In this video I present you 5 generic tips to improve your French pronunciation and facilitate your learning!

Transcript

Hello to all of you. I hope that you are well and that your learning of French is going well.

Today, in this video, I propose to give you some tips to improve your pronunciation, erase your accent and have more confidence when you speak in French. When we learn a new language, we often lack confidence. We are afraid of making mistakes or not being understood because of our accent. So, thanks to this video, I hope that you will gain confidence and be less afraid when you have to speak in French with French speakers.

So my first advice is to listen and watch content that the French really watch, that they really read.

Choose podcasts, movies, YouTube videos, articles online or in magazines on topics that interest you. Generally, textbooks or traditional books to learn French will teach you vocabulary words, dialogues, and situations that do not necessarily correspond to everyday reality. You will therefore learn vocabulary by heart and very quickly forget it once you are in a context with real French speakers, because very quickly, you will realize that they do not use these vocabulary words.

On the contrary, if you watch, if you listen, if you read content that is really used by the French, even if it might seem more difficult at first, you will really learn things, words that are used. So, it will be much better in the long run for your learning of French. So, my second piece of advice is to focus on very few accents and voices at the beginning of your learning. In France, as in all countries, there are different accents in different regions.

So, for example, the southern accent will be much more difficult to understand for a foreigner than the Paris accent, which is smoother, more accessible. So, at the beginning of your learning process, I advise you to choose a few podcasts, a youtuber that you like or, for example, to choose a news channel with a presenter who comes back every day to get used to his voice, his accent, his intonations.

At first, it will allow you to really get used to a person, to recognize their way of speaking, their accent and it will be easier afterwards to introduce new voices and new accents. But at first, really, I advise you to choose a few different people. It will be easier for you to understand French.

 So my third piece of advice is to really take into account the intonation and rhythm of the French language. Each language has its own intonation, rhythm and sounds.

For example, in French, the tonic accent will be put on the last syllable of a word or a sentence. So the tonic accent is really the part of the word or the sentence that is stressed. So, as I was saying, we put it on the last vowel. So, the vowels in French are a e i o u. So, for example, I don't know if you can hear yourself, but if I say, "Do you want some rice?"

You hear that the last i is really emphasized, the tonic accent is put on the last vowel of the sentence: "Do you want some rice?" By listening, that's what I was telling you before, to content that is really going to be played on television or in movies, content that is actually really listened to by the French, you will gradually understand the intonations where to put them and really understand the rhythm of the language. For that, there is no secret, you really have to watch French content and try to repeat in the same way as what is pronounced by the French. That's what I'm trying to do here too, that's why I'm talking to you about 100 % in French, so that you can really understand the rhythm and the intonation of the French language.

If I started translating everything I say into English or your language, it would break the rhythm. Often, as is the case in the dialogues that you can listen to with the classic textbooks, there will be a little dialogue and then a translation. In fact, you don't really manage to immerse yourself, to fully immerse yourself in this French language, it's a bit broken. That's why, even if it may seem a little difficult at first, the fact that I speak 100 % in French really allows you to be immersed in this French-speaking universe, in the intonation, in the rhythm. The earlier you start to immerse yourself in the real French language, the easier it will be for you to understand it and especially to get the hang of it. So, you too should speak with the right rhythm, with the right intonations, with the right sounds.

My fourth piece of advice is to speak as much French as possible and above all, not to be afraid of making mistakes.

So, talk, talk, talk, there's no secret. So that's how you get the rhythm of the language, the intonations, the right sounds. If you know French-speaking people, you can talk to them and ask them to correct you or point you towards the right pronunciations. If you don't know any French speakers, you can also watch a lot of videos and try to repeat what the people in the videos are saying with the same intonations, with the same rhythm, trying to practice to really, really, really get close to the right pronunciation of the words.

So this brings us to my fifth and final tip. It's really to watch movies with French subtitles. So when you put on channels or even videos with French subtitles, watch small parts, you cut and repeat. You repeat many times to get the rhythm of the language. The right sounds and you get used to the intonations. It's not just learning the words, pronouncing the words well, it's really doing, having that rhythm in French, so rather than just repeating words, really, trying to do that on longer sentences.

That's it for today. I hope you liked this video. If you did, don't hesitate to put a like. To see more videos, subscribe to the channel or visit www.hellofrench.com. See you soon.