FMS Chapters 1 and 2.1 : Pronunciation

To my knowledge, our classroom textbook "French Made Simple" doesn't come with an audio version, which makes things difficult for beginners who try to study on their own.

To help them, I intend to record the French examples, texts and (possibly) exercises as we progress in our study of the book. Tall order! Wish me luck...

And now, let's start at the beginning.

French Made Simple - Chapter 1

This is a general presentation of the French language, including many words that are very similar between French and English.

Page 1: Words with same spelling, same meaning, different pronunciation
🔊 FMS 01-01.mp3

Page 1-2: Words with same meaning but slightly different spelling
🔊 FMS 01-02.mp3

Page 2: Words directly borrowed from French, with similar pronunciation
🔊 FMS 01-03.mp3

French Made Simple - Chapter 2, Part 1 : Pronunciation

Pages 4-6 - Introductory section: some basic French vowel sounds
🔊 FMS 02-01.mp3

Pages 6-7: French Vowels Sounds in Familiar Words
🔊 FMS 02-02.mp3

Page 8: French Nasal Vowel Sounds
🔊 FMS 02-03.mp3

Page 9: French Consonants
🔊 FMS 02-04.mp3


I also created this handout to summarize the information.

I added the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols for the different sounds, which I hope some of you will find useful. Of course, it's a bit tedious to memorize a whole new set of characters, but once you do, you'll be able to pronounce any new word as long as you have its IPA transcription.

You can find other French pronunciation charts here at Podcast Français Facile (with audio files and a mini quiz) and here (also with audio files.)

I also recommend the bilingual dictionaries and forums at WordReference.com. This is a collaborative dictionary but I find it pretty accurate, and the French words come with IPA transcriptions and audio version. For the audio, you can even choose between French and Canadian pronunciation, which I find very entertaining!

You can also try this French>IPA converter. It seems to give accurate results, but be aware that there is a limit to the number of free queries you can get at one time.