Your French pronunciation and oral production will not be tested in FREN 101 & 102, as this is a course on general French (especially grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, and culture) rather than a course specifically on French pronunciation and conversation.

We will, however, be working on pronunciation a little in class (ex. a few minutes of warm-up exercises at the start of class, your instructor pronouncing new vocabulary, etc.). You will see that there are pronunication tips and exercises throughout your textbook, usully in grey boxes labelled “PRONONCIATION” followed by a “Prononcez bien!” exercise: for ex. ch. 1, compétence 1 (p. 35); compétence 3 (p. 46-47); compétence 4 (p. 52-53). You can also work on these exercises for longer outside class, ex. in study-groups with fellow students (vos camarades de classe).

From Le Robert (dictionaries), here are the sounds of French, with audio files so you can hear how each sound is pronounced within a word:

(click on image, link opens in a new tab)

Here are some general guides on pronunciation, on producing sounds in general (including sounds in French), from UBC’s eNunciate project.


They include (for many-to-most sounds) videos, animated video diagrams, instructions for producing the sound, and further links to yet more online materials:

(click on the image, eNunciate link opens in new tab)

(click on the image, eNunciate link opens in new tab)

UPDATED 2015-11-17:

Here is a very useful free, open, online collection of resources:

Here are some basics from other sources on French pronunciation:

• http://french.about.com/od/pronunciation/a/beginningpronunciation.htm
• http://french.about.com/od/pronunciation/a/letters.htm
• http://apprendre.tv5monde.com/fr/search/site/Prononciation?f[0]=im_field_niveau%3A19
• http://www.frenchsounds.com/FSYouTubeLinks.html
• There may be some on the old BBC French site too, but it’s been somewhat dormant of late.
• About.com has substantial resources for French: useful.

***EXTRA FRENCH (PRONUNCIATION, VOCABULARY-BUILDING, PRACTICE)***

• Duolingo (free, and available as an excellent app)
• + listen to and watch as much in French as you can : for some suggestions, see RESOURCES on this present site > TV & MOVIES IN FRENCH

On phonetics in general:

• Wikipedia “International phonetic alphabet“
• the IPA, International Phonetic Assiciation

On French pronunciation and sounds (in French):

• http://phonetique.free.fr/
• Wikipedia (in French), “Phonétique française“
• http://www.lepointdufle.net/phonetique.htm

Creative Commons licence for eNunciate materials above: