"H" is for happy!
05/24/21 • 17 min
Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks!
If you are a native speaker of French and have studied English, then you have probably run into the /h/ problem. This sound, which Americans make when we say "Hello" and "How are you" and "Ha ha ha", does not exist in French. This makes two problems for French speakers.
1) Problem one: The sound is dropped. So I say Hello and the French speaker says 'ello. Or I say How are you? and he says 'ow are you?" Or I say "I'm hungry" and she says "I'm 'ungry" (which to us often sounds like "I'm angry.")
2) The other problem French speakers have is over correcting, putting in /h/ sounds where they shouldn't be. So "I am" might be said "I ham". Or "It's time to eat" might be said "It's time to heat."
To illustrate these problems, here is a recording from a kind, generous, and courageous native speaker of French who gave me permission to share her reading of these sentences:
Is Charlie happy? Not at all. He's angry. He missed breakfast. Then he missed lunch. Now he's very hungry and he's hoping to eat dinner as soon as possible.
Now listen carefully to her reading. (It's a little noisy since it was not recorded with a fancy microphone, but quite good enough to hear her pronunciation.) I'll play it twice and then we'll get to work on helping you sound more like an American.
[Note: the rest of the podcast is almost all listening and repeating. Too long and repetitious to transcribe.]
**********************************************
A good translation site: DeepL
Comments and suggestions are always welcomed: language[at]caravanbeads.com
Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Email me: [email protected]
You can now support my podcasts and classes:
Keep the podcasts coming! Thank you!
Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks!
If you are a native speaker of French and have studied English, then you have probably run into the /h/ problem. This sound, which Americans make when we say "Hello" and "How are you" and "Ha ha ha", does not exist in French. This makes two problems for French speakers.
1) Problem one: The sound is dropped. So I say Hello and the French speaker says 'ello. Or I say How are you? and he says 'ow are you?" Or I say "I'm hungry" and she says "I'm 'ungry" (which to us often sounds like "I'm angry.")
2) The other problem French speakers have is over correcting, putting in /h/ sounds where they shouldn't be. So "I am" might be said "I ham". Or "It's time to eat" might be said "It's time to heat."
To illustrate these problems, here is a recording from a kind, generous, and courageous native speaker of French who gave me permission to share her reading of these sentences:
Is Charlie happy? Not at all. He's angry. He missed breakfast. Then he missed lunch. Now he's very hungry and he's hoping to eat dinner as soon as possible.
Now listen carefully to her reading. (It's a little noisy since it was not recorded with a fancy microphone, but quite good enough to hear her pronunciation.) I'll play it twice and then we'll get to work on helping you sound more like an American.
[Note: the rest of the podcast is almost all listening and repeating. Too long and repetitious to transcribe.]
**********************************************
A good translation site: DeepL
Comments and suggestions are always welcomed: language[at]caravanbeads.com
Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Email me: [email protected]
You can now support my podcasts and classes:
Keep the podcasts coming! Thank you!
Previous Episode
When "-ed" is pronounced "d" (revised in May 2024)
Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks!
This podcast was originally recorded in May of 2021. I’ve updated it and made it more than three times longer. (May, 2024) Hope you enjoy the new and improved version.
All the regular verbs below that end in “ed” (simple past tense) are pronounced with a “d” sound at the end. So for example:
Advised — [uhd-VEYZD]
Agreed — [uh-GREED]
1—The teacher advised me to study more.
2 — I agreed to buy his old car.
3 — The prisoner was allowed to speak.
4 — After some thought, she answered the question.
5 — The old man appeared to be confused.
6 — My parents arrived at one o’clock.
7 — I believed what he told me.
8 — That jacket belonged to my uncle.
9 — The forest fires burned for weeks.
10 — My mother called me late last night.
11 — She carried the baby into the bedroom and changed its diaper.
12 — Mary closed her eyes and cried.
13 — My brother described the damaged furniture.
14 — We enjoyed talking as we cleaned the apartment.
15 — The garden path was covered with dried flowers.
16 — He played violin all the time and often performed at weddings.
17 — We always stayed home when it snowed.
18 — I listened for a while until I remembered I was really hungry.
19 — Fortunately we had repaired the roof before it rained.
20 — I loved English and I used it every day when I lived in London.
21 — I worried about learning chemistry, but after I studied it for a year, I realized it wasn’t so difficult.
22 — The dog followed me home. When I opened the door, you won’t believe what happened.
23 — My mother encouraged me to save money, but I never imagined I would buy my own house.
24 — I welcomed our visitor and showed him his room.
25 — We shared many adventures. We even explored the pyramids together.
26 — He yawned, whispered “Sleep well,” opened the door, turned to go, and moved out into the night.
A good translation site: DeepL
Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Email me: [email protected]
You can now support my podcasts and classes:
Keep the podcasts coming! Thank you!
Next Episode
"TH" is for thoughtful thinkers
Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks!
In this podcast we'll practice with the "th" sounds in English. This is the sound you hear in the word "the" and the word "think". The "th" in "the" is voiced which means your vocal cords vibrate when you make the sound. In "think" the "th" sound is unvoiced--the vocal cords do not vibrate.
Part One of this lesson is a listening exercise. I wrote a short paragraph which includes lots of "th" sounds. The paragraph will repeat three times. Just listen.
On Thursday it was cloudy. Then it started to rain. This made me feel sad because it was my thirtiethbirthday . I thought about a lot of things like thetheory of relativity. That made me feel better and I was grateful to Albert Einstein for thinking it up.
Part Two: Practice with voiced "th"
1) Then it started to rain.
2) Are they your friends?
3) I like these flowers more thanthose .
4) He gave themsomething to eat.
5) The fire started in the kitchen.
6) This is my house and that one is theirs.
Part Three: Practice with unvoiced "th"
1) How old is she? She's thirty.
2) Is today Tuesday? No, it's Thursday.
3) Ouch! I hit my thumb with a hammer.
4) You think too much.
5) Are you hungry? No, I'm thirsty.
6) You should eat more. You're too thin.
7) She could hear thunder in the distance.
8) Well, you could say 'thank you'.
9) Next year I'll be thirteen.
10) The thermostat is broken, sorry.
Part Four: Listening exercise again with spaces. Listen and repeat.
**********************************************
A good translation site: DeepL
Comments and suggestions are always welcomed: language[at]caravanbeads.com
Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Email me: [email protected]
You can now support my podcasts and classes:
Keep the podcasts coming! Thank you!
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