…Im sure you will do just fine and thanks for your very helpful tips.
Hi Tonytrain, that’s exactly what I tell my better students. You have to feel you are French but don’t fall in the trap of the cliché imitation that English people do in England.
With my French students learning English, I found a great improvement when I asked them to feel sexy!
With my English students, I found improvement when I ask them to speak STACCATO but fast.
Good luck!
Don’t forget that there will be regional differences in pronunciation - sometimes quite profound.
Phonetically like B O O T or pronounced like BOOT?
You’re right David_Spardo BUT be aware that not using the name once you have been invited to CAN be perceived as unfriendly. Well it depends how long she’s been doing it.
I totally refused to address my mum’s new boyfriend with “tu”, only used “vous” because I didn’t like him and wanted to maintain that emotional distance. He didn’t like it but that was his problem!
I get a bit lost in navigating in this SF. But if David Matthew you were asking:
The beginning of “bouteille” in French sounds pretty much like BOOT in English.
Yes Brian but much much less in France than in UK. And while there are intonation variations and emphasis on the E in the Marseille accent, OU is always sounded the same. Well in my experience. What mostly affects prononciation in France is the level of education. I know that can also show in English but here in France, you can tell straight away.
It was the u of une to which I was referring.
Or grenouille ? We had some diggers outside the lycée that sounded like frogs and I commented on it to one of my classes. They are CAP kids and didn’t know what frog was so I attempted to say grenouille to much hilarity. They then asked me to say it every class, I’ve almost cracked it
How are you now @toryroo ?
Still on go slow but back at work from today. Luckily I have one class on stage this week so my timetable is reduced in excellent places meaning should be home in time for a nap most days
Please be careful! There’s only one you and a number of people (including yourself!) rely on you…
Haha, that came up in conversation over lunch with some friends on Saturday. I said I’ve had snails but not frogs’ legs and then they spent 10 minutes teaching me how to say it properly
Grenwee?
Ha ha but I’m old so have that as an excuse, bad memory. The other day I met after a long gap the lady who first said that to me so made very sure to use her prenom, but only after I had heard others use it, because I had forgotten it. Then it was very plain that she had forgotten mine. Touche I thought, but didn’t say it.
Tu and vous are the bain of all Anglophones. For a long time I couln’t avoid saying tu because I had spent several years working here as a driver and all routiers address each other as tu, right from the off, I believe it happens in other professions as well. However I have never detected any irritation or disapproval from any French person, without exception they have all put it down to my obvious origins.
No you have to make a sound like you have something stuck in your throat then say noodles in French
That hasn’t answered my question.
I thought the u was in une, and the diphthongs in bouteille were just the cerise sur le gâteau.
@David_M_Matthews
‘ou’ is like oo in the English word loop
‘eille’ is like the first E in the English word ever, with a slightly exaggerated y on the end. Think talking like a joke hippy (eyyyyy man)
Grən- ooy, oo like loo nearasdammit.
Thank you @vero The worst one of those sorts of words in my view is bouilloire …