Timothée Chalamet Has Perfect French Pronunciation?

[@ninimimi2906]

"Le" is pronounced as you say it in certain regions, whereas as Timothée's "le" sounds more Parisian. Yours is perfect. His is beautiful. It's a question of local accents, BOTH are perfectly correct!

[@SuperMatyoO]

I would pronounce "le" in both ways depending on my intention, on my intonation, on the sentence, on the context, etc. It comes naturally more as one way or the other without even thinking. Both are correct. The difference is very slight and it is not even linked to a phonetical rule so to speak. It depends maybe on the consonantic sound that follows, on the prosody (the rythm/tempo/flow) of the speaker in that particular moment. It can vary depending on the regional accent too maybe. Anyway, both are absolutely correct and are just pronounced in the flow of the sentence. Romance languages are melodic, so words/sounds vary in pronunciation depending on their position in the sentence, in a syllable, depending on the sounds/words that precede or follow. It is a music that comes naturally by speaking over the years.

[@paoloponessa]

I have never heard an alternative pronunciation for the article « le » in France. Accents throughout France are increasingly homogeneous, unfortunately. The schwa sound is the standard French pronunciation, which may be slightly mire 'aigu' sounding in some people's mouths. In any case, the man who made the video speaks much better French than Mr Chalamet. Pas de doute !

[@heathcliff4722]

Native French teacher here : I think your "r" is actually better than Timothée's. His still sometimes sounds a bit forced and unnatural. The most important thing for English speakers is to remember that English "r" is pronounced with a curled tongue, but in French, the tongue is flat in the mouth (even touching your lower teeth). Then again, Timothée Chalamet's French is still excellent, especially when it comes to prosody, colloquial expressions and use of filler words. Yes he does a few grammar mistakes and his French is often "polluted" by English structures and direct translations, but who cares ? He is still really really good !

[@loraine7787]

I also speak French natively, so I wonder what kind of mistakes you find in Chalamet's pronunciation. It's true that he speaks like "les gosses, les mecs", as he probably learned as a teenager from his entourage, living (as you probably know), in the Lyon region. Well, he doesn't speak French very often, that's why he sometimes looks for the words and mixes the genres, but if he lived in France like his sister (actress and stage designer Pauline Chalamet), he would speak perfectly, without any trace that he is not a native French.

[@ericamacs3875]

Yes I think this is a nice comment, because sometimes I worry why on posts like this or some instagram posts I see, French people seem so desperate to be critical and often quite mean spirited. I know it might just be trolling I guess, it's the same as far right wing English people who will troll about someone speaking poor English or insist they're "not English" even if they are a citizen.

[@loraine7787]

@@ericamacs3875 Je suis tout a fait d'accord avec vous!

[@lajosszel]

"English "r" is pronounced with " - no, English r isn't pronounced at all :D Car - kaaaaaaa Here - héééé Just kidding. Sometimes they do pronounce it, legend says.

[@AlloBruxelles]

Chalamet has an accent, a pretty strong one actually. He definitely cannot pass for a native French speaker

[@treyb.194]

L, N, D, T sounds are also made by placing the tongue behind the front teeth and not at the top of the alveolar ridge like in English. That, with the more rounded lips creates a more French sound.

[@SteveAaron]

Agreed. Also the "U" and E sounds as in "LE", the lips have to make a sort of little round shape, almost as if you wanted to whistle, but not as pronounced.

[@itsoneAM]

Thank you so much, both Trey and Steve, very helpful

[@vivia-rimae]

Thanks for mentioning this!! I just tried saying words with L, N, D, T sounds with the tongue behind the front teeth instead and it made such a difference!! I was constantly choking when these sounds were followed by an R cos my tongue was too far back 😅

[@MindRegulatorMusic]

Trey and Steve, you just helped me to the next level in confidence. I appreciate you.🎉

[@carloshortuvia5988]

In this case, you're helping an English speaking latin american to speak French. I learnt English as a child of 9, then it became kind of a second nature to me, but learning french now I'm getting on for 56 has kept me jumping through hoops. Even though other Spanish speakers say it's piece of cake, it absolutely not my case.

[@Kitiwake]

French is a harder language to learn then Spanish, imo.

[@ericamacs3875]

I guess because he's spoken French all his life, his father only spoke to them in French and he lived in France for part of every year growing up.. He will have pretty good pronunciation. He does also use a lot of Parisian slang. It's a good idea to use these kinds of clips though to demonstrate.

[@undercoverblk]

FYI: His mother, although American, was a French major at Yale University and is also fluent.

[@paoloponessa]

His French is far from native. And he doesn’t have a Parisian accent. He has an American one.

[@paoloponessa]

What do you mean by Parisian slang? Can you give me an example? I’m from Paris. We speak standard French.

[@LovedByYou]

He hasn’t though. English is his first language.

[@europenthecity]

Thanks very much for making the learning journey sooo joyful🎉🎉 As a French native (from Guadeloupe then Paris), I subscribed to your channel as a support to a Mexican friend who was struggling with her French courses... In Paris, there're a lot of people who won't make any efforts in front of French learners and just (try to) turn into (very bad) English, thinking it will be easier for everyone 😂😂😂😂😂

[@tempustamcito]

Je trouve que le Timothée a un accent parisien très marqué. Moi je dis LE comme vous Alex, sans avancer ni arrondir les lèves, même chose pour le R, le sien est typiquement parisien, guttural. Quand je travaillais à Paris, il y a quelques décennies, certains, pas tous, Parisiens étaient étonnés que je leur révèle qu'ils ont eux aussi un accent, comme tous les "ploucs" de Province. 😂Pour ma part, je parle avec un accent lorrain spécifique. Bravo pour votre contribution à la diffusion de notre vieille langue françoise auprès de nos bons et loyaux voisins anglois.🥰

[@fredericroy]

0:58 Il y a quand même pas mal de fautes : Quand un personnage est aimé, il y a UN (une) sorte DE ARMEE (d'armée) devant le personnage, devant l'histoire de gens qui VEUT ( qui ne veulent) pas voir

[@loraine7787]

Oui, c'est vrai, pas mal de fautes!

[@paoloponessa]

Exactement ! Beaucoup de fautes. Genre, conjugaison, élision. Son français est loin d’être parfait.

[@jeanmichel2642]

the goddess of foreigners speaking perfect french will always be jodie foster

[@dancroitoru364]

really? there are millions of immigrants in France who speak a more fluent and natural French than those English celebs or expats who obsess over how French from 1-100 they sound when they order their meal in a restaurant ...

[@qingcusumano3873]

C’est très utile,merci beaucoup ❤

[@Alex-mp1zb]

Alex, your Rs are perfect! And your French is better than Thimothée's. I've never caught you making one single mistake! Alex, vos Rs sont parfaits et votre français est meilleur que celui de Timothée. Je ne vous ai jamais entendu faire d'erreur! Quel est votre secret? Je suis vert d'envie!

[@WoodyGamesUK]

Your 'R' sound is good. But If I may give an advice to people who worry about doing it right, once you reach the stage of being able to so the sound without effort (and this will take some practice), the next step is to loosen up and say it in a softer way. I know it is quite a harsh sound to non-French speakers, but it really isn't as harsh as it first appears. You have to find a middle ground.

[@childofMotherMary]

c’est trop fou comme j’étais juste pensé l’autre jour que Timothée a un carrément bon accent c’est vraiment fou !

[@childofMotherMary]

il faut que tout le monde admette qu’il a un accent très bon parce que c’est quelque chose assez évident 😭😭

[@TheGabygael]

I think the issue you might have with r might me more noticeable in histoire and voir and that may have to do with the precise vowels you're using, i'm a native speaker so i don't know on a technical level what is happening there, but i wouldn't be surprised if we pronounced the vowel a bit differently

[@SteveAaron]

Regarding the pronunciation of the french "R", try this little exercise: Put your tong between your teeth, leave it there without moving it, and say "RA". If you can get a clear "RA" out, you're golden.

[@fredericroy]

1:50 Votre prononciation est parfaite : ) (juste pour armée le son "é" est trop haut. mais les r et le reste sont parfaits : )

[@LovedByYou]

People forget Timothee is literally a multi cultural kid. Yes he’s American born and raised (NewYork) but his dad is French, grew up in France and spoke to them in French. Timothee has shared that growing up his dad would send his sister and him to go live with their grandparents in France for the entire summer, it stopped after he got older. A lot of the French he knows is elementary due to him mostly speaking it as a kid. His sister Paulette literally sounds incredible in French. I think for French not being his first language, hes great. I think if he soley speaks French for a few months he’d get a lot better.

[@deopsm]

Salut du 🇧🇷

[@KevFrost]

Perhaps you should do a compare and contrast between Parisian Timothee and his director - the highly accented French Canadian Dennis Villeneuve ?

[@SteveAaron]

To me, as a native french speaker, I easily spot non native speakers (even if "hypothetically" they got completely rid of their accent), or even native speakers for that matter, that can't speak correctly, by how they don't make the proper "liaisons", or just by not making them altogether; that sounds just downright horrible and irritating. Although often times overlooked, "liaisons" are CRUCIAL in having a perfect and proper french. FWIW, I don't retract my tong and push it forward again when pronouncing the "R". It comes more from the very back of the palate or the beginning of the throat vibrating...

[@Marie.b]

Perhaps this too is a north, south difference? Accents and dialects play a huge part as especially if you're influenced by being in a foreign country.

[@liul]

The liaisons can be pedantic

[@alant367]

@@Marie.bit’s not

[@SteveAaron]

What??!!?? Absolutely not. ​@@liul

[@SteveAaron]

@@liul If you're a foreigner learning the language, it will be ok if you don't get them right; even expected. But if you're a native speaker, you will just sound uneducated by those who are. We learn this in elementary school. This is French 101. Now if paying attention in school is pedantic, then so be it.

[@Azeltix]

Great analysis. True, our « Le » sounds more closed, sounds more like in « deux » (the number two). It makes a huge difference. We can use both of course but if you pronounce it like that, you will sound more French because you erase your English accent. For the R, you guys struggle as much as we struggle to pronounce it in english. it's hard to nail, but when you do, you erase 80% of english accent.

[@baronmeduse]

The most French-sounding thing he says at 6:43 is 'pour vrai dire'. Even though it should be 'à vrai dire', but the sound of his 'dire' and the slurring over the 'vrai' sounds impeccably French.

[@dariuslungu3516]

Honestly, I heard ”on pourrait dire”, not ”pour vrai dire”... I could be wrong, but I just can't hear ”pour vrai dire”:)

[@matcradle]

On pourrait dire is what I heard too

[@MrSpeedlulu]

Yeah he definitely says "on pourrait dire"

[@malvaashdown]

Votre premier "le" sonne davantage comme notre "le" québécois, il me semble du moins. Vos vidéos sont bien intéressantes, merci!

[@tim820313]

Chais pas

[@marinec4164]

Très surprise par les mauvais commentaires des français sur Timmi.. Qu'est-ce que cela peut vous faire s'il mélange les genres, la grammaire et qu'il a un petit accent ? Personnellement, en tant que française je trouve ça très mignon ! Vivant en Allemagne, il m'arrive de mélanger anglais allemand et d'en chercher mon français, le cerveau est un peu perturbé et j'imagine que pour Timothée il a majoritairement vécu aux USA alors son cerveau est beaucoup plus habitué à l'anglais ! Je trouve ça juste dommage car c'est peut-être en raison de ses erreurs/léger accent qu'il n'ose pas encore se doubler lui-même en français pour les films ! J'espère qu'il franchira le pas un jour !

[@lata8076]

Ben en vrai ça fait rien c'est sûr, mais faut juste que les groupies arrêtent de s'extasier sur son parfait niveau de français qu'il n'a pas. Quant à se doubler, il a un accent américain, donc à part jouer un américain en France y'a pas moyen faut se déboucher les oreilles.

[@TheEarthRealm]

Why is the French R hard to pronounce for some people? 🤷🏿‍♂️

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

If you don't have it in your native tongue, your mouth isn't used to making that sound. :)

[@BaskingInObscurity]

Yeah, we anglophones get rather lazy with 'le'. We tend to let it come out like book (as long as you're not Scottish), while it should be much closer to the numeral two, 'deux', or about halfway between the oo in look and the ö/oe/ø in soeur and so common in germanic languages. After a couple of months in France, I found that my English 'uh' for most unstressed syllables had morphed into the 'e' in le, probably because I lived in the south, where they continued to pronounce many of those word-final unstressed vowels that otherwise have dropped from standard spoken French, save with poetic license. Back then (1989), my generation and my parents' tended toward 'je sais' and 'je ne sais pas' pronounced 'jsé' and 'jsé pa.' But it absolutely would continue to evolve into the simpler ch/sh in natural language change. Likewise, my kids' generation doesn't even consider the 'n' in 'je ne sais pas' optional, as we were taught, but proof that we're old or weird (like there's a difference). LOL

[@pauleff3312]

I have always had a good "R" when I speak French - and I have no idea why

[@louisgauthier1889]

Pain au chocolat bien sûr.

[@micheleparadis2808]

Parisian French is only considered perfect by Parisians.

[@syntheretique385]

I'm not hearing any issue with your R sounds in general Alex. I hope you're not wasting time and energy obsessing over it. And even if your Rs were clumsy, which they aren't, they wouldn't make your speech hard to understand anyway. IME native English speakers have more trouble producing clear and distinct vowel sounds from the French phonetics. And those can contribute to being misunderstood in a major way.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Thanks. No. I don't stress over it :)

[@devroombagchus7460]

Which French r?

[@dancroitoru364]

I couldn't give a flying flamingo on Timothee Whoever's French. It's the burning desire to share your little stories with your fellow French plebeians (consider yourself one of them) that will fix your "R"s and "Le"s without obsessing on the position of the tongue in Timmy's mouth -) If that burning desire is not detected, all that people would hear is that you invite them to grade your accent ("Oh, he's really trying, isn't he?")

[@alisashevchenko2147]

7:58 I thought he died for real and went to google 😂 N1 Alex

[@Amorwian]

Editor here: Hahahaha, when I made that bit I was afraid I'm gonna bait some people, so sorry = D

[@alisashevchenko2147]

​@@AmorwianSeriously man I was really shocked😂 Thank you

[@benoit.gerin-lajoie]

NONNN ! Ton "LE" (ouvert) est *PARFAIT* Alex ! Le "LEU" (fermé) de France est un "régionalisme" PAS "international/universel" !!! Ne change pas Alex... Il y a des prononciations en France qui ne sont pas recommandées, mais il y en a d'autres qui sont envoutantes. Par exemple le "le" ouvert est le bon "le". Le "lundi" se dit en France "lindi". "in" comme "train" (français et non québécois. Il y a une nuance). Et j'aime énormément la version française de ce jour.

[@may51973]

Je n'ai jamais entendu le mot chocolatine.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

A Bordeaux, c'est ce que l'on dit :D

[@MakBee85]

🤣🤣 selon moi, c'est toujours " chocolatine " !! Mais tu le sais déjà 😉

[@may51973]

He sounds Parisien

[@lata8076]

No. He sounds american

[@remois]

Eh non ! Dire LEU [lø] pour l'article LE [lə] est une faute de prononciation malheureusement devenue courante chez les français.

[@Marie.b]

chocolatine? Je n’en ai jamais entendu parlé. 😂

[@anitawaters4745]

Cafay/café, it’s like when you say si vous êtes pray-say parti » non? Do these need to be shortened? 8:04!😱i thought Timothée Chalamet had died 🙄🤯

[@Amorwian]

Editor here: Southwestern French people dont play around with their chocolatine... Timothée made a grave mistake. On a serious note I'm so sorry for scaring you = D

[@julienserre8867]

As far as I can tell, there is no ay sound in french like in stay. The only one I can find is hey but as you know it's taken from english. So in "si vous êtes prêts, c'est parti" the é sound is shorter and has no y and it's the same in every words. Even for "paysage" which is pronounced in 3 very distinct parts "pé-i-zaj"

[@anitawaters4745]

@@julienserre8867 merci, but I was referring to the way Alex says it in all his videos!! ☺️

[@julienserre8867]

@@anitawaters4745 I know and my answer is based on how he says it which is close to how it should be said in native french

[@samuele.duclosel2811]

shépoh with the Québecois accent

[@madmolf]

Mais bien sûr, c’est pain au chocolat ! Chocolatine n’existe pas ! 😂

[@trishemerald2487]

You can tell his father is a european francophone. There's zero quebecois in there, that's for sure!

[@nineteenfortyeight]

You're congratulating a French person for speaking French. 😂 You'll be busy if you continue down that path!

[@Paddy984]

I agree. Unnecessary and unhelpful in the real world.

[@baronmeduse]

He's not a French person, he's largely American. My mother was Belgian (Francophone) and we also spent holidays in Belgium... and France and spoke the language, but I don't call myself 'Belgian'. I'm English.

[@ninalempicka2948]

He's way more American than French though, as a French person I can definitely "hear" that he's not "fully"/"only" French although he speaks it remarkably well

[@julienserre8867]

Why are you raging? Does it bring you happyness? Even though Thimotée speaks a very good french, a native french as I am can quickly tell he's not french. On course one of his parents is french, but he's far from perfect in the language.

[@Marie.b]

He has duel citizenship but he's American, born and bred. He had the advantage of one parent with English as their first language and the other parent with french as their first language, that doesn't make him french or American or English for that matter. Learn why don't you! Learn before you speak

[@xdecroix]

chalamet's french is deplorable. Taking him as an example is textbook WRONG.

[@paoloponessa]

Merci, c’est exact

[@-HRH]

He’s only a quarter French and the majority of French people don’t consider him at all French

[@loraine7787]

Because he effectively is not 100% French! But as a native French, I confess you that a normal French is proud of the fact that Chalamet has French blood also!

[@LovedByYou]

Who said that? He considers himself an American with a French father. His dad is FULL French though??? And okay so then why do you guys expect his French to be perfect?!?

[@paoloponessa]

Chalamet’s French is far from being perfect. It’s actually pretty bad. He constantly makes mistakes with gender and basic grammar. His father is French, but he probably never spoke French at home. His French sounds like someone who spent some summers in French growing up but never bothered to correctly learn the grammar. His ‘J’sais pas’ sounds like an American trying to sound native, but just sounds sloppy. Your French is much better than his. On dit « pain au chocolates » et « chocolatine », when in Rome…😊

[@paoloponessa]

Sorry for the typos. 😅 Autocorrection

[@alant367]

It’s not perfect but not pretty bad don’t exaggerate

[@paoloponessa]

@Myke_Oxlong199 not at all. Have you ever heard him in an interview? Mastering gender is basic French. He even admits the fact that he doesn’t know the gender of many words. He speaks broken French, and his accent is clearly American. Are you a French native?

[@alant367]

@@paoloponessa I’m a native French speaker. Although he’s making mistakes, his french isn’t bad. It’s better than a lot of people. If you’re a french native speaker, it’s really pathetic to criticize ppl who are trying to speak french bc they don’t speak it perfectly. Try to learn other languages and don’t make fun of ppl who are trying to learn a language because their level isn’t advanced or native-like. It’s totally acceptable not to speak perfectly

[@paoloponessa]

@@alant367 I speak 6 languages. I am only commenting on his French because someone made a video about how French students should imitate his pronunciation and the person praises his ability. I don’t agree with this. In fact, I believe the opposite. Chalamet grew up with a French parent and spent summers in France. Yet, he makes basic grammar mistakes and has an American accent. No problem. But why praise him. Jody Foster’s French is good. Use her as an example. Praise doled out so easily is worthless.

[@abcxyz-e4c]

he has an accent. Many Hollwood stars have better french,

[@Kitiwake]

Timothée speaks french like an Arabic speaker in France.

[@richardmoore3749]

I could care less about Timothy chalamet . He really is not a good actor and he looks like he would constantly smell like an ashtray because he is a very heavy smoker

[@shomshomni2314]

Ever heard, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?

[@richardmoore3749]

@@shomshomni2314 I have you and you violated it by trying to be the supreme ruler . Just pointing out because Timothy chalamet has the gaunt look because he is a heavy smoker and should not be used as a role model for a look that Alex thinks is sexy . I don’t even know why he is looking at guys all the time when he is straight