Hard Words in French #4 -Reims-French "R" + Nasal Vowel- Mastering French Pronunciation w/ Geri Metz
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
- The capital of Champagne-Reims--has always been a problem for non-French speakers. French "R" plus a nasal vowel. We make it easy to say.
Bonjour! I'm Geri Metz and this is my latest series of mini video lessons "Hard Words in French"
In this series I'll be taking up those particularly hard to pronounce words as chosen by expats living in France.
Please visit pronouncingfrench.com and sign up for a free French pronunciation lesson, phonetics chart and many other useful learning tools for teachers and students alike! Enjoy!
“Are you speaking French with an American mouth?” Mastering French pronunciation w/ Geri Metz will help you to "Finesse your French and speak more like a native."
The purpose of PronouncingFrench.com is to improve the quality of spoken French among all who wish to sound more authentic. Whether you're a French Teacher, French Student, Expat living in France, Foreign Diplomat or business man working in France, an International Traveler, Actor or just lover of the French Language, Mastering French Pronunciation will give you the tools you need to develop a more authentic French accent and speak more like a French native.
If you enjoyed this video please click the "thumbs up" button on the bottom right of the video, subscribe to my channel and share with your friends! Merci!
Merci, Geri !!
Just needed to know how to pronounce the city name, but this video is fantastic. I'll definitely watch more. I really like this approach.
Glad it was useful to you. Do check out my website also, pronouncingfrench.com
Glad it was useful to you. Do check out my website also, pronouncingfrench.com
My wife and I took a side trip to reims and absolutely fell in love with the area. Thank you for the lesson, I knew I was pronouncing it incorrectly. Bon jour.
It is a marvelous area and an exceptional historic city. So glad the little video lesson was helpful.
*bonne journee
Merci!
Just spent the day in that beautiful city and had NO IDEA........wow!
The best explanation of how to pronounce Reims I have ever heard! It's curious how pronouncing Reims the French way when speaking English sounds knowledgeable, yet slip in the French pronunciation for Paris and it sounds pretentious. It's also curious how speaking French with an American or English accent sounds awful, yet (sorry to be sexist here) when a French woman speak English with a French accent it sounds heavenly! Mind you, when a French person speaks English without a trace of a French accent, it is impressive. I remember the first time I met Bernard de la Giraudiere who was a director of Champagne Laurent-Perrier. I said "You have no accent whatsoever. No, correction: you do, but I'm not sure whether it is Oxford or Cambridge." and he responded "Neither dear boy, BBC! I used to broadcast for them." Nowadays that would mean saying "twenny" for "twenty", "mumfs" for "months" and "sumfink" for "something".
I totally agree with your comments. It is always charming to hear a French accent in English, but not the other way around! I think perhaps a speaker from England can get away with it a bit more easily, but I find an American accent on French is really hard on the ears. Which is why I created my course. Thanks for your comment.
great channel, subscribed.
Merci! This is by far the best explanation I've seen on how to pronounce this word.
Merci! I'm so glad you found this video helpful. You may want to check out a few private lessons with me. You can find the details on the website under "tutoring". thanks again for your kind comment.
Wonderful mini-tutorial!!! I took French for 6 years, and had the opportunity to speak with Parisians for about a week. However, when I saw that that a Women's FIFA cup game was being played today in Reims, I blanked somewhat on how to negotiate the pronunciation. Thanks so much for the insightful and helpful reminders!!
So glad my little video was useful to you.
Did you go to the World Cup? I did! Still never figured out how to pronounce Reims properly. lol
I just found you love your teaching method from the American English speaking people. Teaching French language sounds using correct mouth & tongue formation.
Glad you enjoyed this little lesson. You may want to check out my video course too at pronouncingfrench,com
Very helpful - clear and succinct. Thankyou.
Hi Andrew: thanks for your comment and glad you found the lesson helpful. In case you don't have my TH-cam channel link here it is: th-cam.com/channels/9Ei4rO_PLwhmyClIe6ABog.html
Thanks for settling a bet for Reims👌
Glad I could be helpful!
When I visited, at the train station they kept thinking I was saying Rennes. Even when they said "Reims" and I parroted it back to them, it wasn't right. I couldn't get my throat to make that sound. It was honestly easier to just say "Reams" like an American. lol
Hi Rachel, I understand what you mean when you say even when you parroted it back it still wasn't right. That's what you learn in my course: how to do in our mouths what the French are actually doing to make those sounds. I am wondering: was it the "r" that you couldn't get your throat to make? I hope this video and my others have been helpful to you.
@@PronouncingFrench I'm not sure. The R sound was very difficult for me. I really couldn't get my throat to do that sound. However if they thought I was saying Rennes, then I guess the unusual pronunciations of the -"eims" was a bigger problem. It might've just been that I was incapable of pronouncing any of it. lol I didn't see this video before I went, but hopefully your lesson will help others heading to France!
R is so hard. I live in Australia. Again a different accent.
Do it like a loose softly gurgled "G". Trust me, it works.
Wow! When my twin sister and I were preparing for kindergarten, our mother had to teach us how to pronounce "r" like Americans! We have French ancestry, but born in USA; it must be in the DNA!
What a great story; thanks for sharing it. You must have a strong connection to French. Is the French language part of your life now?
@@PronouncingFrench: Please asap do a pronunciation of bien. I was taught in language lab on tape 52 years ago as an undergraduate at USC the correct way but was told that is now transformed in major cities in France to beeon "n" not pronounced and nasalized!
@@roberttelarket4934 Hi Robert, I may not be doing a video on this subject, but I will respond to you here. It is true that the pronunciation of the nasal vowel of the word bien or vin or demain is being changed by some French people--particularly younger ones--to sound almost like the nasal vowel in enfant. There are always changes as languages evolve, but as a phonetician and a teacher, I try to hold the line and keep the standard pronunciation. Hope this helps. Thanks for contacting me. Amicalement, Geri
@@PronouncingFrench: It definitely helps! Merci!
I don't understand why the Academie Francaise doesn't do anything about this in every school in France under the threat of not graduating!
@@roberttelarket4934 I don't know where you heard that "bien" is now pronounced "beeon" by french persons but as one myself I can assure you that it is false.
So the 'm' is not used at all?
That's right. The "m" makes the vowel in front of it a nasal vowel, but it no longer exists as a consonant. You have the same conditions and sound in "vin", or other nasal vowels, like "bon" or "France". Hope this helps.
Gosh, where did the “m” go?
the "m" makes the vowel in front of it a nasal vowel. so that gives you the sound that you have in "vin" or "fin" or "pain". Once giving its nasality to the vowel, the "m" or "n" disappears from the pronunciation. Hope this is helpful
Rince :)
Thanks; great tip: just change the spelling and it gets a lot easier!
Excellent. Emma saying and others mispronounces Reims! Not to mention other words in French, English and other languages. She should be barred from you tube!
Basically it's Rance
uh no
"Rance" will get you closer, but be sure to not pronounce the "n". And of course there is the pesky French r at the beginning! Thanks for your comment.
Your nasal vowels are about 90 years out of date. Your "an" nasal sounds like modern "in"
Sorry I don't understand your comment. There is no "an" nasal in the word Reims, but the traditional "in" sound as in "pain" or "vin". I know that that vowel has evolved and many French speakers now say something closer to the "an" nasal vowel, but I prefer to teach non-native speakers the traditional sound so they can avoid being misunderstood.
Merci Geri! Do you happen to have a list of French words where consonants at the word end are pronounced? Reims, tous, bloc ...Thanks!
As you know, in general final consonants are not pronounced in French. Usually students are taught that an exception to that are the 4 consonants in the English word "careful". So: donc, mère, neuf, seul. Of course, there are exceptions to this, too, but this little rule will cover most cases. For proper nouns like Reims or family names, there is no way to know; a lot depends on tradition and ancient spellings, etc. I hope this was useful.