FrenchPod101.com Blog

You are learning French, but aside from grammar and vocabulary, you feel challenged by the pronunciation. what is the key to making all those uniquely French sounds?

There are different categories of French sounds, and these the most unique ones to the language, and therefore, challenging. They are the following:

Voyelles orales (”oral vowels̶

• Voyelles antérieures (”front vowels̶

You produce them by placing your tongue to the front of your mouth, as in the English word “feet” and “stylo” (pen) in French.

• Voyelles centrales (”central vowels̶ place the tongue in the middle of your mouth, as in “pure” and “lune”(moon) in French.
• Voyelles postérieures (”back vowels̶

place your tongue in the back of your mouth, as in “tourist” and “goûter“(”to taste̶ in French.

Voyelles nasales (”nasal vowels̶
To make this sound, use the air passage through the nose and lower the soft palate while the air goes through the mouth; like in the French word “parfum” (perfume).

The Vibrante (”Vibrant̶ “R”
This French sound is usually challenging. It is used for the letter “r” as in the French word “roue”(wheel), or butter in English. Remember that for this sound, To pronounce the letter -r in French, try to reproduce the sound of an angry growling dog. harden the rolling -gr sound to reproduce a nice French sound!
As you keep trying out, you will be discovering muscles you never knew you had! While learning French, you’re discovering your own anatomy!

Moms, Dads and Grads
15% Off Basic & Premium Subscriptions
Coupon Code: MAY2JUNE | Redeem Now!

May 2010

In this month’s newsletter:

1. 5 New Innovative Language Sites are coming! What new languages will we be adding to the 101.com family?Click here to find out…

2. The Stars Collide in Cannes! The Cannes Film Festival has kicked off! Click here to read on… 

3. BONUS French Audio Lesson!  We’re back with another free audio lesson just for you! Click here to download and listen…

Welcome to the FrenchPod101.com newsletter. We’ve been really busy gearing up for summer and Innovative Language Learning has a lot of news to share! Stay posted throughout the summer! These periodic newsletters will deliver to you all the exciting developments that are going on at FrenchPod101.com. Read and Enjoy! And as always, if you have any comments or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us atcontactus@FrenchPod101.com.
The FrenchPod101.com Team

P.S. Hop on Facebook and tell us which new language you’re most excited about!

P.P.S. Click Here and claim your 15% OFF any Premium or Basic subscription!

Just as an engine helps a car move, mastering basic grammar helps you express yourself and communicate your ideas clearly. The more you know about the engine parts, the more you can improve your engine’s capacity. Similarly, the more youknow grammar, the better your French will be!

French grammar has the reputation of being boring and complicated, but it’s not so terrible. The main difficulties are the word genders and the conjugation system (shared by All romance languages). It is just a matter of remembering some basic rules that will reduce your chances of making the most common French grammar mistakes. The most common one is gender.

In French, all nouns have a gender, either masculine or feminine.
Here is a basic chart with noun endings for feminine and masculine nouns, but remember there are always exceptions!

Noun genders, though a difficult concept, is unavoidable to learn! Getting the gender of a word wrong can lead to confusion or worse; completely give a different meaning to your sentence. Keep in mind that it is just a matter of learning and perseverance. Like a car engine, learn the parts and how to use them for a smooth side!

You have been studying French for quite some time now…and you are doing such a fabulous job! However, if you are seated at the fancy French restaurant you have always wanted to try, and the waiter hands you a menu - completely in French - it could be quite confusing!

The French alphabet is pretty peculiar and a bit different from the English writing system. It includes some unfamiliar markings you may not recognize:

1) Diacritics, or accent marks that help denote the characteric French pronunciation and intonation of words. They include:

• The acute accent (l’accent aigu)             ‹´›
• The grave accent (l’accent grave)          ‹`›
• The cedilla (la cédille)                               ‹¸›
• The circumflex (l’accent circonflexe)     ‹ˆ›
• The diaeresis (le tréma)                           ‹¨›

2) Ligatures (æ and œ), which are obligatory contractions of ae and oe in certain French words (as in sœur, meaning “sister̶

Now, you may ask yourself why the need for these markings ?

It was actually  during the 16th century that accents began to appear. With the invention of the printing press, printers looked for ways to eliminate ambiguity and redundant letters. The solution to these problems was the use of accents and other markings. For example,before the cedilla was introduced, the soft “c” was printed as -ce-, -ss-, -ch- or just -c-.

So, the point of these accents is to clarify pronunciation and reading. Although at first it may seem confusing, the French writing system is like a map, so if you think about it this way and understand these ‘directions’, you will keep on your journey through French learning without missing a turn!

It is widely known that France has a beautiful culture and language, but did youknow the historical reason why French is a ‘romance Language’ is a result of wars and invasion?

French language primarily descends from Latin, the language of the ancient Romans, and thus belongs to the ‘romance’ Language group.

The Romans were a strong empire that once invaded the actual French territory, which was known as La Gaule; where numerous tribes speaking le Gaulois (Gaulish) composed of Celtic dialects inhabited La Gaule. Some traces of Gaulish influence are still present in the French spoken today; for example, these traces include the Gauls’ ancient and unique way of counting people by twenty.
(in modern French, we still have quatre-vingt {’80′}, but there were also six-vingt {’120′} and quinze-vingt {’300′}.)

Once the Romans conquered the Gauls in the second and first century BC, vulgar Latin (which the common people spoke) rapidly dominated, as it was similar to Gaulish, and was deemed fashionable and food for business.

However, the Gauls were invaded yet again, this time by the Franks, a group of Germanic tribes. Later on though, the Franks were also Romanized and accepted the Roman Empire.
As the Franks melted into the Romano-Gallic population, a new multicultural population was formed: Les Francs.

At the beginning, French language was called le Francilien. It was born in Paris and spread all over Europe through poems and literature telling the adventures and loves of heroes.
French language primarily descends from Latin, the language of the ancient Romans, and thus belongs to the ‘romance’ Language group.

The Romans were a strong empire that once invaded the actual French territory, which was known as La Gaule; where numerous tribes speaking le Gaulois (Gaulish) composed of Celtic dialects inhabited La Gaule. Some traces of Gaulish influence are still present in the French spoken today; for example, these traces include the Gauls’ ancient and unique way of counting people by twenty.
(in modern French, we still have quatre-vingt {’80′}, but there were also six-vingt {’120′} and quinze-vingt {’300′}.)

Once the Romans conquered the Gauls in the second and first century BC, vulgar Latin (which the common people spoke) rapidly dominated, as it was similar to Gaulish, and was deemed fashionable and food for business.

However, the Gauls were invaded yet again, this time by the Franks, a group of Germanic tribes. Later on though, the Franks were also Romanized and accepted the Roman Empire.

As the Franks melted into the Romano-Gallic population, a new multicultural population was formed: Les Francs.

At the beginning, French language was called le Francilien. It was born in Paris and spread all over Europe through poems and literature telling the adventures and loves of heroes.
These stories were known as ‘Romances’ after the French language, which became in modern French the word ‘roman’ meaning ‘novel’ and in English the word ‘romantic.’

Because French has been spoken for more than two thousand years, it has spread across its border, and today is spoken all over the world-mainly in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, and Monaco. Who knew that invasion and politics would end up creating one of the most popular and loved languages in modern times!