Five-Step Roadmap to Effortless French Pronunciation 🗺️

Transcript:

Hello, everyone! Bonjour à tous! Welcome to the audio guide, Five-Step Roadmap to Effortless French Pronunciation! I'm so glad you're here. Today, we're going to talk about French pronunciation. I know this topic often feels intimidating for French learners, but don't worry - no matter if you're just starting out, or you've been learning for a while, this audio guide will help simplify your pronunciation journey and make it less overwhelming!

Before we dive in, let me quickly introduce myself for those who don't know me. Enchantée, I'm Mathilde! I'm a French native speaker and a French teacher. I’m the creator and host of the French Made Easy podcast, where I help beginners learn French in a fun and easy way. And I'm proud to say the podcast is in the top 10 best French learning podcasts, with over 4 million downloads so far! If you're a listener, thank you so much! I'm grateful for our beautiful online community.

Now, let's talk about why we're focusing on pronunciation today.

A while back, I asked my audience what was the hardest part of learning and speaking French. The answer was, without surprise: pronunciation! It's a common struggle, not just for beginners, but for learners at all levels.

The thing is - in many French classroom, pronunciation doesn't get the attention it deserves. Not because French teachers don't think it's important - they absolutely do! But often there isn't enough time to really dig into it. Plus, it's a tricky topic to teach.

But, I truly believe that a good pronunciation (notice I didn’t say ‘perfect’) is key to speaking French confidently and effortlessly.

So, just to reassure you, if right now you're finding French pronunciation tough or struggling with it, remember, you're not alone! Many other learners feel the same way. I do too! I sometimes feel silly when I’m speaking in English, which is not my first language, obviously. So I completely get it, but that's why we're here today - to tackle pronunciation together!

So, before we jump into our five-step plan for French pronunciation, let's just quickly see if any of these sound familiar to you:

1. You feel nervous about your French pronunciation. You can't help but worry about your pronunciation and possible mistakes. It's like a cloud that hovers over your every conversation in French. ☁️

2. You struggle to keep up with French speakers. The speed and rhythm of French seem almost too quick to follow. You wish you could just press 'pause' and dissect the sentences at your own pace. ⏯

3. You’re frustrated when others can't understand you. You find yourself having to repeat or rephrase your words, and you can't help but wish that conversations were smoother and more natural. 😫

4. You're completely new to French and feeling overwhelmed. The sounds, the accent, everything seems unfamiliar, and you're unsure where to start. But you're excited about the journey ahead and eager to learn. 🌱

If you found yourself nodding to any of these points, then you're exactly where you need to be. There's a way to overcome these challenges, and that's exactly what we're going to talk about today.

In this audio guide, we're going to talk about:

1. Three Misconceptions about French Pronunciation: We'll talk about some common beliefs that might be holding you back from clear French pronunciation and slowing down your progress, and we’ll clarify them.

2. My Simple Five-Step Roadmap to Effortless French Pronunciation: This is my trusted method that I use with all my students to improve their French pronunciation, and I'm very excited to share it with you today!

Three Misconceptions about French Pronunciation that Might be Slowing Down Your Progress

Sure, French has its unique sounds, and it might be challenging at first. But it's not a challenge that cannot be met. With the right approach, resources that you enjoy, and consistent practice, you can absolutely master it. Regular practice is key. Even if it’s just for 30 minutes a week, or 10 minutes a day, these small commitments to practice will help you get better little by little, leading to steady improvement over time. Just like building a wall one brick at a time, your skills will grow.

I've seen it firsthand with my FPME students. They start the course by sending me a recording practice, and they do another one at the end of the course. On top of that, they participate in a 30-day speaking challenge. So I can hear that each one of them starts with their own set of pronunciation challenges - and these are different for every student. By the final recording and then the challenge, I can hear the significant improvements they've made.

Think of it like learning to play a musical instrument. At first, the notes might not sound right, and the melody might seem off. But with continuous effort, you learn to hit the right notes.

With patience, dedication, and intentional practice, you will progress. It might not happen overnight, but it will happen. I can guarantee that. So, please don't get discouraged by the initial difficulties of French pronunciation. Embrace them as part of the process, as learning curves that are meant to be overcome.

Wrong! To understand why, let's think of learning the French language like sitting on a three-legged stool. The legs of the stool represent pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. There are other components, other language skills to it, but those are the 3 big ones. If one leg is shorter than the others, the stool wobbles, right? This balance is fundamental.

Speaking French isn't just about knowing the right words or constructing the right sentences. It's about making those words sound just right. Now, imagine you're trying to speak French. First, you need to know French words - that's where vocabulary comes in. These are your tools. Then, you need to put these words together in a coherent way - that's your grammar. It's the rulebook. But here's the part that often gets overlooked - you need to pronounce these words in a way that's understandable to French speakers. It's the melody of your conversation. Without it, even the most beautifully constructed sentences can lose their essence.

Think about it. If French speakers cannot understand you because of your pronunciation, it’s going to be hard to have an actual conversation. It's like having all the ingredients for a delicious meal but not knowing how to cook them properly.

If you say to me: ‘le jardin est grand’ instead of ‘le jardin est grand’, it makes it hard for me to understand what you’re saying, and I’m probably going to ask you to repeat yourself. Repeatedly facing such situations can take a toll on your self-esteem. Especially if you're a beginner, these interactions can become nerve-wracking.

However, the good news is, as you get the hang of pronunciation, the world of French opens up to you in ways you might not have expected. You'll not only be understood but also start understanding others better. So, don't underestimate the power of pronunciation. It's just as important as grammar and vocabulary in your French learning journey. In fact, it’s the bridge that connects everything together. It’s about having the right balance between each component of the language!

So this is a big one. I hear that a lot, not particularly from my students because I think they know where I stand on this, but mainly online, from people promising that either their course will make you sound like native French speakers, or tips to sound like a native. That’s a no from me.

Why is it a no? Because trying to sound exactly like a native speaker shouldn't even be your goal in learning French or even another language. There are a couple of key reasons for this:

1. Trying to sound just like a native speaker can lead to frustration and set the bar too high. It’s really hard to speak with the same accent as someone who has spoken French their whole life. Think about it - they have had years and years of practice, since childhood. You're embarking on this journey now, and that's something to be proud of, not something that should be masked.

2. Don’t get rid of your accent! Your accent is a part of who you are, it’s your identity, and it's perfectly fine to have one. As an example, I’m a native French speaker living in Australia, but does it mean I want to eradicate my French accent to blend in and speak like an Australian? No! My accent is part of my identity, and it shows my unique connection to the French language and culture. As long as I can be understood, it’s good enough!

So, what should the ultimate goal be?

Speaking in a way that French speakers, whether native or not, can understand! Notice I didn’t say perfect, I said ‘clear and understandable’. Good enough! That's what's important. This means being able to be understood by French speakers and feeling comfortable when you speak, not to mimic native speakers perfectly.

You're learning a new language to communicate and connect with others; that is the big goal: to communicate and connect with others, not to win a look-alike contest. It's about being authentic, embracing the new skills you're acquiring, and being true to yourself. That's the real success: when the conversations feel effortless, when you can share thoughts, emotions, and ideas freely.

So, those are some of the misconceptions about French pronunciation that might have been slowing you down. But, by understanding and addressing these misconceptions, because a good mindset is such an important part of learning a language, you are already on the path to pronunciation success.

Now, you might be wondering, "Where do I go from here?" The answer is a structured, step-by-step approach to mastering French pronunciation. And that's precisely what I’m sharing with you next:

My Five-Step Roadmap to Effortless French Pronunciation

Now, let’s dive into each step:

The first step to mastering French pronunciation is familiarizing yourself with the unique sounds of French. You need to train your ear to distinguish these sounds before you can even think about reproducing them accurately. There are 36 sounds in French, and some of them can be a bit tricky for French learners because they can, for a lot of learners, sound very much alike. Like [e] and [ε], or [y] and [u].

Now, don't worry, you don't have to learn all 36 sounds of French. It's much smarter to focus your time and learning energy on those sounds that are different from the ones in your own language.

A really useful tool to get familiar with these French sounds, is a chart called the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) chart for French. It shows you all the different sounds in French (both in symbol and the audio forms), the spelling variation for each sound, which is very helpful when you come to step 3, and example words for each sound. You can find a chart online if you’re happy to google research, but to make things easy for you, I’ve created one that you can find for free in the transcript. ✨ right here. ✨

At these stage, for this first step, I just want you to get use to hearing and differentiating these sounds, don’t worry about the pronunciation yet.

Let's try a quick quiz to show you how you can do it.

• 🎧 Let's look at the sounds [e] and [ε]. Listen carefully. Can you tell these two sounds apart?

• 🎧 Now, if I make the sound: [ε] Which sound is it? The first or the second one?

Yes, that's right, it's the second sound.

Now, let's do the same with two French words that contain these two sounds (and in the chart, you’ll have example words for each sound): 'mes' [me] and 'mais.' [mε]

• 🎧 Which word do you hear, the first or the second? 'mes.' [me]

It's the first word, 'mes.'

So that was just an example to show you how you can practice differentiating these sounds with the IPA chart. Spend as much time as necessary on this step. It’s going to be super beneficial. That’s also a good idea to do audio quizzes at this stage. In my French Pronunciation Made Easy course, we have tons of audio quizzes, which students really love.

Now we're ready to take the next step in learning French pronunciation.

Now that you've become familiar with recognizing French sounds, it’s time to start producing these sounds by yourself. We’re still only focusing on sounds, not sentences! We’re not there yet. Lot of prep work to do before that. This step is all about the mechanics of pronunciation—how to shape your lips, position your tongue, and use your breath to create each sound. This will require some patience, a lot of listening, and even more practice. But, believe me, it's absolutely worth the effort

To give you an example, let's revisit the sound [e] that we worked on earlier. Let’s see how to produce it: [e]

To formulate the sound [e], begin by stretching your lips, much like when you're smiling. 👄 Make sure your mouth is not too open. Next, move your tongue forward until the tip of your tongue is touching your bottom teeth. Did you manage to get that? Awesome! You’ve now pronounced the sound [e]. Now I do recommend doing it in front of the mirror, I know you might look silly but hey, again, it’s going to be worth it.

So, you essentially have to learn these mechanics for every French sound that's new or different to you. A small change in the way you pronounce a sound, for instance, opening more your mouth, or rounding your lips instead of stretching them, or even having the tongue backwards instead of forward, is going to result in a different sound, and that’s what can lead to misunderstandings in conversations. If I say “mes” instead of “mais”, it’s a completely different word. I do a lot of feedbacks on sounds in my French Pronunciation Made Easy course, because even if I don’t see my student’s mouth, or lips, or tongue etc, I know, if I hear an obvious mispronunciation, exactly what they need to do to fix it. Because of experience, but also because I know the mechanics behind each sound, and I want you to know the mechanics as well, so you can self-correct.

And, once you've got the mechanics down, it's time to put it into practice with words. And we start with words first, then later we can move onto sentences. Listen to audio recordings from the IPA chart, or any other audio source, and repeat after it. Then try to mimic the sound, by itself and then in words. Record yourself, with your phone, computer, anything you can record with and listen back to see how you did, and, very importantly, compare with the original audio recordings - does it sound similar, or can you hear a clear difference? This immediate self-feedback is super helpful for your learning progress, and to know where you should focus your efforts.

Alright, you're now ready to move onto the next step in your French pronunciation journey.

Now you're at a stage where you can identify and pronounce French sounds, it's time to link these sounds to their French spelling. This step can seem a bit challenging, as sometimes a single sound can correspond to different spellings, and vice versa. And, in some cases, a spelling might not even correspond to any sound at all, like with silent letters. But don't worry! By understanding these connections, and learning the pronunciation rules, you'll be able to figure out how words are pronounced just by looking at their spelling. Very important when you’re learning a new word! And, reading aloud is super helpful at this stage.

To illustrate this, let's look at an example.

Let’s take the letter 'e' with an acute accent: é

'É' makes the sound [e], as in words like 'bébé' (baby) and 'santé.' (health)

Now that you know the sound this letter makes, you can practice pronouncing words with this letter.

There are many rules you'll need to learn and understand about the connection between spelling and sound. We're talking about how to pronounce vowels (both individual and combined, as well as nasal vowels), consonants (individual and combined, and final consonants), and all the different accent marks.

So, you need to understand all the basic pronunciation rules. If you've got time, you’re motivated, and again you’re happy to do google research, you can find plenty of French pronunciation rules online or in books. But, whatever method you choose, make sure it comes with audio. Remember, audio is key when learning a language. But if you want to save time and energy, I teach all the rules you need to know in a very simple way, all in one spot, in my course, French Pronunciation Made Easy.

Now, let’s see step number 4!

The fourth step in our French pronunciation journey is exploring prosody. What's that, you might ask? Well, I like to say it's the melody, the rhythm, and the musicality of the French language, and it plays a big part in how natural and effortless your French sounds. Prosody includes the rhythm, stress, liaison, intonation, and more.

Simply knowing how to pronounce French, as important as it is, is not the whole story. Prosody is another key piece of the pronunciation puzzle. Why? Because this can completely change the meaning of a sentence. Let’s take intonation, for example. It's all about how your voice rises and falls as you speak.

Let me show you with a sentence: ‘Le chat est dehors.' (The cat is outside.)

If I say, 'le chat est dehors?' with my voice rising at the end, I'm asking if the cat is outside. That is a question. But if I say, 'le chat est dehors.' with my voice dropping, I'm telling you that the cat is outside. That’s not a question anymore, but a statement. Same words, same sentence, different intonation, different meaning.

So it's super important to learn all aspects of prosody. It's going to make your French conversations a lot more natural, and you'll feel more at ease with your spoken French.

Prosody is often the missing link for flowy, fluid, effortless speech.

And a great way to work on this step, apart from learning the technicality of prosody, is to immerse yourself in French: listen to French songs, podcasts, speeches, audio books, watch French series, movies, etc, everything you can listen to, to tune into the French flow.

Alright, let's move to the last step in your French pronunciation journey!

This process isn't just about the amount of time spent practicing, although we know by now that consistent practice is key, but rather how we use this time effectively.

We're talking about targeted, deliberate practice, not just mindless repetition. Not just watching a few pronunciation videos here and there. The goal is to actively improve your French pronunciation, therefore you need to actively practice.

As we talked about earlier, at the start, you practice the sounds of French, then move onto words that include these sounds. But now that you’ve been following each step of the roadmap and you are comfortable with sounds and words, it’s time to advance to a more intensive speaking practice, with sentences, longer sentences, texts. We’re not going to stay and learn to pronounce words forever. But now it’s time to really get into it. Still in a way that feels good and not overwhelming to you. We don’t want a French learning burnout right. And in tandem, you need to ramp up your listening practice too, with exercises such as dictations, or more challenging quizzes. And keep immersing yourself, this never stops, aka listening to French audios, podcasts, audio books, songs, speeches, etc, watching French movies etc, as it will be very beneficial for your comprehension skills throughout your pronunciation journey.

Alright, so congrats! You’ve made it through the end of the roadmap, but I want to add a little reminder, because I think that’s something that’s worth repeating:

Learning French pronunciation isn't about achieving perfect pronunciation (by the way what is even perfect pronunciation?) it's about improving pronunciation clarity. If French speakers can understand you without you having to repeat yourself multiple times, and without you turning red like a tomato because you are embarrassed by your pronunciation, and not confident, that's a win.

What’s Next?

Ok! Now that I’ve shared with you the full roadmap, let’s see what’s next in our pronunciation journey. You have two options.

Obviously, I'm biased toward option number two (and I’d love to have you as one of my students!) ;) But if you follow the steps I gave you and commit to learning and studying consistently, both options will be great.

If you want to continue our French pronunciation adventure together…

Meet my French Pronunciation Made Easy course!

French Pronunciation Made Easy is a self-paced eight-week program for beginners wanting to dramatically improve their French pronunciation. If you want to learn more about the program, click the link below, and we can continue our French pronunciation journey together. 

🍒 And here's the cherry on the cake - this week, I'm offering a special promotion! You can get the French Pronunciation Made Easy course for $100 off, plus 3 exclusive bonuses that will fast track your French learning journey.

I hope you enjoyed the roadmap, and I also hope to welcome you inside FPME! If not, I’ll chat with you in the French Made Easy Podcast! Thanks so much for listening. À bientôt. 🧡