Spelling of "embouchure"
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Matt_Paris
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In France the pronounciation would sound weird to english speaking people...Peggy wrote:How's it pronounced in France???
"Em" has no equivalent in english. It's one of the most difficult diphthong (sorry for that pedantic word). I do not even know any other language that has it, except bretton. The "m" is not heard.
"bou" sounds like "boo"
"chu" is very difficult too, because of the french "u", a sound that is somewhere between "oo" and (english) "e". "ch" sounds like english "sh".
"re" is also difficult because of the french "r". This sound does not exist in english. It is a bit like a vocalised spanish "j". Germans have an "r" that sounds like this.
I thought "écureuil" (squirrel) was the worst french word for english speaking people to pronounce. Well "embouchure" is not bad
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Nanohedron
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Jon C.
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So the French to English pheonetic spelling would be: M-BOO-SH-jrrMatt_Paris wrote:In France the pronounciation would sound weird to english speaking people...Peggy wrote:How's it pronounced in France???
"Em" has no equivalent in english. It's one of the most difficult diphthong (sorry for that pedantic word). I do not even know any other language that has it, except bretton. The "m" is not heard.
"bou" sounds like "boo"
"chu" is very difficult too, because of the french "u", a sound that is somewhere between "oo" and (english) "e". "ch" sounds like english "sh".
"re" is also difficult because of the french "r". This sound does not exist in english. It is a bit like a vocalised spanish "j". Germans have an "r" that sounds like this.
I thought "écureuil" (squirrel) was the worst french word for english speaking people to pronounce. Well "embouchure" is not bad
I like this spelling better!
Jon
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Matt_Paris
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That is a difficult question, and it would be long to answerCynth wrote:Matt---
What syllable is the stress on in French?
Actually french unlike italian or spanish is not a "tonal" (not sure of that word) language. It means the stress doesn't fall always at the same syllabe of the word, depending on the sense of the sentence...
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Matt_Paris
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Good night. I have to work early tomorrow, and it's late.Matt_Paris wrote:In France the pronounciation would sound weird to english speaking people...Peggy wrote:How's it pronounced in France???
)
Let's try somewhere closer to home . . . how's it pronounced in French in Quebec???
Or Louisiana . . . surely there is a Cajun or two here.
Don't make me go ask my neighbors.
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StevieJ
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Sorry to disappoint you Peggy but in Quebec the word is pronounced in essentially the same way. The quality of the vowel sound in "em" will usually be slightly different, veering towards a nasalized "a" sound rather than the nasalized "o" which is more typical in France, and the quality of the "u" in "ure" may be different (fuller, deeper is how I would describe it) but this depends on the speaker and the region of France or Québec that they come from.
(The "em" sound is not a diphthong, btw Matt. An example of a dipthong is "I" in English or "ail" in French - a vowel that starts with one sound and finishes with another, in this case "ah" followed by "ee". You can usually detect a diphthong by the reshaping of your mouth cavity during pronunciation.)
As regards tonic accent on syllables, French is the only European language I am familiar with where every syllable is virtually evenly pronounced. There is a tendency to place a slight stress on the final syllable of words, but if this is present it is faint.
More than you really wanted to know, I'm sure.
(The "em" sound is not a diphthong, btw Matt. An example of a dipthong is "I" in English or "ail" in French - a vowel that starts with one sound and finishes with another, in this case "ah" followed by "ee". You can usually detect a diphthong by the reshaping of your mouth cavity during pronunciation.)
As regards tonic accent on syllables, French is the only European language I am familiar with where every syllable is virtually evenly pronounced. There is a tendency to place a slight stress on the final syllable of words, but if this is present it is faint.
More than you really wanted to know, I'm sure.
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Matt_Paris
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Yeah, you're right about diphthongs. I tried to remember my old greek courses, and "Em" is not at all a diphthong...
About those nasals "on", "an", "in", I never found any foreigner of any country who could pronounce them correctly. The best ones I knew had just one pronounciation for the three. People from New Caledonia also have just one sound for all of them.
I'd like to know what sounds french speaking people are unable to pronounce correctly. "th" ?
About those nasals "on", "an", "in", I never found any foreigner of any country who could pronounce them correctly. The best ones I knew had just one pronounciation for the three. People from New Caledonia also have just one sound for all of them.
I'd like to know what sounds french speaking people are unable to pronounce correctly. "th" ?