Today is my first day of learning French. Let’s keep it easy. Just like English, French consists of 26 alphabets, including 5 vowels and 21 consonants. The first thing to do is learn the pronunciation of each alphabet. When trying to learn a new language, there are two essential requirements: understanding how each letter is spelled and how it sounds. Surprisingly, your native language, or the one you are most fluent in, comes in handy.
For example, my native language is Gujarati, which is similar to many other languages derived from Sanskrit. So, I’m in luck. Sanskrit and its derived languages are based on sound; the way things are said is more important than the spelling itself. There’s also a language close to Sanskrit – Hindi, which I’m quite fluent in. So, I can use it as a base language to start learning French. I can rant about the divinity of Sanskrit, but for that, some other day.
Now, I need to do two things. First, head over to chatGPT, and ask it to give me a list of all the alphabets of French, and give me a verbal cue about how they would be spelt in Hindi. For example, A -> आ, G -> जे. Here’s a complete table from my reference.
| Letter | French Spelling | Pronunciation in Hindi (Approximate) |
|---|---|---|
| A | A | आ |
| B | Bé | बे |
| C | Cé | से |
| D | Dé | दे |
| E | E | उह / अ (अंग्रेज़ी “अ” जैसा) |
| F | Effe | एफ |
| G | Gé | जे |
| H | Hache | आश |
| I | I | ई |
| J | Ji | जी |
| K | Ka | का |
| L | Elle | एल |
| M | Emme | एम |
| N | Enne | एन |
| O | O | ओ |
| P | Pé | पे |
| Q | Ku | क्यू |
| R | Erre | एर (हल्का गले से “र”) |
| S | Esse | एस |
| T | Té | ते |
| U | U | यू (ओठों को गोल करके उच्चारण करें) |
| V | Vé | वे |
| W | Double Vé | दूब्ल वे |
| X | Ixe | इक्स |
| Y | I Grec | ई ग़्रेक |
| Z | Zède | ज़ेद |
Now, there’s one more step. Plus, I found a video for French Pronunciations that gives exact pronunciations for each letters. That’s a start. I could get this sorted in first ten minutes, without much hassle. But there’s a lot to do.
About Judging My Progress
I have never attempted to learn a language from scratch. The last time I appeared for language examination was in my 12th class. My subconscious patterns regarding language, how the tongue and mouth move, how the throat and breath combine together to create sounds have been hardwired into my brain. It’s not hard, but it will take time to rewire those neurological patterns. I can’t judge my progress. I can just go with it.
Just a note – If you want to say, I am learning French in French, you could say, J’apprends le français.” (Pronounced: zhap-rahN luh frahn-se, झा-प्राँ लuh फ्राँ-से)
Les Voyelles – The Vowels
A, E, I, O, U -> Pronunciations as above.
Ami (Friend) → आ-मी (आमी)
Amour (Love) → आ-मूर (आमूर)
Arrêt (Stop) → आ-रे (आ-रे, हल्का “र” और आखिरी “ए” थोड़ा खिंचा हुआ)
Avocat (Advocate) → आ-वो-कॉ (आ-वो-कॉ, हल्का “व” और “का” में हल्का “ऑ” ध्वनि)
Avril (April) → आ-व्रील (आ-व्रील)
There’s something wrong in the pronunciation here, which brings us to one of hardest letter to spell – R. Unlike English, which uses the front of the tongue to pronounce R, French R is spoken from the throat. You really need to understand that gargle sound to come out right. One of the videos on YouTube might teach us how to spell R in French. Although, I’m sure, it could require months of practice before I start pronouncing it right.
Me (Me/Myself) → मuh (मuh, छोटा और हल्का “म”)
Te (You – Informal) → तuh (तuh, छोटा “त”)
Le (Him/It – Masculine) → लuh (लuh, हल्का “ल”)
Table (Table) → टा-ब्ल (टा-ब्ल, हल्का “ब”)
Trousse (Pencil Case/Kit) → ट्रूस (ट्रूस, हल्का “ट्र” और “ऊ” की ध्वनि)
Ami (Friend) → आ-मी (आमी)
Livre (Book) → लीव्र (ली-व्र, हल्का “व्र”)
Actrice (Actress) → आक-त्रीस (आक-त्रीस, “त्र” साफ़ उच्चारण करें) 🙄
Animal (Animal) → आ-नी-माल (आ-नी-माल)
Image (Image) → ई-माज (ई-माज, हल्का “ज”)
Stylo (Pen) → स्टी-लो (स्टी-लो)
Mot (Word) → मो (मो, “T” साइलेंट होता है)
Dos (Back) → दो (दो, “S” साइलेंट होता है)
Option (Option) → ओप-स्यॉN (ओप-स्यॉं, “N” नाक से उच्चारण करें)
Bus (Bus) → ब्यूस (ब्यूस, “U” थोड़ा गोल करके बोलें)
Vu (Seen – Past participle of “Voir” i.e., “to see”) → व्यू (व्यू, होंठ गोल करके “यू”)
Bu (Drunk – Past participle of “Boire” i.e., “to drink”) → ब्यू (ब्यू, “U” को गोल करके बोलें)
Although, I have not yet started the tenses, it’s good to know Vu means Seen, which comes from the verb “to See”. Same for Bu. Now that I know the basics of each Vowels, I can start building a vocabulary of my own. I have a thought – I could start using Anki Flashcards application to start adding vocabulary along with how they are spoken. More on that later. I might have to add more than one posts for such topics.
Pas de problème. 👍🏼 (No Problem, पा द प्रॉब्लेम)
Saluet. À demain. (See You Tomorrow, सा-ल्यू, आ द्यू-maa)