Comment on Should you copy a person's accent when pronouncing their name?
dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks agoRenault Peugeot Rumplestiltzkin
You got any friends with a similar example name in French? Unless your name is Écureuil, I’m thinking it can’t be that bad.
“Moi, je déteste l’écureuil.” was my practice sentence to master that one and sometimes I’m still nervous to use it in the wild lol.
crypto@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
I’m told “écureuil” is an infamously hard word for non-natives. It’s funny that one of the hardest words to pronounce in English in my opinion is “squirrel”. At least for a beginner.
To answer your question, I was thinking about words with nasal vowels, which are non-existent in English.
“Enfant”, “informatique”, “un brin brun”
My own first name has a nasal vowel and in my experience talking to native English speakers, it’s seems like a challenge to them.
dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Interestingly I don’t find the nasal vowels hard at all. In Écureuil (and other words that give me problems) it’s the “u” that is the hard part. It’s projected to a funny place in the mouth for me.
crypto@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Yes you’re right, I bet the French “u” is strange for an anglophone!
The sound I have the most trouble with in English is “th”. When I try it it kind of defaults to a “d”. In France they usually pronounce it like a “z” instead.