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.

Famous foreigners in England

Welcoming French au pair girls into my home I was always amazed that they found corners of London which were special to them, honouring their national heroes who I had never heard of. Looking at London, you might be interested in these sites, which could be on the itinerary of a tour. Whether you are a foreigner visiting London, or a resident entertaining overseas visitors, look at these and compile a handy list in your own diary. (I used to have a diary with a map of London at the back.

When I got a new diary without a map, I thought it was a pity that my new diary had no map and the old one was not transferable. I carefully cut out the map out of the old diary and sellotaped it into the new one. You can do the same with any map of the right size. Some diaries and travel notebooks have a space or flap on the back cover to hold a map or printed pages of addresses.

I also photocopy pages from my diary if I want to take just the holiday date pages, and not risk losing my diary. Alternatively take the diary, but leave the photocopy of addresses behind.

List of foreigners visiting the UK and/or with memorials, monuments, place names and burials
Australia - state of Victoria, city of Melbourne named after her minister. In UK memorial to Monash, WWI leader.
Corsica - I remember a Corsican au pair girl who went to visit the memorial in Westminster Abbey to  see the memorial to Corsica's national hero Pasquale di Paoli. He died in England, although his remains were sent back to Corsica and buried there. Corsica is now French, and many people speak French although others speak Italian.

French - Charles Peguy Centre.

India - Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square and Tavistock Square.

Malta - Maltese opera star currently in London. Queen Victoria statue in Malta.

New Zealand - Captain Cook and Victoria.

Poland - Polish memorial.

Singapore - Raffles, founder of Singapore, buried in a church in Hendon. In Singapore visit Raffles hotel and see Queen Victoria statue.

South Africa - bust of Mandela on South Bank in London.

Venezuela/ South America : a Venezuelan member of Toastmasters International told that Bolivar visited London. You could trace Bolivar's steps.

You could also do a trace of religious leaders or characters identified with a particular religion from history: eg Anne Frank (UK, Netherlands; Poland; Germany; and Schindler in Poland and Israel; 

Methodists Wesley and the church and cemetery and statue in the East End of London, England - more on Methodists in the USA; Mosques in the UK and overseas; Rothschilds in the UK and Europe; Sassoons in the UK, India and Shanghai, China (plus the HSBC Hong Kong and China Bank); Greek churches in London; Catholic Churches and saints.

Musicians have memorials and statues: George Friderick (spelling is German) Handel (of Germany) came to London - see his statue in Vauxhall Gardens, plaques and the organ he played in a church. His Handel's Messiah is a popular piece.

Another route to follow would be authors or characters from books you have read: eg authors (several books on authors and author trails in the UK); Anne Frank, Robert Louis Stevenson; Dickens; Jane Austen; Mollie Brown (Titanic, USA).

You can do the reverse in another country you are visiting, looking for statues and history relating to your homeland. For example, statues of Queen Victoria in other countries can serve as landmarks and help you remember squares. These are just the obvious ones. You will find many more.