How to avoid the franglais? (1)

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How to avoid the franglais?
Message from ylebiez posted on 23-04-2009 at 09:53:28 (D | E | F)
My english communication is not to bad. I could speak with a native. Everything is alright ( I hide my french pronunciation, I speak like an Irish)and suddenly in the middle of the conversation, he is stopping me and look at me suspicious: A french.
I certainly do obvious franglais. How to avoid this?

Re: How to avoid the franglais? from matrix_hamdi, posted on 23-04-2009 at 12:44:16 (D | E)
Hello everybody,
As you know, in spoken English, some syllables are pronounced with more energy than others, whereas in French every syllable has the same force and prominence, no matter what function it has in the utterance.
For example:
In French
- DAVID TRAVAILLE VITE (each syllable whether stressed or not has the same length as every other syllable.)
In English
- he GOT me a BIG NEW NOTE-book (The stressed syllables 'Words with capital letters' are pronounced with more energy)
Don't forget also that one of the characteristics of English is that certain words may be pronounced in two different ways, (we have what is called 'Strong' and 'Weak' forms) for this reason most native speakers of English find an 'all-strong-form' pronunciation unnatural and foreign-sounding . In fact most of non-native English speakers have the same problem and wish to avoid it!
In this case it's very important to look for some Phonetics courses, they could be so helpful
Best wishes!

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Edited by matrix_hamdi le 23-04-2009 12:46

Re: How to avoid the franglais? from robertbrou, posted on 28-04-2009 at 17:28:05 (D | E)
Hello,

Sometimes it could be a word or phrase that you are using. I have a friend who's French/Italian who speaks American English without an accent. However, he inserts certain words in the conversation that causes a double take.

When talking about trains, he says "wagons" instead of "cars".

I've also heard him say "salad bowl/basket" when referring to "paddy wagon."

In addition, certain common (to French people) hand movements can also be a dead giveaway, like twisting your nose to indicate someone who's drunk or slapping your hand in the other to indicate that you left in a hurry.

Hope this helps!
robertbrou

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Edited by robertbrou le 28-04-2009 17:55

Re: How to avoid the franglais? from pokahontas, posted on 28-04-2009 at 22:44:10 (D | E)
you have to study phonetics ;it will help you to have a better pronounciation;friendly yours

Re: How to avoid the franglais? from ylebiez, posted on 29-04-2009 at 07:43:54 (D | E)
Hello,
thanks to everybody.Robertbrou is right my typical Latin movement handand also the fact the french word translation like for paddy waggon are a tip for native. I have a small question about the reading, how I can know how to put the accentuation on words of a text. I read Winnie the Pooh for my son 11 month and I don't know if I put the accent on the right word, someone got a clue? maybe I have to put this question to the forum?
Thousand of regards for your help
yoann

Re: How to avoid the franglais? from leacherlee, posted on 29-04-2009 at 10:41:11 (D | E)
Yes,it is also a confusion for me.As a primary english learner,I always be confused by the franglais.For example,when I was reading the news in www.nytimes.com,sometimes I found that it's too hard to known the author's meaning, because they used so many accent words.
How to void this?I'll be pay a attention.

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