French Pronunciation: Nasal sounds, Liaisons and Diction

Hello everybody,

This week there is a new free French lesson on our blog and our YouTube channel.

Do you struggle to pronounce certain sounds in French?

Do you have difficulty understanding liaisons?

This new French class, given by French teacher Priscilla, could help you!

alpha.b is a French school located in Nice and we also offer online French courses for you in groups or individual. Click here to learn more about our Virtual classes.

Let’s begin!

Hello, I am Priscilla and I am a French teacher at the French school alpha.b in Nice.

Today I am offering a slightly specific lesson in pronunciation, focusing on the recital of a poem.

But first I encourage you to follow us on Instagram, where you can see everyday life at alpha.b and teaching resources are posted for you every week.

The aim of this lesson is to help you to pronounce the sounds with precision, but also to speak with fluidity, i.e. not like a robot!

The poem “Le Capitaine Jonathan” was written by one of the most famous French poets of the 20^th century: Robert Desnos.

It is made up of three stanzas (in French “strophes”) = like a paragraph in poetry

Each stanza is made up of 4 lines (in French “vers”)

Each line has 8 syllables (in French, a syllable is “un pied”) = octosyllables (in French “octosyllables”)

The last two lines have 10 syllables = decasyllables (in French “décasyllables”)

It is very important to understand and to be able to pronounce every syllable of the poem. This will help you to really find the rhythm.

Robert Desnos was a bit lazy with his rhymes in his poem.

You know that rhymes are the repetitions of sounds that are found at the end of lines of verse.

Here there is only one rhyme: the sound “EN”

We have already studied the sound “EN” in the video about the nasal sounds, click here to watch it again.

Be careful, concentrate, you must really pronounce the last word of each verse with the sound “EN”.

Right! This is how we will do it.

I will read you the first stanza at a normal speed, which will be a goal for you to reach.

Then I will repeat the first line slowly and with good articulation, focusing on certain sounds which cause pronunciation problems.

The idea is that you repeat after me, trying to imitate my pronunciation and my rhythm.

Next, you must watch the video:

Robert Desnos was a surrealist poet. The aim of his poem is not logic but the musicality of the words.

I hope that you enjoyed it, now all you have to do is practise, practise, practise.

If you like, you can post your attempts, we would love to hear them.

See you soon, goodbye, ciao!

Click here to download the PDF of the lesson.

And don’t forget to check our new online courses with e-alphab !