Tips on Speaking French and where to Practise It

French flags. Photo from Wikipedia.

Problem
How do you get a real French accent?

Answers
1 The first thing to notice is that the French do not accent the first syllable, which is British, but the
s e c o n d syllable. So an English speaking person would say PARis, emphasis on the first syllable. A French person would say, ParEE.

2 Often the French do not pronounce the last letter. For example, Paris is parEE.

3 Notice when translating that adjectives come second. Moulin rouge. Cafe Rouge.

4 Accents are easy. An accent going uphill from left to right on an e sign is pronounced ay.  But coming down it is er or e as in get. I remembered when I was learning French by looking at the word for schoolchild, élève. (ay - lev.)

Tips
You can hear a French accent by watching old films made in France on the internet. You can tune into French broadcasts on the radio and TV.

If you want to remember French names, you will find that large numbers of French women have a name which starts with Marie and has another name attached. For example, Marie Antoinette. many of the men have the name Jean, for John, attached to the front of another name. For example the film director, Jean-Luc Godard.

Note that in Canada the accent is different, more like in the south of France around Marseilles.

Where can you practise reading and writing French?
Belgium
Canada
France
Saint Martin in the Caribbean.
Switzerland

If you are bilingual, the international Mother Language day is February 21st.
The UN French language day is March 20th.

Clubs Where You Can Practise
Many embassies and clubs and other organisations hold events and film festivals. For example:
SINGAPORE
French Francophone Toastmasters Club in Singapore. First Friday of the Month at Cairnhill CC. The international toastmasters International organisation has speech manuals in French.
LONDON, ENGLAND
Experience French Toastmaster International speakers club, meets on a Monday, in London, promotes its meetings on www.Meetup.com
Charles Peguy Centre in London.

Useful Websites and Resources
www.duolingo.com Free French course on the internet.
https://www.rocketlanguages.com/french/lessons/french-accents

Author
Angela Lansbury, teacher of English, French and other languages. I have many more posts on France and French food and speaking French and other languages and restaurants. Please follow me, bookmark your favourite posts and share them with your friends.