# Need answer fast: how close is this French pronunciation? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885 "2013-02-10T16:33:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/1 "2013-02-10T16:33:24Z")
If I go to [this webpage](http://imtranslator.net/translate-and-speak/), it will do a text to speech reading for me. I want to know if it’s fairly accurate…at least accurate enough that I shouldn’t be embarrassed to mimic it. Specific regional accent doesn’t matter, I just want it to be intelligible as French. It’s been 20 years since I took French. It sounds okay to me, but I don’t trust my ear anymore. The phrase I have to say is “Parce qu’elles étaient des femmes”. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/2 "2013-02-10T16:34:48Z")
pars kells eytay-ent deyz fomms ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/3 "2013-02-10T16:43:43Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > pars kells eytay-ent deyz fomms Not even close. “Pahs kelz etyan day fom” is what I’d say, though I’m far from a native French speaker. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/4 "2013-02-10T16:49:04Z")
hmm… it’s really hard to know what people mean when they write phonetically without the phonetic alphabet (which I don’t read, so that doesn’t help.) If I were to try to transcribe the sounds I get from that link, it’d be more like: par-suh kellzaye-tay day fahm “Parce” and “étaient” being 2 syllables each, with the “z” of “quelles” flowing into the “aye” of “étaient”. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/5 "2013-02-10T16:54:57Z")
I rendered “parce” as “pahs” because typical American pronunciation is to hit the “R” sound harrrrrrd, especially Midwestern American, whereas the French elide over it almost entirely. You’re definitely off to a bad start if you can hear the R in “parce.” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/6 "2013-02-10T16:56:41Z")
You’re right, it is difficult without using precise phonetic symbols. PARsuh (very soft on the R and second syllable) kelz AYtayen’ deyz fomm might be closer. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/7 "2013-02-10T17:01:33Z")
Thank you! Anyone feel like going to that website and typing the phrase in to listen? Just have to click “French” in the language options and UNclick Translate first. If you’re somewhere you can’t hear audio, I understand and thank you for your efforts anyhow, but it would help a lot if we used sounds instead of letters. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/8 "2013-02-10T17:11:30Z")
Here’s a hilarious comparison: paste the phrase into Google Translate and leave it on English to French. Click both play buttons. I did so and was shocked out of my chair until I realized GT was trying to speak the sentence in the first box using English phonetics. The French pronunciation sounds very good to my ear, so… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/9 "2013-02-10T17:17:32Z")
OH! I didn’t realize Google translate did text to speech now, too! Awesomesauce! Thank you, I will go with that. And yes, telling it that it’s English does make funny sounds happen! I’m suddenly having flashbacks to first year French class. “Bon Joyer, Mayz Ameys!” 😃 Now I wanna see what happens if I tell it it’s Spanish. Or Indonesian. 😃 (Ooh, it’s actually pretty if it thinks it’s Haitian Creole!) I could waste far too much time with such frivolity. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/10 "2013-02-10T17:22:29Z")
There must be some native French speakers here. I’m not buying the pronunciation of “etaient” givent. That’s not how I was taught it. [Here’s an audio sample of it by a native speaker](http://www.forvo.com/word/%C3%A9taient/). Now, granted, the word is pronounced in isolation, but there’s no liasing going on here, and that’s how I would have pronounced it, not as “AYtayen” or “etyan.” It’s more like “ey-teh,” but that sound link will let you hear it exactly, instead of me trying to transcribe it. And [here’s two examples of it](http://www.forvo.com/word/ils_%C3%A9taient/#fr) in the phrase “ils etaient” and [here’s one](http://www.forvo.com/word/s%27%C3%A9taient_couch%C3%A9es/#fr) with the phrase “s’étaient couchées.” ---
**Author:** ![BleizDu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@BleizDu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BleizDu)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/11 "2013-02-10T17:22:50Z")
You can go ahead and mimic it, it sounds pretty standard French to my average French ears 🙂 (I did try other sentences though, and for some the pronunciation is way off) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/12 "2013-02-10T17:25:48Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I’m suddenly having flashbacks to first year French class. “Bon Joyer, Mayz Ameys!” Linda Ellerbee said the reason she could never learn French was because her high school teacher in Texas began every class with “Bone jewer.” OTOH, I can still see and hear good Fr. Prat (a Parisian snob of a Jesuit, if you can imagine that) looking at me in horror and, after a suitable pause, murmuring, “Zut!” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/13 "2013-02-10T17:28:34Z")
[And here’s the IPA for it](http://oxforddictionaries.com/pronounce/french-english/%C3%A9taient) : /etɛ/ ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/14 "2013-02-10T17:29:59Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Anyone feel like going to that website and typing the phrase in to listen? That seems to me to be a pretty decent approximation. I can get understood (mostly) in France speaking basic French with my very heavy accent, so if you get close to that website version you should be fine. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/15 "2013-02-10T17:30:22Z")
> [@BleizDu](#): > > You can go ahead and mimic it, it sounds pretty standard French to my average French ears 🙂 > > (I did try other sentences though, and for some the pronunciation is way off) Thank you so much! (Yes, I was worried about that, I’ve heard some dreadful English spoken by computer programs.) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/16 "2013-02-10T17:54:52Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > The phrase I have to say is “Parce qu’elles étaient des femmes”. “Par-see kwell-ies e-tay-ent des femm-ies.” At least, that’s how **I’d** say it. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/17 "2013-02-10T17:58:22Z")
I’m no native speaker and Reagan was President last time I was in France, but once upon a time I had _une petite amie_ who said I had _un très bel accent_. 😉 > [@WhyNot](#): > > par-suh kellzaye-tay day fahm My only comments: (1) the “suh” in _parce_ is usually demoted to a very short syllable (as in the Google rendition) or even to a single ‘s’ as in par skelzay tay day fahm (2) the two “ay” vowels in _étaient_ are different, but only barely distinguishable, I think, to an English-trained ear. (3) Nitpick: It’s OK to invent your own phonetic spelling, but I find a terminal silent e in such inventions (“kaye”) annoying. Or were you trying to distinguish the two slightly different “ay” vowels? ---
**Author:** ![gerund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@gerund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gerund)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/18 "2013-02-10T18:25:29Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > You’re right, it is difficult without using precise phonetic symbols. > > PARsuh (very soft on the R and second syllable) kelz AYtayen’ deyz fomm might be closer. Not bad, but don’t pronounce the “z” sound before “foam;” the “des” is pronounced “day.” ---
**Author:** ![Themenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Themenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Themenin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/19 "2013-02-10T19:37:48Z")
The pronunciation in the site you linked is about right. As **pulykamell** pointed out - “étaient” is pronounced similarly to été - no “n” or “t” sound. “Parce que” followed by a vowel generally sounds like 1 syllable - ‘parsk’. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885/20 "2013-02-12T20:35:38Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > You’re right, it is difficult without using precise phonetic symbols. > > PARsuh (very soft on the R and second syllable) kelz AYtayen’ deyz fomm might be closer. More like PARs’ kellz eytay dey fahms The “aient” ending of “étaient” is not pronounced. The ‘s’ at the end of “elles” is pronounced because the next syllable begins with a vowel. I tend to not pronounce the second syllable of “parce-que” (i.e. “pars’” vs “par-ce”) but I don’t think it’s incorrect to make that more definite as you suggested (and as the voice reads). With that very slight difference, I agree with the pronunciation from the web page. I _am_ actually taking French right now. The web page’s accent is better than mine :). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast-how-close-is-this-french-pronunciation/649885.md?page=2)