How to improve your French pronunciation?
Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2025 10:39 am
Is your French pronunciation not very clear? Do your interlocutors not understand you well when you speak? Discover 8 exercises to improve your pronunciation . The goal here is not to achieve perfection, but to learn to pronounce words distinctly to be understood by others. Rest assured, no one will hold it against you for speaking French with a foreign accent . On the contrary, French speakers even find it very cute!
1. Work on discrimination to master the difference between French sounds
To pronounce a sound, you must first hear it. You must therefore train your ear to recognize the different sounds of a language before you can produce them. Discrimination exercises are an excellent way to achieve this. The goal is to learn to distinguish between two similar sounds. For example, it is knowing that in the word "rue", I hear the vowel "u" and in "sourd", I hear the vowel "ou".
You can do this exercise by playing with minimal pairs. These are words that only differ by one sound, such as the terms "drink" and "see". This way, you only focus on that sweden whatsapp number data different sound. You can take a list with two phonemes that are giving you trouble, such as "s" and "z":
If you have a partner, ask them to read one of the words and circle the one you hear. If you are practicing alone, you can simply read the vocabulary out loud and pay attention to the difference in pronunciation.
2. Do scales to train your mouth muscles
Practice scales to improve your French pronunciation
When you speak in your native language, you work certain muscles in your mouth and face. When you speak in French, you work others. Doing scales like on the piano will help strengthen these muscles that you are not used to using. This will make you more fluent when speaking.
For example, the pronunciation of the letter "r" in French is often problematic. The idea is to associate this consonant with easy-to-say vowels first: ra – ri – ro – ru – re – rou. Once you are more comfortable, you can try nasals and diphthongs: ran – rin – ron – reu – roi. This way, you focus on only one sound and exercise a specific muscle of the mouth.
3. Exaggerating pronunciation
Sometimes people don't understand us because we slur our words. In this case, the problem comes from the fact that we don't articulate enough or we speak too quickly. The solution? Pronounce the sounds in French with EXA-GÉ-RA-TION and slowness.
First, choose a word that is difficult to pronounce in French. Let's take the adjective "strange" for example. Then, articulate each syllable slowly. STRANGE. You should feel the muscles in your mouth working. Repeat the movement several times. Then, pronounce the word normally and faster. Result: your pronunciation will become clearer and your muscles will know how to emit these different consonants and vowels the next time.
4. Learn tongue twisters to play with French words
What is a tongue twister ? It is a word game that contains pronunciation difficulties. As with scales, this exercise will train the muscles of the mouth and will help you better articulate vowels and consonants. French speakers themselves, especially children, love to practice this fun activity.
Here are two famous examples of tongue twisters that play on the alternation of the phonemes "s" and "ch". To make the game even more fun, try saying these sentences as fast as you can:
"Shadow" in English means "shadow." Shadowing is a technique that consists of repeating what a native speaker says right after that person, like his shadow. It is not enough to simply imitate the pronunciation of words. It is also necessary to copy the intonation of the voice and the stress of the syllables.
If you are a beginner, I recommend choosing someone who speaks at a slow pace. Try not to pause the audio so that the speech continues naturally. At first, you can simply repeat a few words or parts of a sentence. You can also listen for the first time without trying to imitate and practice shadowing on the second listen.
1. Work on discrimination to master the difference between French sounds
To pronounce a sound, you must first hear it. You must therefore train your ear to recognize the different sounds of a language before you can produce them. Discrimination exercises are an excellent way to achieve this. The goal is to learn to distinguish between two similar sounds. For example, it is knowing that in the word "rue", I hear the vowel "u" and in "sourd", I hear the vowel "ou".
You can do this exercise by playing with minimal pairs. These are words that only differ by one sound, such as the terms "drink" and "see". This way, you only focus on that sweden whatsapp number data different sound. You can take a list with two phonemes that are giving you trouble, such as "s" and "z":
If you have a partner, ask them to read one of the words and circle the one you hear. If you are practicing alone, you can simply read the vocabulary out loud and pay attention to the difference in pronunciation.
2. Do scales to train your mouth muscles
Practice scales to improve your French pronunciation
When you speak in your native language, you work certain muscles in your mouth and face. When you speak in French, you work others. Doing scales like on the piano will help strengthen these muscles that you are not used to using. This will make you more fluent when speaking.
For example, the pronunciation of the letter "r" in French is often problematic. The idea is to associate this consonant with easy-to-say vowels first: ra – ri – ro – ru – re – rou. Once you are more comfortable, you can try nasals and diphthongs: ran – rin – ron – reu – roi. This way, you focus on only one sound and exercise a specific muscle of the mouth.
3. Exaggerating pronunciation
Sometimes people don't understand us because we slur our words. In this case, the problem comes from the fact that we don't articulate enough or we speak too quickly. The solution? Pronounce the sounds in French with EXA-GÉ-RA-TION and slowness.
First, choose a word that is difficult to pronounce in French. Let's take the adjective "strange" for example. Then, articulate each syllable slowly. STRANGE. You should feel the muscles in your mouth working. Repeat the movement several times. Then, pronounce the word normally and faster. Result: your pronunciation will become clearer and your muscles will know how to emit these different consonants and vowels the next time.
4. Learn tongue twisters to play with French words
What is a tongue twister ? It is a word game that contains pronunciation difficulties. As with scales, this exercise will train the muscles of the mouth and will help you better articulate vowels and consonants. French speakers themselves, especially children, love to practice this fun activity.
Here are two famous examples of tongue twisters that play on the alternation of the phonemes "s" and "ch". To make the game even more fun, try saying these sentences as fast as you can:
"Shadow" in English means "shadow." Shadowing is a technique that consists of repeating what a native speaker says right after that person, like his shadow. It is not enough to simply imitate the pronunciation of words. It is also necessary to copy the intonation of the voice and the stress of the syllables.
If you are a beginner, I recommend choosing someone who speaks at a slow pace. Try not to pause the audio so that the speech continues naturally. At first, you can simply repeat a few words or parts of a sentence. You can also listen for the first time without trying to imitate and practice shadowing on the second listen.