Learn about French rhythm
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to The Ultimate French Pronunciation Guide. |
| You've made it to the last lesson! Do you feel more confident about speaking in French now? |
| In this last lesson, we'll wrap things up by teaching you proper rhythm when speaking French. |
| There are three main things you want to focus on in order to speak with rhythm like a French speaker. |
| They are: Stress, Intonation, and Liaisons. |
| Put simply, stress is the relative loudness of a syllable. Intonation is the relative pitch of a syllable. And liaisons, as you learned from the last lesson, is the linking of words. |
| "STRESS" First, let's take a more in depth look at stress. |
| Stress, refers to the prominence or relative emphasis placed on certain syllables in a word. |
| When you say "unbelievable" in English for example, do you notice how "lie" is accentuated? |
| That's because it's pronounced longer, and louder than all of the other syllables. |
| This happens all of the time in English. But in French, it's quite the opposite. |
| French rhythm has more of a steady volume. So when speaking French, try not to emphasize any particular syllable. |
| Easier said than done for us English speakers right? So let's practice a bit! |
| "STRESS: LET'S PRACTICE!" |
| How would you pronounce this word? |
| (pause) |
| "Desert" right? |
| (pause) |
| How about this one? |
| "desert". |
| Easy right? But do you know why that was? It's because of stress! |
| In "Desert", the first syllable is stressed. Whereas "desert", the second syllable is stressed. |
| Say "Desert" and "desert" multiple times to get a feel for switching stress on and off. Go on, try it! |
| (pause) |
| Think you got the hang of it? |
| Okay. Try saying ""awkward"" normally first. Then, try de-stressing the first syllable. Remember, you want to maintain an even volume and pacing throughout. |
| (pause) |
| "awkward" (no stress) |
| Finally, let's try a phrase in French. |
| (pause) |
| prends ton temps (take your time) |
| Maintain an even pacing and volume like this, in order to speak with proper rhythm in French. |
| "INTONATION" Okay. Let's move on to intonation. |
| Intonation is the relative pitch of a syllable. |
| For example, in English, the pitch rises at the end of a question. |
| Do you notice how the pitch rises at the end of this example? |
| To speak with proper rhythm in French, you'll need to raise your pitch frequently. |
| When a phrase forms a verbal group, that is, when a subject is combined with a verb, you'll need to raise your pitch on the last syllable. |
| Je suis |
| Je suis (slowly) |
| When a phrase forms a noun group, that is, when an article is combined with a noun, you'll need to raise the pitch on the last syllable. |
| Une fille |
| Une fille (slowly) |
| Of course, this can occur multiple times over many clauses. |
| Je suis une fille (I am a girl) |
| Je suis une fille |
| Je suis une fille (slowly) |
| Don't get carried away though, because if it's the final syllable in a complete sentence, you *don't* want to raise the pitch, otherwise it'll be a question instead. |
| Je suis une fille? |
| "LIAISONS" Finally, we come to the third component of French rhythm. |
| Liaisons are the linking of words together. Liaisons remove the break that would normally exist in between words. This is why French sounds like a stream of connecting words. So of course it's essential for proper rhythm in French. |
| But wait-- you've already learnt everything you need to know about liaisons in the previous lesson! |
| If you've forgotten already, review the previous lesson and practice, practice, practice! |
| Now you know how to speak with proper rhythm in French! |
| You've reached the end of this series. Do you feel more confident about French pronunciation now? What parts of French pronunciation are still difficult for you? |
| Good luck as you continue learning French! Bye! |
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