How can I learn how to pronunciate words better on my own? Can someone tell me how to say accented letters?
And can someone type out the pronunciation for un oiseau (bird) and un cochon(pig)? Thank you!!
Also any recommendations for places that will aid with learning French are appreciated!
The best way is just to listen to French people (or French teachers) saying things with the words in front of you on paper so you can see the sounds the letters make. That really is the only way to get really good pronunciation. Look on YouTube for French-teaching videos, they’ll usually have a speaker and the text, which is what you need.
Accented letters and English apporoximations:
é – "ay" in "say"
è – "e" in "then"
ê – "e" in "then"
à – same as non-accented "a" – "a" in "flat"
ç – "ss" in "mess". In French, "c" can only produce the "ss" sound if it is directly followed by an "e" or an "i" (e.g."une glace" – or with the cedilla on it – "un glaçon"). When the infinitive form of an ER verb ends with "cer", to preserve the "ss" sound in the with any conjugations which have an "o" or "a", the "c" has to be changed to a "ç" (e.g. "lancer" ? "nous lançons"). Also, watch things like "recevoir" ? "reçu".
Most other accents – except diereses (two dots above: ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ) – don’t have any effect on pronunciation. The dieresis above a vowel just means it is pronounced separately from another vowel which it is beside – don’t pronounce the two vowels as one sound.
"Un oiseau" – "Uh waz-oh" (rhymes with "man’s toe")
"Un cochon" – "Uh koh-sho" (rhymes with "low bog")
French is unlike English with its nasal vowels – for example, "un" doesn’t sound like the "un" in "understand" – the N isn’t pronounced, it just gives the "uh" a nasal sound. Another problem with the vowels is the "u" sound in "tu" or "une" – it’s different than the "ou" sound in "tous" or "vous" – a subtle difference to us, but native speakers can hear it, and so can we if we concentrate.
My favourite site for reference and learning new things about French is hhtp://www.french.about.com. It’s the best I’ve found anywhere on the net, and there are sound files somewhere if you rake around enough – they give the vowel sounds I was talking about. It is also great for grammar, vocabulary, and just about any aspect of learning French. Also, get iTunes and subscribe to the Learn French By Podcast podcast, get all of the past episodes, and listen to them, as well as checking every week or two for the new lesson. Not only do they cover grammar, they have a native speaker say the phrases, so it’s very good for listening and pronunciation.
However, nothing beats being taught by a teacher in a classroom, so if you can, get yourself into a French class. If you already are, then make sure to ask your teacher to help you say the words and answer any questions you have, no matter how trivial you may think the questions are. The other essential thing is a native – find yourself one on the forum linked to at french.about.com, or go to France and find yourself some French friends there. Once you’ve got a few years of learning under your belt, you really should live in France for a while – immersion is supposed to be one of the best ways of learning a language, and it’ll definitely improve your listening skills and pronunciation.
Bonne chance ! J’espère que je vous ai aidé ! 
#1 by katy ash <3 on July 5th, 2009
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put more stress on accented letter when you say the word.
oiseau= wazz- oh
cochon= cosh-on
you can get tutors and tapes are very good. Also you can get games for DS to help learn. If your still in school ask to be taught there.
References :
#2 by Jaffx on July 5th, 2009
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You need to listen a lot to spoken French — TV, radio…
oiseau = wah zoh
cochon = kuh shon (nasal sound on the "on")
References :
#3 by Jim W on July 5th, 2009
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oiseau is pronounced like wa-zo
cochon is pronounced like co shown
Get a French language CD and listen carefully. Get a computer program that teaches French. You may be able to get these at your local library.
On the web, there’s a site called http://www.frenchassistant.com/, but I haven’t tried it yet.
Good luck. Bon chance. (pronounced bone shanss)
Oh, BTW, you don’t pronunciate, you pronounce.
References :
#4 by Quidam on July 5th, 2009
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French seems hard at first, but eventually you’ll start to notice that pronunciation is fairly regular. One great rule of thumb is that vowels always form diphthongs unless accented.
Anyway, as for accented letters:
ç = "s" as in "hiss"
é = Spanish "e"
è, ê = "e" as in "get"
à = "ah" this one just differentiates homonyms in writing
ù = the only word I know with ù in it is "où" (pronounced "ooh")
ä, ï, ü, ë, ö, ÿ = a diaresis (the two dots) simply indicates that this vowel is pronounced on its own
That’s all the common ones that come to mind.
"Oiseau" is pronounced "wazoh" (roughly) and "un cochon" "?n (where the "n" is a nasalized vowel) kohshon (where the "n" is a nasalized vowel)" (again roughly).
Really the best way to learn French pronunciation that I know of is to imitate native speakers and use the IPA. You can do that via Wiktionnaire, which I’ll link to in the sources.
Oh, and by the way, "pronunciate" is technically correct, but it’s extremely rare. Most people would probably think it’s wrong. It’s generally better to say "pronounce."
References :
Wiktionnaire, plenty of audio examples and almost every entry has an IPA pronunciation: http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionnaire:Page_d%27accueil
An IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) reference chart: http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/charts/IPAlab/IPAlab.htm
#5 by Rich on July 5th, 2009
Quote
The best way is just to listen to French people (or French teachers) saying things with the words in front of you on paper so you can see the sounds the letters make. That really is the only way to get really good pronunciation. Look on YouTube for French-teaching videos, they’ll usually have a speaker and the text, which is what you need.
Accented letters and English apporoximations:
é – "ay" in "say"
è – "e" in "then"
ê – "e" in "then"
à – same as non-accented "a" – "a" in "flat"
ç – "ss" in "mess". In French, "c" can only produce the "ss" sound if it is directly followed by an "e" or an "i" (e.g."une glace" – or with the cedilla on it – "un glaçon"). When the infinitive form of an ER verb ends with "cer", to preserve the "ss" sound in the with any conjugations which have an "o" or "a", the "c" has to be changed to a "ç" (e.g. "lancer" ? "nous lançons"). Also, watch things like "recevoir" ? "reçu".
Most other accents – except diereses (two dots above: ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ) – don’t have any effect on pronunciation. The dieresis above a vowel just means it is pronounced separately from another vowel which it is beside – don’t pronounce the two vowels as one sound.
"Un oiseau" – "Uh waz-oh" (rhymes with "man’s toe")
"Un cochon" – "Uh koh-sho" (rhymes with "low bog")
French is unlike English with its nasal vowels – for example, "un" doesn’t sound like the "un" in "understand" – the N isn’t pronounced, it just gives the "uh" a nasal sound. Another problem with the vowels is the "u" sound in "tu" or "une" – it’s different than the "ou" sound in "tous" or "vous" – a subtle difference to us, but native speakers can hear it, and so can we if we concentrate.
My favourite site for reference and learning new things about French is hhtp://www.french.about.com. It’s the best I’ve found anywhere on the net, and there are sound files somewhere if you rake around enough – they give the vowel sounds I was talking about. It is also great for grammar, vocabulary, and just about any aspect of learning French. Also, get iTunes and subscribe to the Learn French By Podcast podcast, get all of the past episodes, and listen to them, as well as checking every week or two for the new lesson. Not only do they cover grammar, they have a native speaker say the phrases, so it’s very good for listening and pronunciation.
However, nothing beats being taught by a teacher in a classroom, so if you can, get yourself into a French class. If you already are, then make sure to ask your teacher to help you say the words and answer any questions you have, no matter how trivial you may think the questions are. The other essential thing is a native – find yourself one on the forum linked to at french.about.com, or go to France and find yourself some French friends there. Once you’ve got a few years of learning under your belt, you really should live in France for a while – immersion is supposed to be one of the best ways of learning a language, and it’ll definitely improve your listening skills and pronunciation.
Bonne chance ! J’espère que je vous ai aidé !
References :
An "A" pass in Scottish Higher French
Have spoken with native French speakers for over 6 years
http://www.french.about.com
http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/
#6 by Diet Pepsi Max with Ginseng Fan on July 5th, 2009
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Unless you are used to learning languages on your own, I suggest you hire a native speaker to tutor you for a few lessons and to concentrate on pronunciation. I understand you might not be able to hire a tutor in the long run, but for a few lessons, this will really help you. In French, once you know how letters sound, you will always know how to pronounce things you read as it’s constant and predictable. To do it right, learn the phonetic alphabet — which French dictionaries use — this will prove a valuable tool. Do NOT use English letters to approximate French pronuncation because that’s just what you’ll get: an approximate pronunciation.
It’s really difficult to learn a language when you are unsure of the way it sounds or should be pronounced so this will be a tremendous help, trust me.
There is more to pronunciation than sounds alone, by the way. Every language has its own quirks, habits, tendancies and melodic overtones. Listen to tv and radio online to get the knack of how it sounds and feels, even if you don’t get a word quite yet. Different places also have different accents, like Canada and Europe.
While accents sometimes indicate stress in some languages (Spanish, Italian, Russian (sort of), etc.), in French they are used essentially for 2 reasons: 1- to represent distinct sounds and 2-to present an orthographic distinction between 2 words. But accents never represent stress. Stress in French tends to occur at the end of meaningful phrases and within that phrase, sounds get run together to the point where the last consonant of one word will instead become the first consonant of the following word, as is the case with liaison for instance. Stress is not an issue in learning — but removing the stress you put in your language will be!
References :