Silliest French word I learnt so far
- Thread starter richardg
- Start date
tones
Tones deaf
The German equivalent Eichhörnchen is seen as a major test as to whether you can pronounce Hochdeutsch properly.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
It’s a great record. It also contains the word ‘équipage’ which is definitely French, even if it isn’t silly.
eisenach
pfm Member
I can do that one ! It took less practice than écureuil ! I needed it when I bought some of the German Brio equivalent wooden train sets for my children.
https://www.mytoys.de/spielzeug-spiele/autos-fahrzeuge-flieger/spielzeugeisenbahnen/eichhorn/
(OK, it's Eichhorn. Must be bigger than I remembered !
)That one is a real horrorshow for non native speakers. To English ears the last 2 are inseparable. The first is easier because it's a short "u". I'm a fluent French speaker, some French people mistake me for a native speaker when I'm fully warmed up, but anyone with an ear can spot me as English the minute I try roue and rue.For me it's "u" and "ou" sounds I find tricky. I worked for the AA in Boulogne s/Mer for a while in the early 80s. I was terrified of maybe one day having to report to my colleagues in the office that one of our members "a perdu une roue dans la rue" !
there's a French nursery rhyme they teach to children to get them used to making the different "u" sounds. It's a cartoon character who has as his catchphrase "Turlututu, chapeau pointu" and I think that this phrase takes you through a good few of the o and u sounds.
eisenach
pfm Member
Yep, but there are no "r"s in that ! It's particularly the combination of r+u / r+ou which finishes me off. Fine on their own, but combined ... 
tuga
Legal Alien
I find German's guttural Rs are quite difficult.
But that's nothing compared with the 9 "tonal variations" of Cantonese "vowels"...
Edit: brings back good memories of learning how to pronounce the Rs with Beate, whom I'd just met at Berlin Central Station when inter-railing in '91. "Bär"
But that's nothing compared with the 9 "tonal variations" of Cantonese "vowels"...
Edit: brings back good memories of learning how to pronounce the Rs with Beate, whom I'd just met at Berlin Central Station when inter-railing in '91. "Bär"
tones
Tones deaf
I would disagree that properly-spoken Hochdeutsch is guttural - one of my co-workers comes from the region of Germany where it's spoken as an everyday language and she is not at all guttural. The local dialects (Swabsich, Bairisch, etc.) are another story entirely...
mansr
Objectionist
mandryka
pfm Member
Yes fourrure is hard for me to say.
mandryka
pfm Member
Can I try to move this discussion onto the biggest problem I have in French -- I just cannot get my head round it and I don't know how best to deal with it. I need help.
I'm talking about the difference between tu and vous.
(At first I used tu everywhere -- being a bit of a soixante-huitard. After a while I could see that this was really important to French people, like, majorly important in a way that no Brit can ever appreciate, and I didn't want to offend anyone, so I decided to use vous all the time. By this time I could speak French fine. Then, one day, in the middle of a conversation with a French woman, she just got up, exasperated and angry, she said effectively that she's upset that I'm using vous with her after all this time and . . . .
I just don't know what to do for the best!)
I'm talking about the difference between tu and vous.
(At first I used tu everywhere -- being a bit of a soixante-huitard. After a while I could see that this was really important to French people, like, majorly important in a way that no Brit can ever appreciate, and I didn't want to offend anyone, so I decided to use vous all the time. By this time I could speak French fine. Then, one day, in the middle of a conversation with a French woman, she just got up, exasperated and angry, she said effectively that she's upset that I'm using vous with her after all this time and . . . .
I just don't know what to do for the best!)
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
At night, Schroedinger’s cats are simultaneously grey, and not-grey.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
When I meet someone I start with vous, and wait for them to move to tu. This generally takes minutes, if not seconds. Then I follow.
I find that as I get more into my dotage shop assistants use tu anyway. I take this to be the French equivalent of Tesco ladies half my age calling me ‘love’ or ‘dear’ and offering to help me find the correct money while I am searching for my specs.
My main problem is seeing friends I haven’t met for a while. I automatically go to vous, then have to backtrack and repeat with tu, after a short gap while my brain dredges up the singular of the verb.
tones
Tones deaf
Has the old practice of tutoyer died out, where you agree to use tu? I found that younger folk use tu all the time for everyone in their age group There's a German equivalent dutzi or something like that, where you have a celebratory drink and agree to use du. As in French, conversations get awfully complicated when you visit a couple and you know one as du/tu and the other as Sie/vous.
richardg
Admonishtrator
Speak english loudly. It's a far better language, tell her. And then give her some mdma to help her chill out.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
No agreement is brokered nowadays, IME - it just happens.
chartz
If it’s broke fix it!
We usually say tu to colleagues at work, and obviously to kids. I’d never say tu to the headmaster, but she is the only person at school I vouvoie.
I will say tu to my children’s friends, even if I don’t know them.
Kids say vous to their teachers of course.
I use vous for my in-laws – just a matter of respect, but oddly, I say tu to my wife’s uncles and aunts.
A real can of worms this.
I will say tu to my children’s friends, even if I don’t know them.
Kids say vous to their teachers of course.
I use vous for my in-laws – just a matter of respect, but oddly, I say tu to my wife’s uncles and aunts.
A real can of worms this.
mandryka
pfm Member
So I first noticed how complicated it is when my French got to the level where I could follow a film. There was this tough gangster who was arrested by some tough policemen who were slapping him and yelling at him and the criminal kept his cool completely until . . . one of the cops used tu. And he exploded . . . "who said you could use tu with me?"
And then shortly after I heard a radio interview of some famous singer who was on the barricades in May 68, and she said in passing in the interview "je tutoie tout le monde" The interviewer responded with an astonished voice "même un archevêque?" And she thought for a second and replied "non, pas un archevêque!"
This is just crazy stuff. Incomprehensible for a Brit.
And then shortly after I heard a radio interview of some famous singer who was on the barricades in May 68, and she said in passing in the interview "je tutoie tout le monde" The interviewer responded with an astonished voice "même un archevêque?" And she thought for a second and replied "non, pas un archevêque!"
This is just crazy stuff. Incomprehensible for a Brit.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
Quite so. Bloomin’ jumped-up archevêques.