Why Pronunciation Matters
Le pont d’Avignon
My first time living in France was in college; I worked at a rural bed and breakfast near Avignon. I arrived there with 4 years of French classes under my belt, and was always at the top of my class. When I arrived in Avignon, I realized I could barely speak, and my accent was so bad that the B&B owners asked if I even spoke French! To add to my humiliation, I couldn’t even understand when they spoke French to me. Fear not, it turned out well for me in the end. My deep shame around my French skills motivated me to make progress. I spent the whole summer working hard on my French, and had ZERO English in my life apart from messages home.
It was in Avignon that I learned the importance of pronunciation. My job was to make and serve breakfast to the guests, and while they were eating, to help my host mother clean the rooms and make the beds so that guests could return to a tidy space. I remember one day she said to put the towels “au-dessous du lavabo”, which means “under/below the sink”. I heard her say “au-dessus du lavabo” which means “over/on top of the sink”. She was confused when I put the towels on the sink, and she repeated her original instructions. She was so patient with me and tried to explain the difference by saying the two phrases over and over for me, but I still had no idea what the difference was. Then she said, “Look at my lips when I say the two phrases”, and I was blown away! The two phrases looked different; in “au-dessous” her lips were more rounded, and in “au-dessus” they were less rounded. I could see the sound AND hear it, and thus, understand French. Small changes made the difference between “above” and “below”. My French speaking and understanding skyrocketed after this pivotal moment in my language journey.
When I returned to the US, I found a class at university that focused on French pronunciation, and I THREW myself into the class. We learned the International Phonetic Alphabet, we looked at drawings of tongues, teeth, lips and nasal passages, we sang songs, read poetry, learned the intonation and rhythm of the language, and did a lot of speaking and listening.
In my French classes in high school, I learned grammar, vocabulary, spelling, syntax, and so much more, but I never learned much about pronunciation. I think this is true for a lot of people learning French. The teacher has a class of 20-40 students. They teach pronunciation using the same tools that helped me so much at university, but they don’t have time to work one-on-one with each student, listening and correcting them, and giving them pointers for improving. We can’t blame these teachers; there is a LOT to cover in a semester, and they want to give the students as much knowledge as they can before the students head out into the world to speak French.
One can still speak French with poor pronunciation, but one might end up below instead of above!
