Expertlatin
A phonetic language (e.g., Spanish, Arabic) is one in which each letter has a single corresponding sound; in other words, spelling matches the pronunciation. Other languages, like French and English, are not phonetic: they have letters that can be pronounced in different ways or sometimes not at all.
- Why is French full of silent letters?
- Does French have phonetics?
- Why is French hard to pronounce?
- Is French less phonetic than English?
Why is French full of silent letters?
Why does French have so many silent letters? The silent letters (les lettres muettes) were once pronounced in Old French. As the language evolved, the pronunciation was abandoned, but the modern words are still the same.
Does French have phonetics?
In contrast to their Romance language siblings like Italian and Spanish, French words are rarely fully phonetic (i.e., hard to simply “sound out” correctly) and require you to keep your mouth closed much more often than wide open.
Why is French hard to pronounce?
The French language tends to be difficult to pronounce at first because there are simply sounds that native English speakers aren't used to making. To begin with, French is more evenly stressed. This means that while some parts of a word are stressed, it's not as distinct as in English.
Is French less phonetic than English?
The French writing system is more phonetic and regular than the English writing system. They both their own quirks, but the the pronunciation of the letters are more regular in French than English. However French has many special reading rules for silent letters.
