that), but it just sounds like I need to cough. I'm currently in Montréal for a month (for French immersion), so any tips would be great, please!

Je suis de langue maternelle anglophone, et je trouve les mots « préférerais » , « espérerez » etc difficiles à prononcer à cause des « R » qu’il faut prononcer les uns après les autres. Y-a-t-il des natifs Francophones qui peuvent m’aider? Merci!

At the cesar awards on thursday jim carrey did his whole acceptance speech in french, and then spoke a bit of french to reporters, saying he wanted to honor his francophone ancestors. Here’s a post with a link to the video of his speech. conspiracy theories aside lmao I don’t think he claims to be fluent but for a beginner or someone who may have learned only a bit, I think his speaking is impressive since he didn’t seem to read off a teleprompter and he doesn’t have a great accent but he seems to have the basics down for someone who is still learning. What do you think of this speech? How would you rate his french speaking, grammar and pronunciation?

So, I studied myself and practiced saying “r” from the throat.

But I am taking some classes now and they mostly use “r” as we say in “red” like even for words such as “parle”.

I am now mixing both ones and messing up my pronunciation. I know people interchange but it’s making me confused.

What would be the best way to pronounce “r”?

Maybe this is a weird hill to die on, but I think the real unlock for French pronunciation isn't IPA or audio, it's the two together.

Audio alone gave me a target but no map. I'd hear cœur and produce something that sounded vaguely close to me but completely off to a French speaker. IPA alone has the opposite problem, you can read [kœʁ] all day, but if you've never heard a uvular ʁ, the symbols are just letters.

Together though? Game-changer. I hear cœur, I see [kœʁ], and suddenly the audio isn't a vague target, it's annotated. The IPA tells my brain what to listen for in the audio, and the audio tells my mouth what the IPA actually sounds like. Rounded vowels (y ø œ) and the uvular ʁ finally clicked.

But whenever I bring up IPA, most learners glaze over. "Too technical." "Looks like math."

So, do you use IPA when learning French, or just rely on audio? For the rounded vowels and nasals, did audio alone get you there, or did you need something more symbolic?

I often mistake "rendre" for "prendre", "Veulent" for "vol" among many other things. "Je voulais dire" and "Je vous l'ai dit" almost seems similar when I hear them. It feels like French has way too many homophones even though in many cases the vowels are distinct. How do I get myself attuned to French pronunciation? English isn't my first language either but I never had any difficulty in distinguishing different words when I heard them. That's how I was able to learn English through comprehensible input. But French pronunciation gets me every time.

Bonjour tout le monde ! J'ai un petit peu de confusion sur la prononciation du futur et du conditionnel. La plupart du monde dit que c'est é pour le futur, et è pour le conditionnel, mais parfois j'entends quelque chose un peu différent.

Je prenais un cours cet été en Suisse, et ma prof a dit qu'un se prononce plutôt comme "i" et l'autre comme é. (Je ne suis pas sûr, je m'en souviens peu, et quand j'essaie de le recherche, tout le monde dit que c'est é et è.)

En plus, dans la chanson "Quand la ville dort" par Niagara, j'entends cet "i" quand elle chante "J'aurai peut-être le temps". En même temps, quand elle chante "Je me ferai, je me ferai, je me ferai la belle" pour moi j'entends "é".

Qu'en pensez-vous ? Est-ce régionale ? Que dites-vous quand vous parlez ?

Edit : Merci pour les réponse, je pense que c'est plutôt un ɪ, comme dans l'anglais sit.