{"id":5508,"date":"2021-02-23T00:00:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T00:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?p=5508"},"modified":"2021-05-21T20:38:59","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T20:38:59","slug":"french-spoken-accents-varieties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/french-spoken-accents-varieties\/","title":{"rendered":"Where is French Spoken: Accents and Varieties"},"content":{"rendered":"

English students often ask why the language spoken in shows like Downton<\/i><\/em>\u00a0Abbey<\/i><\/em>\u00a0sounds so different from the one spoken in Friends<\/i><\/em>\u00a0or Sex and the <\/i><\/em>C<\/i><\/em>ity<\/i><\/em>. Of course, you can dismiss such questions by saying that Downton<\/i><\/em>\u00a0Abbey<\/i><\/em>\u00a0is a period piece and people spoke differently in the past. But this is hardly the whole truth. The real reason why Dame Maggie Smith and Jennifer Anniston sound so different is that they speak different varieties of the same language \u2014British and American \u2014, which, of course, complicates\u00a0things for students.<\/p>\n

Luckily, you might think, not all languages present such nuances and complexities. French, for example, only comes in one form. Right?<\/p>\n

Well, let's put it this way. If we were to make an all-encompassing article, we would be looking at a 30-item list, including varieties, accents, and dialects.<\/p>\n

However, we don't want to scare you. That is why we have reduced our list to the 5 most important French accents from France and the world.<\/p>\n

Parisian French<\/h2>\n
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Travel photo created by kstudio - www.freepik.com<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

It would be hard to write an article titled \u201cWhere is French Spoken?\u201d and not start here, in Paris. Like the British standard, Received Pronunciation\u00a0for\u00a0English learners, Parisian French is seen as the standard French variety. As such, it is the type of language that you are most likely to be taught at school or language academies.<\/p>\n

One of the characteristics that set Parisian French apart from other dialects is the number of borrowings from English that can be found in everyday conversation.<\/p>\n

If you ever work as an intern in a Parisian company, you might hear things like\u00a0le deadline<\/em>, un feedback<\/em>, and un brainstorm<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Parisian French also tends to be spoken faster than other kinds, and it uses many enthusiastic expressions such as g\u00e9nial <\/em>(great), \u00e9norme <\/em>(awesome), and trop bien <\/em>(excellent).<\/p>\n

French from Belgium<\/h2>\n

It's estimated that around half of the population in Belgium are French speakers. Although this accent is quite close to the Parisian one, you might perceive that some of its sounds are harder. That is because this variety is influenced by Belgium's official language \u2014Dutch.<\/p>\n

Belgian French also presents a few differences in vocabulary. The number 70, for example, is soixante-dix<\/em>\u00a0in the standard variety, but septante <\/em>according to Belgian speakers.<\/p>\n

One of the best ways to get acquainted with an accent is to find a celebrity that speaks that accent and study the way they talk. The celebrated novelist Am\u00e9lie Nothomb, for example, is a Belgian speaker of French, so you can watch one of her highly entertaining interviews to get familiar with the sounds of this variety.<\/p>\n