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l | ![]() | The French 'l' is similar to the 'l' in English "with Lee". The tongue tip usually touches the back of the upper teeth. It is also a so-called "clear" l: in other words, you don't raise the back of your tongue as you pronounce the French 'l', as occurs in some cases in English. | |
ə | ![]() | The 'schwa' or 'neutral e' is pronounced with the tongue in a "central, relaxed" position and the mouth also in a 'half open, relaxed' position. Note that many French speakers actually tend to pronounce this vowel as a 'close eu' vowel (as occurs at the end of words ending in -euse), or at least with some rounding of the lips. | |
ʃ | ![]() | This sound is very similar to the English 'sh' sound as in "she". In French, it is commonly written "ch". Some English speakers tend to round their lips when pronouncing this sound. If you do, then try not to round your lips while producing the sound in French! | |
j | ![]() | This is a sound a little like an English "y" as in "yes". To pronounce it, you "glide" rapidly between a French 'i' vowel and the following vowel. (And on the end of a word, you pronounce it by going rapidly from the previous vowel to a French 'i' vowel.) Note the phonetic symbol [j] doesn't mean the sound at the start of "je" or "jean". | You might have expected this sound to be a normal i vowel here. However, whenever i is followed by another vowel in French, the two vowels generally "merge" together (technically speaking, they form a diphthong). In other words, you start in the position for a normal i vowel, but then "glide" into the second vowel, which is what you hear in this case. |
æ̃ | ![]() | This vowel is pronounced with the tongue and mouth in a similar position to the 'a' of English "am". The vowel is nasalized: air escapes through the nose as well as the mouth. |