6 Using your knowledge of features of spoken French
In this section, you will meet Franz. Naturally-occurring speech is often quite fast. As a result, some sounds tend to be inaudible, and others merge into each other. As you will see in the next series of activities, being aware of some of the features of authentic spoken French can help you develop your listening skills.
Activity 26
Listen to the first part of the clip featuring Franz Lemaître (up to ‘le hongrois’) and complete the table.
| Nom et prénom | Lemaître, Franz |
| Profession | |
| Lieu de travail | |
| Age | |
| Origine | |
| Naturalisé | |
| Langue maternelle | |
| Autre langues |
Answer
| Nom et prénom | Lemaître, Franz |
| Profession | Interprète |
| Lieu de travail | Bruxelles (commission européenne) |
| Age | 43 |
| Origine | Belge |
| Naturalisé | Luxembourgeois |
| Langue maternelle | Français |
| Autre langues | Allemand, anglais, néerlandais, espagnol, suedois, hongrois |
Activity 27
Listen to the full clip. Tick the following words and phrases as you hear them:
Activity 28
Listen again and pause the recording when you hear the following words and phrases. What do you notice about Franz’s pronunciation in connected speech of words whose final consonant would be silent if the word was spoken in isolation?
je suis interprète
quarante-trois ans
mes études
nous avons un fils
qui est à présent
mes amis
je suis un être
ce qui est important
Answer
Word-final consonants, such as ‘s’, ‘t’ and ‘n’, which would be silent in isolation are pronounced in connected speech when the following word begins with a vowel :
je suis_interprète
quarante-trois_ans
mes_études
nous_avons un fils
qui est_à présent
mes_amis
je suis_un_être
ce qui est_important
You will have noticed that in a liaison the letter ‘s’ is pronounced as the sound [z]
OpenLearn - Intermediate French: Understanding spoken French
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