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Mirjam 2011

Mirjam Hauck Post 1

• 15 August 2014, 8:05 AM

Pronunciation

Dear participants,

 

please use this thread for any exchanges regarding the materials offered in the pronunciation section of each week in the boot camp.

Vicki Hasaballa Post 2 in reply to 1

• 25 August 2014, 10:12 PM

Just listened to the pronumciation recording for è and é.

It was stated that the spelling ai was used for the sound è as in j'aime but couldn't ai also be pronounced é /e/ as in j'ai or du lait? Does it depend whether there is a pronounced consonant after it?

Anne Verries-Wade Post 3 in reply to 2

• 28 August 2014, 9:55 AM

Bonjour Vicki!

Quelle bonne question! ;-)

You are right, sometimes ai can be pronounced é depending on which part of France you hear it in. For example, I come from Béziers, in the South of France and people there would often pronounce "j'ai du lait" as jé du lé whereas in other regions, the sound would be a more open ai. As you say, Vicki, it is easier to make the sound ai after a sounded consonant as in "maire".

Perhaps Anne L, Kate or other Boot Campers might be able to give us another insight into this?

Thanks for asking this really interesting question, Vicki. Merci!

Anne

Kate Fairbairn Post 4 in reply to 3

• 28 August 2014, 11:56 AM

This is a really interesting point Vicki. I was taught French here in England and we were always told that 'ai' had the same pronunciation as 'ez' (verb ending) and 'é'. My teacher made us make a distinction between the imperfect (-ais) ending and the -ai ending on the future tense, for example 'entrerai' (é sound) and 'entrerais' (open è sound), however I have French friends who appear not to make that distinction and I understand that to be a regional difference as Anne explains above. My teacher told us to pronounce 'lait' using the open è sound as in the imperfect tense ending. But when pronouncing 'j'aime' it is indeed difficult to use the 'é' sound and naturally the sound becomes closer to 'è'.

If you have a dictionary that indicates pronunciation using the phonetic alphabet, have a look at how they suggest 'aimer' 'aider' and 'aide', interesting.

Kate

Vicki Hasaballa Post 5 in reply to 4

• 1 September 2014, 9:44 PM

Merci Anne et Kate

I am glad there are regional differences - at least I will be pronouncing it right somewhere! :-)