How to pronounce neige


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lThe 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. 
aThe French 'a' vowel is pronounced with the tongue far forward in the mouth and the mouth quite wide open, but not quite as open as for a typical English 'a' vowel. 
nThe French 'n' sound is similar to the 'n' of English "tenth", i.e. pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching the upper teeth. 
ɛThe French 'open e' vowel, is pronounced with the tongue almost as far forward in the mouth as it will go, but with the mouth a bit more than half open. Keep your lips unrounded and aim to "hold your tongue and lips in position" (to avoid producing it as a "glide" or diphthong) as you pronounce this vowel. 
ʒThis sound is the sound represented by the 'g' in "beige", or the 's' in the English word "leisure". 
əThe '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.Even though the word ends in -e in the spelling, notice how in the pronunciation, this vowel isn't "fully" pronounced. Instead, the syllable before it receives the stress.