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Are you a native French speaker who:
- struggles with American English vowels, like the tense EE /i/ in beat and the relaxed IH /ɪ/ in bit?
- has trouble speaking American English smoothly, with natural intonation and flow?
- isn't sure how to pronounce the American R /ɹ/ in words like world, girl, and first?
American English Pronunciation for French Speakers: Top 5 Pronunciation Challenges
My French-speaking students most often work on the five challenges below. For each one, I explain what happens, and my free video lessons show you how to fix it.
And don't forget to download your free Guidebook to the Sounds of American English, too!
French Challenge #1: The American R /ɹ/ Sound
The French "r" and the American R /ɹ/ are both made toward the back of the mouth. But the French "r" is made with friction: the back of the tongue touches or nearly touches the soft palate (the soft part at the back of the roof of your mouth). That gives it a noisy, tight sound.
The American R /ɹ/ uses a very different tongue position. The back of the tongue doesn't touch the soft palate. Instead, the tongue widens and pulls up and back, and the sides of the tongue press against the inside of the upper back teeth for support. The tongue tip stays relaxed and doesn't touch anything.
The American R can be a consonant or a vowel, depending on where it is in a word. Many French speakers find both kinds difficult.
Download a free PDF: How to Pronounce the American English R Sound
R is a consonant at the beginning of a syllable or in a consonant cluster, like in right and bread. When R comes after a vowel in the same syllable, it joins with that vowel and becomes a vowel R, like in world, girl, and first.
English spelling makes the vowel R even trickier, because sometimes you pronounce the vowel before the R and sometimes you don't. In first, the spelling is "ir," but you don't say the "i." The whole vowel is just the R sound: the ER /ɝ/ vowel. When French speakers pronounce the "i," first sounds more like "feerst."
In fire, the spelling is also "ir," but here you do say the vowel: "fye-er."
How to Pronounce the American R /ɹ/ Sound
The consonant R and the vowel R use the same tongue position. The tongue is wide, the back of the tongue is high and pulled back, and the tongue tip doesn't touch anything inside your mouth. The lips are a little different. For the consonant R, round your lips into a tight circle, almost like the OO /u/ in boot. For the vowel R, your lips are more relaxed and flare a little away from your teeth.
To learn how to pronounce the American R /ɹ/ consonant and the vowel R (also called R-colored vowels), watch the videos below, or read my lessons: How to Pronounce the R /ɹ/ Consonant; How to Pronounce the ER /ɝ, ɚ/ Vowels; An Introduction to R-colored Vowels.
French Challenge #2: Intonation
Intonation is the melody of speech: the way the pitch of your voice goes up and down. It helps to think of the high pitches as "peaks" and the low pitches as "valleys." Every language has its own melody, and French and American English sound very different.
In French, the pitch usually rises at the end of each phrase or thought group. American English moves more like a staircase, with the highest pitch on stressed syllables and the lowest pitches on unstressed and reduced syllables.
In English, even a small change in pitch can change your meaning. A slight rise turns a statement into a question. A bigger rise can show surprise, doubt, or even annoyance.
So when French speakers use French intonation in English, listeners may think they're asking a question, or that they aren't sure about what they're saying.
How to Pronounce American English Intonation
There's more than one correct intonation pattern in American English, and speakers often choose one based on the situation. But there are a few guidelines that most native speakers follow most of the time.
To start learning American English intonation patterns, watch the videos below, or read my lessons: Advanced Intonation of Statements and Questions; Sound Natural and Native with Intonation Templates; 3 Powerful Techniques to BOOST Your Intonation.
French Challenge #3: The AA /æ/, AH /ɑ/, and EH /ɛ/ Vowels
French and American English share many vowels, but a few are very hard for French speakers. One of them is the AA /æ/ vowel in apple, because French doesn't have it.
French speakers usually replace it with the AH /ɑ/ in father or the EH /ɛ/ in bed. So glass sounds like gloss, and man sounds like men. Because these are real words, the listener may be left wondering, "What did they say?"
Download a free PDF: How to Pronounce the AH /ɑ/ and UH /ʌ/ Vowels
Download a free PDF: The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) of American English Vowels
Here's an example: The man talked quickly. With the EH /ɛ/ vowel, it becomes The men talked quickly, which means something different!
How to Pronounce the AA /æ/, AH /ɑ/, and EH /ɛ/ Vowels
For any American English vowel, think about four things:
- Tongue placement: is your tongue at the front, middle, or back of your mouth?
- Tongue and jaw height: is your tongue high with your jaw closed, or low with your jaw open?
- Lips: are they rounded or pulled back?
- Tension: are your muscles tense or relaxed?
For AA /æ/, open your jaw, pull your lips back, and keep your tongue tip down behind your lower teeth while the back of your tongue lifts slightly toward the roof of your mouth. For AH /ɑ/, your jaw is also open, but your lips are relaxed and your tongue presses down to the bottom of your mouth. For EH /ɛ/, your jaw is a little more closed than for AA and AH, with your lips and tongue relaxed.
To learn how to pronounce the AA /æ/, AH /ɑ/, and EH /ɛ/ vowels, watch the videos below, or read my lessons: How to Pronounce the AA /æ/ Vowel; How to Pronounce the AH /ɑ/ Vowel; How to Pronounce the EH /ɛ/ Vowel.
French Challenge #4: The TH /θ, ð/ Consonants
The TH /θ, ð/ consonants don't exist in French, so they can be hard to say in English. Many French speakers use /s/, /f/, or /z/ instead. As a result, the, this, and that sound like "zuh," "zis," and "zat," and think, thing, and three sound like "sink/fink," "sing/fing," and "sree/free."
Some of these swaps make a different real word, like three/free and thing/sing, and that can confuse the listener. Others, like the/zuh and this/zis, may not cause a misunderstanding, but they can distract your listener, who may start thinking about your accent instead of your ideas.
How to Pronounce the TH /θ, ð/ Consonants in American English
To make TH /θ, ð/, put the tip of your tongue between your upper and lower teeth, and close your teeth gently to hold it there (but don't bite!). Your tongue stays wide and relaxed. Let the air flow out over the top of your tongue, where it meets your upper teeth. Your cheeks gently push the corners of your lips in toward each other.
The TH in think, thing, and three is voiceless /θ/: just air, with no vibration in your vocal cords. The TH in the, this, and that is voiced /ð/: your vocal cords vibrate.
To learn how to pronounce the TH /θ, ð/ consonants, watch the videos below, or read my lessons: How to Pronounce the TH /θ, ð/ Consonants; Place, Manner, and Voicing of the American English Consonants; English Made Easy: The TH /θ, ð/ Sound.
French Challenge #5: The EE /i/ and IH /ɪ/ Vowels
The EE /i/ vowel in beat and the IH /ɪ/ vowel in bit are very common in American English. French has EE /i/, but it doesn't have IH /ɪ/, and that's where the difficulty comes from.
EE /i/, as in beat, is a long, tense vowel. You can feel the tension: say "eee" with your hand under your chin. Do you feel the muscles there tighten?
Download a free PDF: How to Pronounce the EE /i/ and IH /ɪ/ Vowels
IH /ɪ/, as in bit, is a short, lax vowel. Your muscles stay relaxed when you say it. With your hand under your chin, you shouldn't feel any tension at all. IH should feel very different from EE.
Many French speakers say the relaxed IH /ɪ/ like the tense EE /i/. This means bit can sound like beat, and his big sister can sound like "heez beeg seester."
How to Pronounce the EE /i/ and IH /ɪ/ Vowels in American English
The biggest difference between EE /i/ and IH /ɪ/ is tension. For IH /ɪ/, relax your mouth and tongue. Use a mirror to check that you stay relaxed. Then say the tense EE /i/ and add as much tension as you can. Can you feel the difference?
To learn how to pronounce the EE /i/ and IH /ɪ/ vowels, watch the videos below, or read my lessons: How to Pronounce the EE /i/ Vowel; How to Pronounce the IH /ɪ/ Vowel; EE /i/ and IH /ɪ/ Vowels: Minimal Pairs Listening Test.
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Meet Nicky
Nicky found her own voice in English, and her confidence grew a lot.