11 ms·

How good is your French accent?

153 points by montbonnot 10y ago

morinted 10y ago
Any love for the difference between French and Quebec?
- panglott 10y ago
  This was the first question that came to mind: what dialects does it support? I assume it is standard Parisian French.
  - zdkl 10y ago
    "standard"
    - gerbilly 10y ago
      >standard Uh huh, whatever that is. Even Paris has more than one accent. (St Denis for example) It's interesting how pronunciation in France shifted after the revolution.[1] Before that, everyone from the terroir to the king spoke mostly the same way. It was called the "Bel usage." When the king said: "La loi c'est moi" it probably came out more like: "La loi c'est moé." There was a more formal, accent reserved for public speeches, and sermons at church called the: "Grand usage." After the revolution the new ruling class adopted the "Grand usage" in day to day speech and it became Parisian French. In Québec, we were cut off from France after the British won the war, so our accent remained closer to the "Bel Usage." In my linguistics classes it was always drilled into us that no accent is 'better' than any other. However ... I personally prefer my accent, It is more demotic and earthy, it's the language of my grandmother and my ancestors, not of the village priest or the politician making a speech. I find it funny how Parisians almost twist themselves in knots to over-pronounce every written letter of every word. It's almost as if it references the _written_ word more than the spoken one. [1]: http://legoutdufrancais.org/dou-vient-laccent-des-quebecois-et-celui-des-parisiens/ http://legoutdufrancais.org/dou-vient-laccent-des-quebecois-...
      - seszett 10y ago
        > I find it funny how Parisians almost twist themselves in knots to over-pronounce every written letter of every word. It's almost as if it references the _written_ word more than the spoken one. While in my opinion it's generally true that in France (and not especially in Paris) the written language constitutes the reference more than it does Québec, I think you might be slightly biased here: Nobody in France would pronounce the final "t" in "tout" or the "i" in "envoie" for example :)
        davidivadavid 10y ago
        Or in 'plat', or in the conjugation of 'haïr', or... yup, he pretty much got that one the wrong way around. Indeed, much like English, which is possibly worse, French is known precisely for the fact that it sounds so different from the way it's written.
        gerbilly 10y ago
        >Nobody in France would pronounce the final "t" in "tout" or the "i" in "envoie" for example That's true there are still silent letters. Ironically in Québec you sometimes hear the 'i' in «envoie». I find that Québec french in general tends to have preserved a lot of dipthongs that Parisian french has eliminated. I would still describe Parisian french as «une prononciation recherchée»
      - Apocryphon 10y ago
        'There was a more formal, accent reserved for public speeches, and sermons at church called the: "Grand usage." After the revolution the new ruling class adopted the "Grand usage" in day to day speech and it became Parisian French.' It's interesting how many languages standardized based on the variant spoken by the ruling elites, often imposed by revolutionaries. That's how Standard Chinese came to be based off of the courtly tongue of the Mandarins.
- 6stringmerc 10y ago
  I just imagined an Acadian Cajun from Louisiana giving it some Creole and started giggling.
- weberc2 10y ago
  It can't seem to differentiate between French and "French spoken with my most deliberate American accent", so I wouldn't hold my breath.
- rconti 10y ago
  I used to have TV6 Monde here in California back when I had cable. The Quebecois programming was inevitably subtitled in (real) French, which was an endless source of humor for me.
  - mgbmtl 10y ago
    Well it's similar to US and UK English. c.f. how confused people in the US can be when they hear UK English for the first time if they were not exposed to it when growing up. On the other hand, while Quebec French has its regional expressions (as do most US, UK and French regions), it's fascinating how the language and accent has changed in 30-40 years only. This archive video from 1963 church-era is hilarious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HjSfZWI-ZA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HjSfZWI-ZA -- Radio-Canada interviewing a bunch of people at the municipal pool asking them about short shorts. Lots of different accents.
  - nkrisc 10y ago
    My wife (we're American) watches a lot of British programming, and for some shows she has to put on the subtitles. Between certain English accents and slang, it's hard to follow sometimes.
    - jmnicolas 10y ago
      As a French I never found an American TV show that I had difficulties with (love the Appalachian accent btw) but English shows were another matter (usually when there are criminals). But if you tell me it's difficult even for Americans I'm a bit reassured about my abilities ;-)
      - Philadelphia 10y ago
        BBC America used to have a banner before certain programs suggesting that some people may want to put on closed captioning for the show.
      - nkrisc 10y ago
        Rest assured, there are American accents I can't even understand. The most recent example on American TV that comes to mind is some of the characters in the first season of True Detective. Some of those Deep South accents, particularly from the bayou in Louisiana are beyond my comprehension.
vowelless 10y ago
Android app would be much appreciated!
- noobie 10y ago
  Seconded. It would've been nice to include an iOS only tag to spare me the excitement and the subsequent disappointment.
- arvinsim 10y ago
  I wonder if there are significant differences in voice synthesis of the two OS.
panglott 10y ago
Interesting, it looks like this is an app geared at accent reduction, which could be promising. I'll try it out. Duolingo French elicits speech, but I fear that it is set so permissive as to hardly be helpful (I haven't dared to test feeding it nonsense or clearly incorrect pronunciations yet). There's a Czech-learning app I use that uses speech recognition to test the user's pronunciation, but the implementation is bad: it is fairly strict, and the speech recognition simply tries to interpret the speech (rather than gauging correctness), so it frequently misinterprets the user's utterance as another statement entirely. Which is frustrating and unhelpful.
- Swizec 10y ago
  Making your accent absurdly french like in a cartoon fools Duolingo. I do it when I get too frustrated with the pronunciation and want a pass.
doorty 10y ago
That's a good idea to use speech recognition software to give feedback for foreign language leaners.
6stringmerc 10y ago
Very interesting, thanks for posting this to be able to check it out. Now I get to find out how far I've fallen since passing the Paris Chamber of Commerce non-native business French test. Reminds me that I haven't listened to any streaming French radio in too long, which was a trick I used to re-up my comprehension and vocab from time to time. Super chouette app!
rcarmo 10y ago
I was kind of hoping for a Pepe Le Pew[1] cartoon, at the very least. :) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepé_Le_Pew https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepé_Le_Pew
3327 10y ago
Tried the app very buggy ! good start kids !
wyldfire 10y ago
My employer's proxy blocks this site as "malicious." I suspect it's a false positive but on the off chance that the proxy actually has a way to detect this I figured I'd share.
hokkos 10y ago
It works from a native french point of view, no false negative !
montbonnot 10y ago
For people who're blocked via proxy, just go on the app store and search for FrenchMeter.
weberc2 10y ago
It seems to either not recognize the phrase at all, or it says my accent is perfect. Since I'm an American, I'm doubtful about the accuracy.
cpa 10y ago
I'm french so I had to try it out! Although I got 90-100% on all words, I was able to get 50+% on most words doing what I think is a strong (but totally understandable) american accent in french. That was fun!
- grondilu 10y ago
  I'm French as well. When I saw the title of this post, I thought it was about how French you sound when you speak English, not how well you can speak French. The thing is, there are a lot of very educated French people who, when they speak English, have an extremely accentuated French accent. Typically scientists and politicians. It's like they don't make any effort whatsoever or think that the French accent is some kind of honorific mark they should cultivate. Me, I've always thought the French accent is the worst ever and I try my best to hide it because it makes me feel retarded.
  - rconti 10y ago
    It's very strange how some people can add or drop accents at will, and others can move away from their home country at a young age and simply NEVER lose their accent. I work for a company that moved from Paris to California, so we have a large number of native French speakers who still work with us; it's an interesting dynamic.
    - stuxnet79 10y ago
      Accent is fluid and can change when you are young but by the time you are 15/16 it becomes difficult to "lose" your native accent regardless of the amount of exposure you have to a different language. This has been scientifically validated (can't find any relevant papers at the moment to link you to though).
      - TulliusCicero 10y ago
        He's not talking about losing it completely though. Some people are able to mostly lose their accent and sound relatively close to a native, others retain a very strong accent despite having lived in a new country for many years.
mfo 10y ago
Any english alternative ?
haberman 10y ago
It's too easy. I got 100% on "Bonjour," but I definitely do not sound native to French people. I know this because last year I took a hike in a french gorge and greeted people with "Bonjour" but they often answered me back in English. But I'll take the flattery. :)
- rconti 10y ago
  I almost spit out my beer at "answered me back in English". My favorite language story is from when I was studying in eastern France (Strasbourg). I went across the border to the train station in Kehl, Germany, as I reasoned that train tickets inside Germany (I was on my way to Berlin) would be vastly cheaper than trying to buy the same ticket with an origin in Strasbourg. Anyway, I know a little bit of German, and suddenly I understood why foreign language classes always start you off with directions and tickets and timetables and so on. So I was all set with my basic train vocabulary. We went back and forth and conducted our business. I gave him my American passport at the end, he seamlessly transitioned to some pleasantry in English as we concluded, and I walked away with my train ticket. Well, as I walked away, I was pondering his lack of surprise that I was American (which should not have been surprising; my crappy German is clearly not a Frenchman's crappy German), and I replayed the conversation in my head. As I got to the "smoking or non-smoking" part, I realized I could not recall the German word (rauchen, for those keeping score at home). Eventually it came to me, and I realized that he had actually said "smoking oder non" (oder being German for "or").. Well, of course, English with a German accent sounds like German to an English speaker... And I suddenly realized that we had probably conducted virtually all of the transaction in English, and I had no clue. He probably switched to German-accented English as soon as I did a poor job of asking for a 2nd class ticket to Berlin arriving at this time on that date, and I didn't even realize it.
  - kaffeinecoma 10y ago
    You know I think there is this phenomenon of "listening in the wrong language". As an American in France, sometimes I'd meet people and they'd want to try out their English with me. Every once in a while I'd meet someone and be totally confused by their French, and I'd have to ask for help. "Dude, he's speaking English to you". Then we'd both feel bad.
rconti 10y ago
Heh, kinda cool! Definitely in its beginning stages, but I had to try it out as I'm probably a target market; studied French for ~10 years (middle school, high school, some university), and have spent a total of perhaps 6 months in France -- But I've not lived there permanently, and haven't really used the language in perhaps 10 years. I'm at the point where I'd have a hard time following dialogue in a TV show (although, to be fair, that's always hard for foreigners), but am rarely identified as american by native french-speakers; they usually guess German or something similar (more plausible to know French well, but still with the harder-edged anglo accent; I'm clearly not an Italian or Spaniard... well, okay, I AM Italian, but do not speak Italian). Anyway, what I mean to say is my background with the language is complicated, and my french is far from perfect. Typically I managed in the 80-100% range depending on words. Anybody know the goal of the project?
- the4dpatrick 10y ago
  Since you're apart of the target market, mind sending me an email? (email in profile)
Mikeb85 10y ago
It'd be interesting to see accents from Northern, Southern France, Paris, Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec compared... I'd reckon there's more variation than people think.
joeblau 10y ago
Funny Story: I was traveling from Portugal back to the U.S. through Charles de Gaulle Airport and my Dad gave me 4 Euros. I went to this little bakery and the man behind the counter asked me what I wanted in French. I mustered up as much throat as I possibly could and said croissant which was apparently good enough for him to go off on this long answer to what I ordered. I looked at him blankly and said "Sorry man, that's the only word I know." He was not amused.
- rconti 10y ago
  Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsy3-ZfbqW0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsy3-ZfbqW0
  - hakcermani 10y ago
    And this one ! ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLuc6rtWkrM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLuc6rtWkrM )
- teekert 10y ago
  The French are very proud and protective of their language. I have a similar experience, I was asking Je cherche le croissants (or something: I'm looking for croissants), I got a blank stare until my friend made a very theatrical overly french "Croissants!" hand waving and all, then the supermarket guy understood. I know of no other language that invented new words when computers came to the market (ordinateur) or when RNA splicing was discovered (Épissage). French will be spoken long after Dutch completely Englifies.
  - ArmandGrillet 10y ago
    These words have not been created by regular French people people proud of the language, it is mainly due to the fact that there is a pretty powerful council creating new words and regulating the French language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise.
  - 10y ago
AdamSC1 10y ago
Really great concept - I feel the UI needs some work, there were a lot of times where it showed an "x" and didnt give me a score - I assume this means its having trouble hearing me. Some sort of distance or volume indicator would be great. As a Canadian I'm a bit surprised though as all the words it was able to detect I got 100% scores - I know a lot of the Quebecois french pronunciations we learn in Canada are very different than French from France so it'd be interesting to hear how that is taken into account. I really hope they keep going on this project as mastering accents is one of the largest gaps right now in online language learning and market leaders either lack the feature all together (like Duolingo) or do a rubbish job of it and charge a fortune (like Rosetta Stone).
- geori 10y ago
  Grading is definitely on a curve. My accent is terrible and I'm getting 100% on the native speech.
funkaster 10y ago
Funny, maybe cute, but not very useful if you're actually trying to learn a new language. Having "perfect" accent is pointless. When learning a new language you should aim for learning grammar, understanding basic pronunciation, but not "speaking with native accent". That's pointless, unless you're a spy[1] (Look the answer to "Q: Is it possible to acquire a language to a "native" level?"). [1]: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article.php?id=517093 http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article.php?id=517093
- alouanchi 10y ago
  +1
- montbonnot 10y ago
  This app is indeed the complete opposite of what you're looking for. The FrenchMeter is not meant to teach French. It focuses on the spoken aspect of the language, unlike most of the apps out there.
mmanfrin 10y ago
French is also a bit of a minefield in terms of phrasing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a69toGGjoO0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a69toGGjoO0
- AceJohnny2 10y ago
  Tangential, but I always love this series of similar words with completely different pronunciations: tough trough though through thought thorough Or, as commonly found on the internet: "English is weird, but it can be understood through tough thorough thought though..." Oh dear, I gave myself semantic satiation just by writing this out.
twright 10y ago
Very cool! I've been looking for something like this to improve pronunciation in other languages. The next best thing I have is to change the input language on iOS and try to talk to Siri. One could certainly do the same thing on Android/Google Now, but keep in mind not all voice recognition/synthesis is equal between languages.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
forgingahead 10y ago
This chap would get top marks with this app: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzbgpGuX6-s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzbgpGuX6-s
callumlocke 10y ago
Misleading app. If you say "bon appétit" in a good French accent, it fails, then if you say it in a very bad accent but imitating the distinct pitch and rhythm of the guy in the recording, it scores 100%.
- SilasX 10y ago
  Sufficiently advanced imitation of a native French speaker is indistinguishable from a good French accent.
  - callumlocke 10y ago
    It would be weird if you always said the words "s'il vous plait" exactly like that one guy says it in that one recording
- montbonnot 10y ago
  The accuracy is better if you maintain the same distance from the mic when you try several times in a row. If the distance is significantly different between 2 tries then you might get odd results. The recorded voice has to be used as a reference only. The pitch doesn't matter, I'd say don't speak too fast or too slow either and you'll be fine.
hackersuede 10y ago
That's fun! It seems that it depends how far you talk from the mic. Otherwise It's pretty accurate. Is there a certain speed I have to talk?
horsecaptin 10y ago
Alright, but what if I want to speak English with a French accent? Can this app help me??
rmason 10y ago
I think in general the French outside of Paris are more polite, especially in tourist areas. I've had Europeans complain to me about rude New Yorkers. I think at least part of it is the big city. I've found the friendliest people in France are in the South. Along the French Riviera the economy is highly dependent upon tourists and they want the repeat business. Many years ago I visited a restaurant near the train station in Nice. The proprietor seated me at a table with someone else. I was confused until I realized he seated me with a regular who spoke English. I visited a week later and he did the same thing but with another regular. A dozen years later I relayed the story to my parents who were going to visit the area. My mother who did speak fluent French had a long conversation with the proprietor. After paying their bill he gave them a wine pitcher with the restaurants name and said give this to your son. Together we've probably sent two dozen friends to that restaurant.
- mangeletti 10y ago
  Absolutely agree. We visited Domme, Arles, and Eze, and the people were really great, particularly in Domme. The other thing I noticed about the South is that it was easier to carry on a conversation in French, in part because the people spoke a lot less (if any) English, which puts your mind into the mode of speaking only French. In Paris we'd be speaking French one minute, English the next. BTW, what's the name of the restaurant in Nice?
  - rmason 10y ago
    The restaurants name is Le Colbert. I suspect the place is under new ownership now. I visited in '76 and my parent's in '88. This link references a female, not a male owner: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187234-d2081971-Reviews-Restaurant_Le_Colbert_a_NICE-Nice_French_Riviera_Cote_d_Azur_Provence.html https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187234-d20819...
satysin 10y ago
Haha just had a little competition with my French wife. I sound more French than her with my Basil Fawlty-style accent! She is not impressed ;)
yodsanklai 10y ago
Lot of stereotypes in the comments. I'm little disappointed to read that on HN. Some commenters tell they had bad experiences in France. In my opinion, it's a case of confirmation bias and lack of understanding of cultural differences. For many reasons, you can't expect the same types of interactions with a waiter in Paris and one in NYC or Tokyo. I think people traveling to foreign countries should be open-minded and understand that things may work a little differently than in their home country. The French aren't arrogant assholes overprotective of their language! that's just plain stereotype. Yes, they don't speak English as well as Swedes for instance, but not worse than let say Italians. Besides, there are tons of English words making their way in the French language. Also, French people are often shy of speaking English. Sadly, we tend to make fun of each other, and those that haven't had the opportunity to practice outside school are often embarrassed to speak English.
- song 10y ago
  Yes and English education in France used to mostly focus on writing to the detriment of oral communication. A lot of French people are unable to speak English and are very self conscious about it.
- vmorgulis 10y ago
  > Also, French people are often shy of speaking English. I think it's more pride than shyness mostly because of history and the rivalry with England. It's unconscious too.
- jmnicolas 10y ago
  I'm French too and if you read more of the comments you will find more positive things about us. By the way, if they form an opinion on France by how they are treated by parisiens I can understand they don't appreciate the experience. We're much friendlier in province ;-)
  - programLyrique 10y ago
    I am French and I've lived both in "province" (means not in Paris...) and in Paris, and I don't think that's particulary accurate to say that people are much friendlier in province. I've met friendly people both in Paris and in "province" as well as unfriendly ones... In my opinion, it's just a way of reenforcing this dichotomy between Paris and "province" (and this word is also part of that scheme).
unknownzero 10y ago
Interestingly I've never studied French, nor have I spent any significant amount of time hearing it, and I somehow get 100% on basically every word using my horrible childrens cartoon version of a French accent. Huh.
stared 10y ago
Is there a similar app for English? As I learn English mostly from reading, I mispronounce a lot of words.
vmorgulis 10y ago
The best french accent I've heard in a movie is from Sacha Baron Cohen: https://youtu.be/yv7UJLOyERs?t=17 https://youtu.be/yv7UJLOyERs?t=17
reirob 10y ago
I was disappointed! Reading through the comments, before loading the page itself, I got really interested. Finally I clicked on the page just to find out that it is for Apple devices only. Quelle discrimination in the age of HTML5! If I only had a button to down-vote!
neil_s 10y ago
Anyone know how this works?
the4dpatrick 10y ago
I'd love to connect with you @montbonnot - my email is in my profile

153 points by montbonnot 10y ago

morinted 10y ago

Any love for the difference between French and Quebec?

panglott 10y ago
This was the first question that came to mind: what dialects does it support? I assume it is standard Parisian French.
- zdkl 10y ago
  "standard"
  - gerbilly 10y ago
    >standard Uh huh, whatever that is. Even Paris has more than one accent. (St Denis for example) It's interesting how pronunciation in France shifted after the revolution.[1] Before that, everyone from the terroir to the king spoke mostly the same way. It was called the "Bel usage." When the king said: "La loi c'est moi" it probably came out more like: "La loi c'est moé." There was a more formal, accent reserved for public speeches, and sermons at church called the: "Grand usage." After the revolution the new ruling class adopted the "Grand usage" in day to day speech and it became Parisian French. In Québec, we were cut off from France after the British won the war, so our accent remained closer to the "Bel Usage." In my linguistics classes it was always drilled into us that no accent is 'better' than any other. However ... I personally prefer my accent, It is more demotic and earthy, it's the language of my grandmother and my ancestors, not of the village priest or the politician making a speech. I find it funny how Parisians almost twist themselves in knots to over-pronounce every written letter of every word. It's almost as if it references the _written_ word more than the spoken one. [1]: http://legoutdufrancais.org/dou-vient-laccent-des-quebecois-et-celui-des-parisiens/ http://legoutdufrancais.org/dou-vient-laccent-des-quebecois-...
    - seszett 10y ago
      > I find it funny how Parisians almost twist themselves in knots to over-pronounce every written letter of every word. It's almost as if it references the _written_ word more than the spoken one. While in my opinion it's generally true that in France (and not especially in Paris) the written language constitutes the reference more than it does Québec, I think you might be slightly biased here: Nobody in France would pronounce the final "t" in "tout" or the "i" in "envoie" for example :)
      - davidivadavid 10y ago
        Or in 'plat', or in the conjugation of 'haïr', or... yup, he pretty much got that one the wrong way around. Indeed, much like English, which is possibly worse, French is known precisely for the fact that it sounds so different from the way it's written.
      - gerbilly 10y ago
        >Nobody in France would pronounce the final "t" in "tout" or the "i" in "envoie" for example That's true there are still silent letters. Ironically in Québec you sometimes hear the 'i' in «envoie». I find that Québec french in general tends to have preserved a lot of dipthongs that Parisian french has eliminated. I would still describe Parisian french as «une prononciation recherchée»
    - Apocryphon 10y ago
      'There was a more formal, accent reserved for public speeches, and sermons at church called the: "Grand usage." After the revolution the new ruling class adopted the "Grand usage" in day to day speech and it became Parisian French.' It's interesting how many languages standardized based on the variant spoken by the ruling elites, often imposed by revolutionaries. That's how Standard Chinese came to be based off of the courtly tongue of the Mandarins.
6stringmerc 10y ago
I just imagined an Acadian Cajun from Louisiana giving it some Creole and started giggling.
weberc2 10y ago
It can't seem to differentiate between French and "French spoken with my most deliberate American accent", so I wouldn't hold my breath.
rconti 10y ago
I used to have TV6 Monde here in California back when I had cable. The Quebecois programming was inevitably subtitled in (real) French, which was an endless source of humor for me.
- mgbmtl 10y ago
  Well it's similar to US and UK English. c.f. how confused people in the US can be when they hear UK English for the first time if they were not exposed to it when growing up. On the other hand, while Quebec French has its regional expressions (as do most US, UK and French regions), it's fascinating how the language and accent has changed in 30-40 years only. This archive video from 1963 church-era is hilarious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HjSfZWI-ZA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HjSfZWI-ZA -- Radio-Canada interviewing a bunch of people at the municipal pool asking them about short shorts. Lots of different accents.
- nkrisc 10y ago
  My wife (we're American) watches a lot of British programming, and for some shows she has to put on the subtitles. Between certain English accents and slang, it's hard to follow sometimes.
  - jmnicolas 10y ago
    As a French I never found an American TV show that I had difficulties with (love the Appalachian accent btw) but English shows were another matter (usually when there are criminals). But if you tell me it's difficult even for Americans I'm a bit reassured about my abilities ;-)
    - Philadelphia 10y ago
      BBC America used to have a banner before certain programs suggesting that some people may want to put on closed captioning for the show.
    - nkrisc 10y ago
      Rest assured, there are American accents I can't even understand. The most recent example on American TV that comes to mind is some of the characters in the first season of True Detective. Some of those Deep South accents, particularly from the bayou in Louisiana are beyond my comprehension.

vowelless 10y ago

Android app would be much appreciated!

noobie 10y ago
Seconded. It would've been nice to include an iOS only tag to spare me the excitement and the subsequent disappointment.
arvinsim 10y ago
I wonder if there are significant differences in voice synthesis of the two OS.

panglott 10y ago

Interesting, it looks like this is an app geared at accent reduction, which could be promising. I'll try it out. Duolingo French elicits speech, but I fear that it is set so permissive as to hardly be helpful (I haven't dared to test feeding it nonsense or clearly incorrect pronunciations yet). There's a Czech-learning app I use that uses speech recognition to test the user's pronunciation, but the implementation is bad: it is fairly strict, and the speech recognition simply tries to interpret the speech (rather than gauging correctness), so it frequently misinterprets the user's utterance as another statement entirely. Which is frustrating and unhelpful.

Swizec 10y ago
Making your accent absurdly french like in a cartoon fools Duolingo. I do it when I get too frustrated with the pronunciation and want a pass.

doorty 10y ago

That's a good idea to use speech recognition software to give feedback for foreign language leaners.

6stringmerc 10y ago

Very interesting, thanks for posting this to be able to check it out. Now I get to find out how far I've fallen since passing the Paris Chamber of Commerce non-native business French test. Reminds me that I haven't listened to any streaming French radio in too long, which was a trick I used to re-up my comprehension and vocab from time to time. Super chouette app!

rcarmo 10y ago

I was kind of hoping for a Pepe Le Pew[1] cartoon, at the very least. :) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepé_Le_Pew https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepé_Le_Pew

3327 10y ago

Tried the app very buggy ! good start kids !

wyldfire 10y ago

My employer's proxy blocks this site as "malicious." I suspect it's a false positive but on the off chance that the proxy actually has a way to detect this I figured I'd share.

hokkos 10y ago

It works from a native french point of view, no false negative !

montbonnot 10y ago

For people who're blocked via proxy, just go on the app store and search for FrenchMeter.

weberc2 10y ago

It seems to either not recognize the phrase at all, or it says my accent is perfect. Since I'm an American, I'm doubtful about the accuracy.

cpa 10y ago

I'm french so I had to try it out! Although I got 90-100% on all words, I was able to get 50+% on most words doing what I think is a strong (but totally understandable) american accent in french. That was fun!

grondilu 10y ago
I'm French as well. When I saw the title of this post, I thought it was about how French you sound when you speak English, not how well you can speak French. The thing is, there are a lot of very educated French people who, when they speak English, have an extremely accentuated French accent. Typically scientists and politicians. It's like they don't make any effort whatsoever or think that the French accent is some kind of honorific mark they should cultivate. Me, I've always thought the French accent is the worst ever and I try my best to hide it because it makes me feel retarded.
- rconti 10y ago
  It's very strange how some people can add or drop accents at will, and others can move away from their home country at a young age and simply NEVER lose their accent. I work for a company that moved from Paris to California, so we have a large number of native French speakers who still work with us; it's an interesting dynamic.
  - stuxnet79 10y ago
    Accent is fluid and can change when you are young but by the time you are 15/16 it becomes difficult to "lose" your native accent regardless of the amount of exposure you have to a different language. This has been scientifically validated (can't find any relevant papers at the moment to link you to though).
    - TulliusCicero 10y ago
      He's not talking about losing it completely though. Some people are able to mostly lose their accent and sound relatively close to a native, others retain a very strong accent despite having lived in a new country for many years.

mfo 10y ago

Any english alternative ?

haberman 10y ago

It's too easy. I got 100% on "Bonjour," but I definitely do not sound native to French people. I know this because last year I took a hike in a french gorge and greeted people with "Bonjour" but they often answered me back in English. But I'll take the flattery. :)

rconti 10y ago
I almost spit out my beer at "answered me back in English". My favorite language story is from when I was studying in eastern France (Strasbourg). I went across the border to the train station in Kehl, Germany, as I reasoned that train tickets inside Germany (I was on my way to Berlin) would be vastly cheaper than trying to buy the same ticket with an origin in Strasbourg. Anyway, I know a little bit of German, and suddenly I understood why foreign language classes always start you off with directions and tickets and timetables and so on. So I was all set with my basic train vocabulary. We went back and forth and conducted our business. I gave him my American passport at the end, he seamlessly transitioned to some pleasantry in English as we concluded, and I walked away with my train ticket. Well, as I walked away, I was pondering his lack of surprise that I was American (which should not have been surprising; my crappy German is clearly not a Frenchman's crappy German), and I replayed the conversation in my head. As I got to the "smoking or non-smoking" part, I realized I could not recall the German word (rauchen, for those keeping score at home). Eventually it came to me, and I realized that he had actually said "smoking oder non" (oder being German for "or").. Well, of course, English with a German accent sounds like German to an English speaker... And I suddenly realized that we had probably conducted virtually all of the transaction in English, and I had no clue. He probably switched to German-accented English as soon as I did a poor job of asking for a 2nd class ticket to Berlin arriving at this time on that date, and I didn't even realize it.
- kaffeinecoma 10y ago
  You know I think there is this phenomenon of "listening in the wrong language". As an American in France, sometimes I'd meet people and they'd want to try out their English with me. Every once in a while I'd meet someone and be totally confused by their French, and I'd have to ask for help. "Dude, he's speaking English to you". Then we'd both feel bad.

rconti 10y ago

Heh, kinda cool! Definitely in its beginning stages, but I had to try it out as I'm probably a target market; studied French for ~10 years (middle school, high school, some university), and have spent a total of perhaps 6 months in France -- But I've not lived there permanently, and haven't really used the language in perhaps 10 years. I'm at the point where I'd have a hard time following dialogue in a TV show (although, to be fair, that's always hard for foreigners), but am rarely identified as american by native french-speakers; they usually guess German or something similar (more plausible to know French well, but still with the harder-edged anglo accent; I'm clearly not an Italian or Spaniard... well, okay, I AM Italian, but do not speak Italian). Anyway, what I mean to say is my background with the language is complicated, and my french is far from perfect. Typically I managed in the 80-100% range depending on words. Anybody know the goal of the project?

the4dpatrick 10y ago
Since you're apart of the target market, mind sending me an email? (email in profile)

Mikeb85 10y ago

It'd be interesting to see accents from Northern, Southern France, Paris, Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec compared... I'd reckon there's more variation than people think.

joeblau 10y ago

Funny Story: I was traveling from Portugal back to the U.S. through Charles de Gaulle Airport and my Dad gave me 4 Euros. I went to this little bakery and the man behind the counter asked me what I wanted in French. I mustered up as much throat as I possibly could and said croissant which was apparently good enough for him to go off on this long answer to what I ordered. I looked at him blankly and said "Sorry man, that's the only word I know." He was not amused.

rconti 10y ago
Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsy3-ZfbqW0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsy3-ZfbqW0
- hakcermani 10y ago
  And this one ! ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLuc6rtWkrM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLuc6rtWkrM )
teekert 10y ago
The French are very proud and protective of their language. I have a similar experience, I was asking Je cherche le croissants (or something: I'm looking for croissants), I got a blank stare until my friend made a very theatrical overly french "Croissants!" hand waving and all, then the supermarket guy understood. I know of no other language that invented new words when computers came to the market (ordinateur) or when RNA splicing was discovered (Épissage). French will be spoken long after Dutch completely Englifies.
- ArmandGrillet 10y ago
  These words have not been created by regular French people people proud of the language, it is mainly due to the fact that there is a pretty powerful council creating new words and regulating the French language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise.
- 10y ago

AdamSC1 10y ago

Really great concept - I feel the UI needs some work, there were a lot of times where it showed an "x" and didnt give me a score - I assume this means its having trouble hearing me. Some sort of distance or volume indicator would be great. As a Canadian I'm a bit surprised though as all the words it was able to detect I got 100% scores - I know a lot of the Quebecois french pronunciations we learn in Canada are very different than French from France so it'd be interesting to hear how that is taken into account. I really hope they keep going on this project as mastering accents is one of the largest gaps right now in online language learning and market leaders either lack the feature all together (like Duolingo) or do a rubbish job of it and charge a fortune (like Rosetta Stone).

geori 10y ago
Grading is definitely on a curve. My accent is terrible and I'm getting 100% on the native speech.

funkaster 10y ago

Funny, maybe cute, but not very useful if you're actually trying to learn a new language. Having "perfect" accent is pointless. When learning a new language you should aim for learning grammar, understanding basic pronunciation, but not "speaking with native accent". That's pointless, unless you're a spy[1] (Look the answer to "Q: Is it possible to acquire a language to a "native" level?"). [1]: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article.php?id=517093 http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article.php?id=517093

alouanchi 10y ago
+1
montbonnot 10y ago
This app is indeed the complete opposite of what you're looking for. The FrenchMeter is not meant to teach French. It focuses on the spoken aspect of the language, unlike most of the apps out there.

mmanfrin 10y ago

French is also a bit of a minefield in terms of phrasing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a69toGGjoO0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a69toGGjoO0

AceJohnny2 10y ago
Tangential, but I always love this series of similar words with completely different pronunciations: tough trough though through thought thorough Or, as commonly found on the internet: "English is weird, but it can be understood through tough thorough thought though..." Oh dear, I gave myself semantic satiation just by writing this out.

twright 10y ago

Very cool! I've been looking for something like this to improve pronunciation in other languages. The next best thing I have is to change the input language on iOS and try to talk to Siri. One could certainly do the same thing on Android/Google Now, but keep in mind not all voice recognition/synthesis is equal between languages.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

forgingahead 10y ago

This chap would get top marks with this app: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzbgpGuX6-s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzbgpGuX6-s

callumlocke 10y ago

Misleading app. If you say "bon appétit" in a good French accent, it fails, then if you say it in a very bad accent but imitating the distinct pitch and rhythm of the guy in the recording, it scores 100%.

SilasX 10y ago
Sufficiently advanced imitation of a native French speaker is indistinguishable from a good French accent.
- callumlocke 10y ago
  It would be weird if you always said the words "s'il vous plait" exactly like that one guy says it in that one recording
montbonnot 10y ago
The accuracy is better if you maintain the same distance from the mic when you try several times in a row. If the distance is significantly different between 2 tries then you might get odd results. The recorded voice has to be used as a reference only. The pitch doesn't matter, I'd say don't speak too fast or too slow either and you'll be fine.

hackersuede 10y ago

That's fun! It seems that it depends how far you talk from the mic. Otherwise It's pretty accurate. Is there a certain speed I have to talk?

horsecaptin 10y ago

Alright, but what if I want to speak English with a French accent? Can this app help me??

rmason 10y ago

I think in general the French outside of Paris are more polite, especially in tourist areas. I've had Europeans complain to me about rude New Yorkers. I think at least part of it is the big city. I've found the friendliest people in France are in the South. Along the French Riviera the economy is highly dependent upon tourists and they want the repeat business. Many years ago I visited a restaurant near the train station in Nice. The proprietor seated me at a table with someone else. I was confused until I realized he seated me with a regular who spoke English. I visited a week later and he did the same thing but with another regular. A dozen years later I relayed the story to my parents who were going to visit the area. My mother who did speak fluent French had a long conversation with the proprietor. After paying their bill he gave them a wine pitcher with the restaurants name and said give this to your son. Together we've probably sent two dozen friends to that restaurant.

mangeletti 10y ago
Absolutely agree. We visited Domme, Arles, and Eze, and the people were really great, particularly in Domme. The other thing I noticed about the South is that it was easier to carry on a conversation in French, in part because the people spoke a lot less (if any) English, which puts your mind into the mode of speaking only French. In Paris we'd be speaking French one minute, English the next. BTW, what's the name of the restaurant in Nice?
- rmason 10y ago
  The restaurants name is Le Colbert. I suspect the place is under new ownership now. I visited in '76 and my parent's in '88. This link references a female, not a male owner: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187234-d2081971-Reviews-Restaurant_Le_Colbert_a_NICE-Nice_French_Riviera_Cote_d_Azur_Provence.html https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187234-d20819...

satysin 10y ago

Haha just had a little competition with my French wife. I sound more French than her with my Basil Fawlty-style accent! She is not impressed ;)

yodsanklai 10y ago

Lot of stereotypes in the comments. I'm little disappointed to read that on HN. Some commenters tell they had bad experiences in France. In my opinion, it's a case of confirmation bias and lack of understanding of cultural differences. For many reasons, you can't expect the same types of interactions with a waiter in Paris and one in NYC or Tokyo. I think people traveling to foreign countries should be open-minded and understand that things may work a little differently than in their home country. The French aren't arrogant assholes overprotective of their language! that's just plain stereotype. Yes, they don't speak English as well as Swedes for instance, but not worse than let say Italians. Besides, there are tons of English words making their way in the French language. Also, French people are often shy of speaking English. Sadly, we tend to make fun of each other, and those that haven't had the opportunity to practice outside school are often embarrassed to speak English.

song 10y ago
Yes and English education in France used to mostly focus on writing to the detriment of oral communication. A lot of French people are unable to speak English and are very self conscious about it.
vmorgulis 10y ago
> Also, French people are often shy of speaking English. I think it's more pride than shyness mostly because of history and the rivalry with England. It's unconscious too.
jmnicolas 10y ago
I'm French too and if you read more of the comments you will find more positive things about us. By the way, if they form an opinion on France by how they are treated by parisiens I can understand they don't appreciate the experience. We're much friendlier in province ;-)
- programLyrique 10y ago
  I am French and I've lived both in "province" (means not in Paris...) and in Paris, and I don't think that's particulary accurate to say that people are much friendlier in province. I've met friendly people both in Paris and in "province" as well as unfriendly ones... In my opinion, it's just a way of reenforcing this dichotomy between Paris and "province" (and this word is also part of that scheme).

unknownzero 10y ago

Interestingly I've never studied French, nor have I spent any significant amount of time hearing it, and I somehow get 100% on basically every word using my horrible childrens cartoon version of a French accent. Huh.

stared 10y ago

Is there a similar app for English? As I learn English mostly from reading, I mispronounce a lot of words.

vmorgulis 10y ago

The best french accent I've heard in a movie is from Sacha Baron Cohen: https://youtu.be/yv7UJLOyERs?t=17 https://youtu.be/yv7UJLOyERs?t=17

reirob 10y ago

I was disappointed! Reading through the comments, before loading the page itself, I got really interested. Finally I clicked on the page just to find out that it is for Apple devices only. Quelle discrimination in the age of HTML5! If I only had a button to down-vote!

neil_s 10y ago

Anyone know how this works?

the4dpatrick 10y ago

I'd love to connect with you @montbonnot - my email is in my profile