English Pronunciation for French Speakers
Your strengths first, then the fixes that change how clearly you are understood.
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First language
If your first language is French
These are the patterns French speakers bring most often. Nothing here is a mistake — it is your first language doing exactly what it always does. Each row says where the fix lives.
| The challenge | What often happens | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| The H sound | 'happy' → ''appy', 'house' → ''ouse' | Silent T and H |
| The TH sounds | 'think' → 'sink', 'they' → 'zey' | The TH Sound |
| Word stress | every syllable equal, with the weight on the last | Word Stress |
| The English R | the guttural French R stands in for the floating tongue | The English R |
| Ship vs sheep | one French 'i' serves for both | Long vs Short Vowels |
| Cat vs cut | /æ/ and /ʌ/ do not exist in French, so the two blur | Short Vowels |
| Endings vanish | 'asked' → 'ask', 'dogs' → 'dog' | -ED + -S Endings |
| The NG sound | 'sing' nasalises away instead of ending in a consonant | The NG Sound |
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