Hello, this is Steve Kaufmann.
Today I want to talk to you about the French language.
Concerning French language, is French a difficult language?
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Well, in my opinion, French...
For someone who already speaks English is not very difficult
because in learning of any language,
the most important thing for me, it's vocabulary.
So, the vocabulary in French is quite similar to the vocabulary in English.
About 60% of the words are of French origin
or at least recognizable as being similar to English vocabulary words.
Well, for example, the words that I will be using in this video.
Most of you can recognize that these are words
which are similar to words in English.
If you are going to study this video as a lesson at LingQ
something you can do because
this video will be in the French language library at LingQ
You can see, you can save words that are, you will see
very similar to English, so the words are very similar.
Big advantage!
And even sometimes, you have to know that when there is an acute accent,
that is to say like this, or a circumflex accent in French
it hides an S, so, "Etudier= Study"
"Ecole = School"
"Hôtel=Hostel"
So there's a bunch of examples where the accent hides an X, an S for example, sorry...
So, this can help you recognize words you already know.
Same thing for those who speak Italian or Spanish.
But there is... For example the word "Parola" in Italian exists in French
But in French, it means... It's like the "lyrics" in a song
or saying "I give you the word" = "I promise you."
So sometimes there are fake friends
but that does not remove the fact that there are so many words
that we recognize from English, Italian, Spanish.
It helps a lot in learning French.
Well, however, the writing is very different.
In Spanish, each letter has a meaning
I mean, as what it represents as pronunciation.
It's very simple, it's very clear and it is very regular.
This is not the case in French; so, the word "Eau" for example, "Mot" M-O-T.
"Beau" B-E-A-U, or even with an X, there are a lot of examples like this
where, at the end, you have to get used to writing.
But I believe the spelling in french is anyway
more regular than in English, whereas...
However, there are uses of letters,
very different way of writing English or Spanish
So it's a problem, but you have to get used to it.
And it's only by reading a lot, listening a lot
reading and watching the value of letters in French.
We'll get used to it, well...
Another difficulty in French: It is the pronunciation.
First, because there are sounds like "U"
You have to get used to pronouncing this sound and it takes time. It takes time.
And the nasal sounds, "On" "An" "En" "Un".
You have to get used to it.
And when you're not used to these sounds
it makes it a little harder to understand.
Then there is the phenomenon of the "liaison", which means:
If I say "Temps" T-E-M-P-S, "Temps" which means"Time" or "Weather" in English.
If we say "De temps en temps", then there,
"Temps" which was "Temps", becomes "TempZ en temps"
So the "S" is pronounced and is even linked "liaison", linked to the next word.
And that is what we notice everywhere in French.
And that's another thing which you have to get used to.
And we might know well that it exists,
but still, every time we hears this "liaison", it is not very clear
If that sound belongs to the previous or the next word
Those are things to get used to.
Something else, I believe, makes French language a bit difficult
It is the gender, ie masculine or feminine.
It doesn't exist in English, although it does in Italian and in many languages
And while in Italian or a Spanish
Often the words that end by an "O" are masculine
and which end with an "A" are feminine and that gives us...
We can guess a little the gender of those words.
In French, it is less clear.
So we say "grammaire" and that's feminine,
but we say "commentaire" and that is masculine.
And so, it's not that obvious.
So there too, it is a question of habit and it is necessary...
We have to accept that we will continue to make mistakes just like I do.
I keep doing it, but this does not prevent communication.
Another thing in French is verbs.
There are many irregular verbs, and there is plenty of tenses.
There is even a tense which is not used in oral language and only used in writing
I mean by that the past simple.
If you read a lot, you get used to it very quickly.
Today, for example, if you study French at LingQ
You can search in the dictionaries we have.
There are several dictionaries that offer... That is to say conjugation dictionaries
and every time you see a form of a verb
you can search to find out what is the tense, what is the person, etc.
So there, that helps.
But in the end, you just have to...
After all, we must continue to read, to listen a lot and to read so that the brain can get used to it.
So there, I said "so that"
"so that", "in order to" allow the brain to adapt or get used to.
So there, it's the subjunctive
which is also a grammatical aspect that exists in several languages.
Not only languages like French, Italian, Spanish
but also in other languages; even in Persian, there is the subjunctive
which means when there is a situation of a possibility or an uncertainty.
We use a form of the verb which is very specific.
You have to... You have to learn it, you have to get used to it.
I'll leave you a name... As far as the pronunciation is concerned
which causes difficulties of pronunciation and comprehension.
And I have a little song by Georges Brassens which I consider very useful.
To get used to the pronunciation and the understanding of French
because many of the "nasal" sounds appear there
as well as the sound "E" because in French
When the "E" has no accent, it is pronounced "E" and it is of not pronounced at all
Especially if this sound appears at the end of words.
But you can still pronounce it and...
This song called "Le p'tit cheval blanc"
So, we can say "Le p'tit cheval blanc" or "Le petit cheval blanc"
And it's "Cheval", it's not "Chéval", it's "Cheval blanc", "Le p'tit cheval blanc", "Blanc", "Temps"
There are a bunch of "nasal" sounds that appear in this song.
And I suggest you to find the lyrics of this song on the internet
Import it to LingQ, listen to the song to get used to the nasal sound
and to other sounds that are particularly in French. It's a must...
If pronunciation and comprehension are among the most important difficulties of the French language
Then, you have to give yourself the possibility of developing new habits.
And one way to do that is to listen to songs even several and several times.
And this Brassens's song is very simple.
And I recommend you, therefore, I suggest you listen to it as many times as you can
to get used to French pronunciation.
As I said, the sound will be available in the French library at LingQ.
Where you can study it.
And I wish you good luck, in learning French. Thanks very much!