Christen
Pronunciation

So, a few weeks ago, I started learning French. I really like this language and I enjoy learning French grammar. For some reason, it's easy to me.

 

However, with every language learned, there are some difficulties. For me, the most difficult area of French is pronunciation. It's unfortunate for me, because I can read, write and hear (depending on my know vocabulary) French very well, but when I try to speak it myself, nothing comes out of my mouth.

 

Part of me wants to believe that it has something to do with an accident I was in 5 years ago. To make a long story short, I was hit by a car while riding my bicycle to my last class of the year (at my university). I suffered a head injury, a fracture and a few scrapes and bruises. I seemed okay, but 3 days later, I lost my ability to speak for three months. Three months after that, it continued on and off. Since that accident, I've had a hard time remembering many things, except for the languages I've already learned and new languages.

 

On the other hand, I want to believe that my pronunciation is bad (or nonexistent) because I'm shy and I'm a perfectionist. I don't like to make mistakes (but I should; I know), so it makes it harder for me to practice. The good news is that when I listen to my friend and repeat after him, I can correctly pronounce words in French without a problem! Now, how should I improve my pronunciation by myself? Are there any tricks to accomplishing this task?

Dec 26, 2015 11:37 AM
Comments · 8
3

I am starting out with French too.

I've found some things difficult about the pronunciation but I think with practice it will be helpful for our improvement.

 

Bonne chance avec le francais 

December 26, 2015
1

Geez that's a pretty serious accident D:  But reading the second part, you actually seem a lot like me, so I would believe it's out of shyness and perfectionism, and that you sure can improve and make it! I have 0 problems reading and writing in english, can watch tons of movies and series too, but ask me to speak and it's a disaster just because I am so self concious about my accent and afraid to make a mistake (even though really, we are the only one bothered with that, no one would actually judge you if you made a mistake, it's the hardest part to try to understand, I believe).

 

Bertram has quite a good point, singing helps a lot, I second this advice. I guess if you can find a partner to speak with from time to time, it can help. There's an app I really like, HelloTalk, mostly for this function. You can talk live with people, but you can also send audio messages. This means you can record a vocal message and send it, and erase/re-record if you don't like it. If you are as anxious as I am about speaking, this helps diminish the stress a bit ;)

 

Bonne chance~

December 27, 2015
1

It sounds like I'm on the right track! I do the same with the French Pop radio on iTunes!

December 26, 2015
1

I was bad at English and how I improved it? I bought some cds of various singers, such like

Phil Collins or Sandra, Madonna and the Corrs, I used to hear the sound severy day and one day I was able to speak

December 26, 2015
1

Thank you for the video link! ^^

December 26, 2015
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