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  1.1 Great variety of phonems

Many people consider the French language to be pleasant sounding. This beautiful sound is created by 37 different phonemes (as sounds are called by linguists); among these sounds the most difficult ones are the nasal sounds. Another problem is that many phonemes are not so different from one another.

Example  
un = a, one
en = in
on = passive subject

We will come to these later again. Listen carefully. Do you notice that they do not sound the same?

Example  
un en on un en on un en on un en on un en on

Now you surely have noticed, didn't you?

Another problem is that many phonemes are not so far from each other. And here, we have one of the difficulties for English speakers - so many different sounds for vocals. If you know German - you have heard about "Umlauts", which will help you in French pronunciation.

Listen to the following vowels - do you hear a difference?

Example  
sur (over), sourd (deaf)
bureau (office), bourreau (hangman)

There are more of these, and do not worry! - we will explain them all. The vowels as well as the voiced/unvoiced/clear/tubby e, difficult melody of sentences and many more things.





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