French Words I STILL Can’t Pronounce

[@fredericmora5252]

I realize sometimes, when I talk with my spouse (who is not native french) or when I watch your videos, that our language is very complicated and challenging to pronounce even just understandably. I remember when I was living in Japan , we were having fun asking our japanese colleagues saying the word "arbre". As simple as it is, the word is cumulating two different 'r' sounds back to back, and must be very hard for a foreigner to say smoothly in a sentence...

[@altaripa8130]

I think that can help you to separate the word in syllable to make an "invisible" stop when you pronounce the word. Ronronner can be pronunce as the three words rond-rot-nez. Préfèrerais can be pronounce préfér-rais or pré-fé-re-rais 😉

[@batoolbaba-ln2nn]

Thank you for sharing us your experiences ❤

[@pierreabbat6157]

«Bouilloire» is not one of my often used words, but one I had problems with when I was a kid is «baignoire». I pronounce the four nasal monophthongs as the nasal versions of /a/, /o/, /æ/, and /ə/. /æ/ is not a French phoneme, but my first native language is English, and it may also be Norman or Salvadoran influence. (What even is Salvadoran French?) Here's a tongue twister I made up for the /u/ and /y/ sounds: La roue sur la rue roule, la rue sous la roue reste. Short phrase with all four nasals: un bon vin blanc.

[@simplypositive6690]

haha your issue with "dessus" and "dessous" would become very problematic in a French ballet class as it's 2 directions of one step, so you can literaly be asked to do a "dessous-dessus/dessus-dessous" 😅

[@eefaaf]

On a tour through a port cellar, as most tourists could understand French, the guide did the explanation in French. She was referring to the port as wine, but was pronouncing it as wind, to our amusement.

[@sarumanork-orphanage5612]

on nasals, it seems to just be the 'an', 'en' part, that you struggle with I don't know it might also be from a local accent but you always have a little 'in' within there ^^ for me personally it's just the fast articulation, and I have word-finding difficulties, because I rarely speak it. Do you know the expression 'sans dessus dessous'? it means in chaos ^^ Also to make you feel better: My father is French and emigrated to Germany, suffice to say that French has 'u' and 'ou', and the same sounds in German are written 'ü' and'u' (the one with the trema is called an Umlaut, you might have heard). But one set of words that always tripped him up was 'schwül' (muggy - as in muggy weather), and schwul' (gay). So he would say, oh did you know Peter is 'muggy' (/ 'humid') ? Or damn if there's one weather I hate it must be this oprressive 'gayness', it's really wearing me out, can't wait for a thunder to clear that ou XDDD Oh and my mother is from Germany, so she has difficulty to differentiate between voiced and voiceless 's' sounds. It's like the difference between 'poisson' (fish) and 'poison' (poison/ venom). So one time in an African market she went to the market tender and she wanted to haggle the price of one item. Imagine the reaction of everyone present when she asked hi 'tu peux baiser ?' (as in baisser le prix) I won't translate this, suffice to say it must have lead to confusion, perplexity and quite a lot of hilarity XDDD

[@swiftypride123]

What is it with languages and rs? 🙈 Could be just me, but lots seem to have trouble with that sound when learning another language. Maybe not a word you need super often, but I never feel like I say the word "zurdo/a" (left handed) correctly in Spanish.

[@ademers03]

It's funny cause in English I also struggle with double Rs in a word. Like "Rural", in French it's SUPER easy for me. But in English my mouth just fumbles :') squirrel is also up there. You can also notice the way we pronounce in Quebec versus France, the "En" and "In" sound are SO different. France will have a sound that is between, and the nuance is so subtle, that even I as a Quebecoise struggle with. In Quebec we really have a very distinct pronunciation between "En" and "In". Our "i" in general are really .... pointed? I dunno how to describe it better haha. But in all honesty Andrea, you're doing so good!!!! Take your time, I think that's the key to a good pronunciation!

[@tomaslaskovsky722]

yaourt = my nightmare :)

[@gpoenviededonnermonnom9005]

Le "U" qui est difficile revient souvent pour l'apprentissage du français! notamment pour les anglophones j'ai l'impression. un des exemples reste quand même l'expression "C'est sans dessus dessous" (qui prononcé rapidement à l'oral fait : "c'est sans d'ssus d'sous") J'aurai cru qu'après tant d'années, tu aurai juste des difficultés sur l'argot ou encore du verlan qui t'oblige l'espace d'un instant à te dire "attends je remets le mot à l'endroit et je comprends!" Pour l'anecdote, mon père immigré en France à ses 18 ans ne comprenait pas quand ses amis lui donnait rendez vous "Rue de la ré'" il avait beau chercher il ne la trouvait jamais, jusqu'à qu'il découvre que ses amis parlaient de la rue de la "république" 😂

[@Heimdall409]

As a French native that has been following you for years, your french sounds so good today. As you said, it may never be perfect, but your pronunciation is already outstanding!