One of the first pronunciation difficulties a student encounters when learning French is that several written consonants are actually “silent”, particularly at the end of words. So, for example, the words handsome and hot it actually rhymes in French, although the second of these ends in a written “d” while the first ends in no written consonant.
But there is an additional difficulty in mastering the pronunciation of French consonants. Even when actually pronounced, various consonant sounds that you initially expect to be the “same sound” as their English counterpart are in fact subtly different in French. You will be forgiven for thinking that, say, a “d” sound is a “d” sound in any language, so that as long as it is pronounced first, a “d” sound in French is the same as a “d” sound. in English. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and in fact assuming it can lead to communication difficulties.
Both English and French (and several other languages) share several consonants, called it stops, which come in pairs: “p” / “b”, “t” / “d” and “k” / “g”. Consonants They are known as stops because by pronouncing them you … stop … the air flowing through the mouth (with the lips in the case of the first pair, and with part of the tongue against the palate in the second and third ). The two stops that make up each pair (eg “p” versus “b”) differ in terms of vocal cord vibration: freely speaking, the first of each pair is “deaf” (no vocal cord vibration) while that the second is “sonorous” (which has vibration of the vocal cords). As a side note, we should mention that there are potentially other pairs of stops in all languages as a whole, but these are common to French and English.
So far so good: the vague descriptions we’ve just given of these six consonants apply to both English and French. But the devil is in the details. For reasons we’ll see in a minute, the voiceless stops of an English speaker are a little “deaf” than those of a French speaker, while the voiced stops of a French speaker are a little “louder.”
When a French speaker pronounces their version of these consonants, their behavior follows the description above more or less as you would expect. Just as they bring their lips together to make a “p” sound, more or less simultaneously their vocal cords stop vibrating. And in the same way, when they open their lips again, the vocal cords begin to vibrate at about the same time (provided, of course, there is a following sound, such as a vowel, that forces them to vibrate!). In contrast, when a French person utters a “b” sound (the “voiced” counterpart of the “p” sound, remember), their goal is to keep the vocal cords vibrating throughout the process. So when applied to the stops of a French speaker, “with voice” and “without voice” really describe whether or not there is vibration of the vocal cords while the sound or airflow is actually stopped.
On the other hand, the behavior of a native English speaker is slightly different. When they utter a “p” sound, not only do their vocal cords stop vibrating while the lips are together, but when the lips part again and the air “releases”, the native English speaker usually “forces” a small breath. extra to put to dry. This “puff of air” is often referred to as aspiration and has the effect of delaying the onset of vocal cord vibration due to increased air pressure flowing through the larynx. On the other hand, when an English speaker utters a so-called “voiced” stop as a “b”, it actually still allows the vocal cords to stop vibrating while the lips are closed, but instead they differ from the voiceless stop. avoiding aspiration.
(Eagle eyes will note that the descriptions we give here apply specifically to the stops at the beginning of a syllable. Here we focus on the voice at the beginning of a syllable, but of course there are other differences in the pronunciation of these stops. between French and English.)
Now look at these descriptions again closely: we said that in a French “p” sound, the vocal cords stop vibrating while the lips are closed. And in an English “b” sound, the vocal cords also stop vibrating. What this means is that a “b” sound in English is actually very similar to the “p” sound in French. A similar process applies to the other “t” / “d” and “k” / “g” pairs, so that in many cases, a “d” in English is actually similar to a “t” in French and a “g” in English similar to a French “k”. It goes without saying that this is a pronunciation detail that can lead to confusion.
So what can you do in practice to pronounce these stops in a way that avoids confusion for a French speaker? Fortunately, we have a starting point in English. It turns out that after the sound of an “s” at the beginning of an English word (as in sport, S teak skate /school etc), “p”, “t” and “k” are much more similar to their French counterparts. So to speak in French door, imagine saying the english word sport, but “cuts” the sound of the “s” at the beginning. (Also listen carefully to how he says in English sport later port, and note the inhalation or “strong breath of air” that accompanies the “p” of port but not from sport.)
Pronouncing “b”, “d” and “g” in French is a bit more difficult for English speakers and can take some getting used to. Remember that a French speaker deliberately tries to keep the vocal cords vibrating correctly through these sounds. Practice making these sounds and try to “force” some extra air into your mouth while “stopping” the sound at the same time. Another technique is to imagine pronouncing them as if they were “mb”, “nd” and “ng”, and then “cutting” the “m” or the “n”.
It takes some practice, but paying attention to details like the ones above can greatly improve your French pronunciation and will make your speech more understandable to a French speaker and being aware of these differences will likely improve your understanding of spoken French.