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.

Figure 5 Franz

Activity 26

Transcript (opens in new window)

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	(A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Lieu de travail	(A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Age	(A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Origine	(A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Naturalisé	(A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Langue maternelle	(A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Autre langues	(A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)

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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

Transcript (opens in new window)

Listen to the full clip. Tick the following words and phrases as you hear them:

Activity 28

Transcript (opens in new window)

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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