|
Don answers frequently
asked questions:
"Are you French or have you ever lived in France?"
No, I'm not
French and no, I haven't lived in France... or any other French-speaking country... nor was I raised around French-speaking
people.
"Okay, then how the heck can you sound native-French?"
I guess I would have
to say: "Study and practice, practice, practice!" It was a matter of determination and
being "cursed" with a perfectionistic drive!
Just like an athlete goes to
the gym and works out to develop his/her muscles, I did the equivalent activities/exercises for training my mouth, lips, tongue,
throat, and vocal cords to produce the authentic sounds of the French language. French has a lot of different sounds that
we don't have in English... just like French doesn't have the "th" sound that English has -- and that's
why that sound is so difficult for the French to master. The difficult sounds for us in French are the nasal sounds (and there
are many), the "u", and the back-of-the-throat, soft "r"... those are the "biggies."
I started my study of French in high school... but the earlier you start the better.
However, I believe your age is not as important as your ability to hear the sound nuances and then practice repeatedly,
doggedly, to reproduce those sounds accurately. You need a good ear, for sure.
|
