With a kindergardener and a preschooler in the house, I sing the Alphabet Song on a fairly regular basis. Knowing the sounds of the alphabet are fundamental to learning any language, and crucial for reading and pronunciation. Whenever my students read out loud, I am always giving them little alphabet reminders, like "i" in French sounds like "ee" in English.
Even if you are 80 years old, you've got to go back to those fundamental building blocks if you are new to learning French. At least for us English speakers, the French alphabet is nice and familiar. No new letters or hard-to-decipher symbols.
Voici l'alphabet français. Go ahead and sing along!
A (ah), B (bay), C (say), D (day), E (eh), F (eff), G (zhay),
H (osh), I (ee), J (zhee), K (kah),
L (el), M (em), N (en), O (oh), P (pay),
Q* (kew), R* (air), S (ess),
T (tay), U* (ew), V (vay),
W (doo-bleh vay), X (eeks), Y (ee-grek), et Z (zed)
Some French sounds don't exist in English. The R sound is produced in the back of your throat. For U and Q, try saying "ee" but move your lips into position for "u." Listen to the pronunciation of the French Alphabet on this Studio4Learning video lesson:
Practice spelling your last name out loud using French letters. That's a skill that you will most likely use when you travel. Another fun way to practice the alphabet is to play a game of le Pendu (Hangman).
The following downloads will come in handy for helping you master the French alphabet. Most (but not all) are for children. Even so, learning through song is an effective, proven method for language learning.
Learn your basic French building blocks with l'alphabet français.
Photo Credit: CBI Design at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/149856
5 comments:
Hé oui! L'alphabet en français... this is a tongue twister for most Anglos... especially the sound "R", "U", "Q" and "E"... then you have the "OU", "EU" and the nasal vowels as "AN", "IN", "UN", "ON"...
Since the guttural "R" seems to be the most critical, I have my students gargle w water, so they know exactly where the sound is coming from. They tend to either roll the Rs with their tongues or go too far in the throat... actually it's somewhere between the palate and the throat... and once they find the right spot, they can pronounce "R" miraculously!
A tip!!! Bonne nuit!
P.S. Where do you find the time to write so many posts in such a period of time? I know... a slight addiction (we're all more or less afflicted by this disease, aren't we?)
For the letter E, I tell my students it sounds like someone just punched them in the stomach. Then they remember it. ;-)
Hi!!
Your blog is really and i even learn a lot of things about my own langage !!
Didn't know that so many letters are hard to prononce....but we've got the same problem with English!!! Particularly the "th" which is hard for us to prononce in a correct way!
But please, keep learning French because your accent is really lovely!!!!
Your ability to provide a variety of differnt input modes for learners for something as simple as abcs is amazing.
Merci djbs et Catherine. BTW, that's not me on the video. Hope my accent's lovely, anyway :-)
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