Pronunciation in Assimil French with Ease (Language Programs, Books & Tapes) Language Learning Forum

Pronunciation in Assimil French with Ease
Tags: Assimil \| French
Share with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes

21 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3

Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5384 days ago
3971 posts - 7747 votes

Speaks: English, French*, German^C1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

Message 17 of 21

05 May 2010 at 4:38pm | IP Logged

KevinDks wrote:

One of the things that confused me is this from lesson 3, "Et alors ? Où sont les croissants ?", where alors is at the end of a sentence, but the "ah" or "rah" sound is quite different:

http://www.novaforesta.org/S07.mp3

This is a more natural sounding clip. Typically, r tends to fade away or be very soft at the end of a phrase, which is why it sounds so muted. But native speakers are still very good at detecting even the faintest trace of it.
1 person has voted this message useful

Spiderkat
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5815 days ago
175 posts - 248 votes

Speaks: French*, English
Studies: Russian

Message 18 of 21

05 May 2010 at 5:19pm | IP Logged

KevinDks wrote:

Ah, I can hear the difference when there is another word following, as with this other example which features "mère" in the middle of a sentence, "Est-ce que votre mère est à la maison ?" :

http://www.novaforesta.org/T01.mp3

...

Kevin

You have to keep in mind that they speak slowly and clearly with longer pauses between words for the learners. For instance in this sentence the words "...mère est à..." will sound at a normal speed just like one single word "mèresta".

I'd say try not to focus too much on those R sounds or other similar details because you tend to want to hear sounds that are in fact not really sounds.
1 person has voted this message useful

Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5384 days ago
3971 posts - 7747 votes

Speaks: English, French*, German^C1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

Message 19 of 21

05 May 2010 at 5:25pm | IP Logged

Spiderkat wrote:

For instance in this sentence the words "...mère est à..." will sound at a normal speed just like one single word "mèresta".

You're right, I was going to say the same thing. In this instance, the syllables would become ...mè.ré.ta... In order words, the r gets parsed as the onset of the following syllable as if it were part of a larger word.
1 person has voted this message useful

Footnoted
Newbie
United States
Joined 4860 days ago
35 posts - 42 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

Message 20 of 21

11 September 2011 at 10:13pm | IP Logged

I would just like to add that I am incapable of duplicating the way she says the noted words--I've tried and
tried but it's beyond me how to pronounce those endings the way she does, so I really hope it's not an
essential skill. (Also, what a great voice!)

Edited by Footnoted on 11 September 2011 at 10:17pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4912 days ago
2151 posts - 3960 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

Message 21 of 21

13 September 2011 at 12:21am | IP Logged

KevinDks wrote:

Dear all

I have recently started Assimil New French With Ease and I have reached lesson 9. The audio files are very good, but there are a couple of instances where one actor's pronunciation of a word is different to another actor's - one of the female actors in particular. I wonder whether I'm hearing emphasis, regional accent, affectation or something else. Here are two examples:

1. In the second lesson, Au magasin, the female actor I mentioned is playing the customer sheltering from the rain. She says "il pleut dehors, alors..." and pronounces that last word like "alorah". In the third lesson, Au cafe, one of the male actors says "Et alors?" and it doesn't have anything like the same emphasis on the final syllable.

2. In the eighth lesson, Une visite, the same female actor I mentioned from 'Au magasin' says "Vous voulez parler a ma mere?" and the last word sounds like "merah". In the Exercices for that lesson a different female actor says "Est-ce que votre mere est a la maison?" and she doesn't put that strong ah sound at the end of 'mere'.

So far it seems to be one particular female actor emphasising the ah sound where other actors don't. That's what makes me wonder if she has a particular accent, but then again the scenarios she is acting out could justify special emphasis on those words. If anyone has any views on this I would be glad to hear them - I want to develop a standard French accent so it seems best to start off on the right foot.

Regards

Kevin

Interesting discussion. I've noticed the same thing with the female speaker on Earworms French, but she seems to add the final sound more often than not to words. Then the male will repeat the same word without the final sound. However, I don't think the male is native.

I may be wrong, but I understood it as the female speaking too carefully, so in emphasizing the endings the extra vowel is sort of breathed out (as people suggested of the Assimil examples). When you ask a native how to correctly pronounce something, they often pronounce it for you in a way they wouldn't actually do when speaking naturally. So perhaps she is over-pronouncing, which is resulting in the additional sound.

1 person has voted this message useful

This discussion contains 21 messages over 3 pages: << Prev 1 2 3

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register

Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum

This page was generated in 0.3281 seconds.