Practise speaking French !
This page is about learning to speak French. By that, I don't mean improving your ability to go into a French restaurant and order a meal, or even discussing a film with your friends. That's communiquer and bavarder.
I mean diction. Improving the way we speak the language, so that it sounds as much as possible like the language the French themselves speak. We will always keep an accent which will identify us as American or English or whatever - I have French friends who have spent twenty-five years in Britain, speak perfect English, but always with a slight French accent.
However, many of us - and I mean the English principally - make no effort at all to imitate the sound of French. They speak exactly as they do in English, except with French words.
That's a pity. We are learning the most beautiful language in the world. We should try to capture some of its music.
On this page I am going to put some exercises for you to read out loud. Always read out loud. Whatever you read, magazine newspaper or book read out loud. Listen to yourself. Try to tune your voice to catch that sound that we tend to call 'nasal' but is the resonance of the voice in the head rather than the chest.
Each extract, of about five minutes, will be accompanied by a sound file of me reading it. Why me ? Not because I'm an expert, but because I'm a student. Because that is how we learn, by comparing the student effort with the real thing. What is is that isn't quite right, what are the words that could have been spoken better, more à la française ?
To record yourself reading these extracts, I suggest Audacity. It's freeware, and an excellent piece of software
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Our
first extract is the start of Bonjour Tristesse, the best-seller of
the young Françoise Sagan.
Hints and tips Avoid rolling the R. It is not spoken as in the chansons of Jacques Brel, it is hardly voiced at all. Here is me reading it. An Englishman trying his best, but destroying the text. Sorry. And here is the real thing.
A French actress reading the next part of the text. What are the
differences, how do we imitate this sound ? |
 Click the picture for the video |
Now a
video. France 5 screened a film version of the wonderful play by Henry
Montherlant, La
Reine Morte. The style is formal, a conscious parody of the
period, and ideal for us to declaim.
And here is the audio file for the video. The text is here |
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Michel Strogoff, Jules Verne is less well-known than the
author's fantasy/science fiction work. It's a story of 19th century
Russia, and of one of the czar's couriers, Michel Strogoff whose task is
to bring news from the front to the Czar. Postmen have an easier time of
it today If you haven't already got a copy of Audacity, download it from
here.
It's free, and will allow you to record yourself reading the extract.
Listen to yourself - yes I know it's unbearable.
Listen to me reading it, then
listen to the real thing |
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Prosper
Mérimée is one the best of the classical French
writers for the student of French. The style is pure, down to earth,
vocabulary modest. And he's a good read ! In this extract the challenge
is to approach, as far as possible, the rhythm and speed of the French
reader. We have to read slowly while we are learning French, but, as we
progress, we have to push the rhythm forward, trying speak in phrases, and
not in words. Listen to the French
reader then listen to my poor
attempt. Identify what is terribly English in my diction,
then record your own reading |
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Guy Maupassant is a favourite with students of French. His
style is easy and rather journalistic, his vocabulary modest - and he
writes a good yarn Here is the beginning of this dark fantasy à la Edgar Allen Poe. No problem with the speed of the delivery here, it is quite gentle. I think it is very well read (the French voice, not mine) and one could do worse than study this carefully |
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Here is Marcel Pagnol, with one of his books of childhood reminiscence. It is the accent of reader of this extract which interested me - the accent of the South, as you would expect. We cannot expect to imitate it - obviously - but we can try to slow our voices down (for once we are not trying to read fast), and catch some of the weight of thisrather beautiful voice |
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I am enormously grateful to the student who sent me some extracts from this audio book. The writing is wonderful, but it is not easy to read aloud, because of the long sentences and the density of the images. Which means it makes very good practice. I'm going to post a series of extracts from this work. Read each extract aloud. Record yourself, then - and I know how painful it is - listen to yourself. Compare your version with my poor attempt, and with the real thing. If it hurts, it's doing you good... |
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Here is the first extract, from the very start of the book My attempt The French reader The text And the next extract My attempt The French reader The text |
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Something rather different...
Tony Blair, ex British Prime Minister, appeared on the current affairs
chat show, Ce soir ou jamais. He was interviewed for an hour, and he
spoke entirely in French. Even for someone used to TV appearances, it was
courageous, since the questions - on the death of Diana, on the Iraq war -
were not easy. I include it here so you can compare the diction of Blair with that of his enthusiastic interviewer Video:
TonyBlair.avi |