Speaking 'properly' & the French

[earendil_fr]

> bboyminn:
> 
> I hate to trash the French and their language, but I've never seen
> another language where words are pronounce so differently than they
> are spelled. What is the purpose of all those letters in a word if
not
> to lend a clue as to how the word is pronounced? 
> 
> Example:  bour·geois (boor-zhwä) [should sound similar to
'gorgeous'
> but with a 'B' instead of the first 'G', and an odd inflection on
the
> second 'G'.]
> 
> Ok, I can get the odd 'G' pronunciation, just like I can get that
> 'J'='H' in Spanish (Juan = Hwan or Jesus = Hey-sous), but how on
earth
> does 'eois' become 'wa'. 


Earendil:
I'm terribly sorry to bring back this somewhat old topic; I'm a lurker
and I haven't been around for a little while. But I came across this
post and thought I'd take a few moments to try to explain why there
are so many useless/unpronounced letters in the French language.

As an exemple I will take the French word for 'finger': 'doigt', which
is pronounced 'dwa'. It could be spelled 'dwa' or 'doi', it would be
pronounced just the same. So why the 'gt' at the end? Because these
letters are remnants from the latin that also gave the English
'digital'.

Many unpronounced letters are remnants from latin or old French.
Sometimes, these unpronounced letters have disappeared and been
replaced by an accent, like the 's' in hôpital (for hospital) or
forêt
(for forest).

As for the example you mentioned: bour·geois (boor-zhwä)
I saw someone already explained the pronounciation, but I'll give it
another try.

Final letters are not, or rarely, pronounced, so let's forget the
final 's'. 'oi' is always pronounced 'wa'. The 'e' is an indication on
how to pronounce the previous 'g'.

Take the English pronounciation of 'Granger' for instance: the two
'g's are pronounced differently.

In French, if a 'g' is followed by 'a', 'o', 'u', or any consonant, it
will be pronounced like the first 'g' in Granger. However, if it's
followed by 'e', 'i' or 'y', it will be pronounced like the second 'g'
in Granger. So the 'e' in bourgeois is there as a clue to how to
pronounce the word. Without it, 'bourgois' would be pronounced
'boor-gwa'. The 'e' has been 'added' to change the pronounciation of
the 'g' and make it sound more like 'boor-jwa'. For the opposite
effect ('j' to solid 'g'), you add a 'u' behind the 'g'.

Sorry if I sounded too didactic... Anyway, many adult French native
speakers have a terrible spelling and would write a word for another
when both are pronounced the same way ("ces", "ses", "sais", "sait",
"c'est", just to name a few), so if you're a bit confused, just know
there are a lot of French native speakers who are confused too :-)


Earendil.