The French Language Distinction
The French language has a certain distinction that separates it from many other languages in the world. The difference between the English language and the French language is not just the pronunciation of a few words. The differences in grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure are subtle but affect how they read to native English speakers. For example, when I translate something into English from French, it sounds awkward but makes sense. Depending on where my translation is going to be used will also determine whether I translate French or not; because there are certain words that sound strange in certain contexts.
French is considered one of the major Romance languages of Europe and an official language in about 33 countries with over 300 million speakers; this includes parts of Canada and most U.S. states where French is an official language. French is a mixture of the Germanic and Latin languages, largely due to the work of a Frankish dialectal population that first settled in France around 500 AD. The Frankish language was known by the name of Franci which evolved into Francais. The word "French" itself comes from the name of Franks which were the first inhabitants of their place of settlement in France. It should be noted that the French language is not one of the Roman languages; although it is related to Romance languages such as Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Catalan among others.
The place where most of the French people live has been traced back to the latin name Gallia. The word "France" itself is derived from Roman times and it was called Provincia rather than France during this time. It was not until 843 AD that France became known by the name of Francia . The words "language" and "dialect" are used interchangeably for French but in reality, there are finer distinctions within French. These distinctions include the different dialects such as:
Of these five dialects, the one that is most common to be spoken is Dauphiné. Dauphiné is spoken in Wallonia (specifically western parts of Belgium) and in the southern part of France . This area gives birth to Provençal Occitan; which is a language that clearly blends with French but keeps its own special twists. It was originally used for a specific group of people, namely those who were Spanish-medieval nobility from the Provence region in France . The Provençal language is considered to be the purest form of Occitan and it is still in use today.
The French language has also undergone a major reform in 1970 that changed the word "French" to "Francais" to reflect its relationship with other Romance languages. It is considered this reform that allowed more French speakers to be found in African countries where people generally speak French as a second language.
This list contains some of the differences between English and French; which may help you understand how a native French speaker would read something out loud. Remember, these are not exceptions but rather general trends.
There are a number of cases in which French words are pronounced in a different way than the English equivalent. For example, the word "juillet" is pronounced [ʒi:ʒel] in French and just 'jul' in English. "Juillet" means July and it is a month of the year that roughly falls between June and August as opposed to ['ju:l] in English that means "July". In French, the plural of this word is "les juillets" (the Julys) whereas 'the jul' is used for the plural because it blends in with other words such as 'jeux' (games).
In French, the letter "e" has a different pronunciation than it does in English. The French language uses more rolled 'r' sounds while the English language uses more of an elongated vowel sound. For example, the word Pays [pɛi] has the 'ey' sound but is pronounced ['pe] in English. The word pays means country or nation and it is not used to describe where someone lives; that's what the word région (region) means in France . Another example is "résumé". In French, the word [ʁesimɛ] with a rolled 'r' is conjugated as ['resume]. The English language would say 'reprise' and it's a different word that translates to resume. The 'r' sound has a very open mouth so that the lips produce minimal friction when the words are spoken. Sometimes in English, you will notice the letters "t" and "d" are pronounced all together as one vowel sound but in French, they are separate sounds (for example; "tout" is pronounced ['to:] and "dans" is pronounced [da:ns]). Some words have an aberse pronunciation in French; for example, as opposed to ['fin'] in English, means honor.
Let's take a look at another example. The name 'Louis' in English means Saint Louis of France; however, the name 'Louis' in French has a different spelling but pronounced the same: 'Louis'. In English, the word "race" is spelled as [raʃ], which is pronounced [raʃ] without the middle "sh". However, in French it is spelled with "ch" (it does not have an 's' sound). The name for race on its own is spelled as ['raʃe] and pronounced ['raʃ], which gives it the sound of char or cash.
French also has a ton of suffixes to add to an adjective to describe something. For example, you can use "-eux" or "-euse" to describe something. It is used a lot and it's something that even native English speakers are not aware of. An example is the word 'paradoxal' which means contrary to expectation and the first word in this sentence, the word "paradox". In French, it is spelled as ['parados] with a suffix.
It may be surprising but in French there are certain words that specifically target men or women; some words do not change no matter what sex the person is talking about. There are a lot of words that are positive and negative towards men and women. It's very different from English to be honest. For example, the word "chasseur" is a hunter that targets male animals while the word "chatteuse" is a female hunter. Some examples of such words are:
These examples give you an idea of how the French language works in practice, but there are some words that can be different in English or other Romance languages; because there's no exact equivalent. To give you an idea, let's take the word "appeler".
Conclusion:
The French language is beautiful, rich and diverse. It's not only for the French as English or any other language is not specific to one group of people. The French culture is rich with peculiarities that you can consider as weird but we must respect each other's cultures while learning and applying these same cultures in our own lives.
This article is only a sample of how the language works in practice, so if you're planning on visiting France then it will be helpful so you can communicate properly and avoid embarrassment. The French culture has its own distinctive norms, traditions and values; which are respected by all the countries of the world to this day.