Your favorite French pronouncing website?
March 4, 2023 2:29 AM Subscribe
I work for a French multinational and speak really terrible French, which isn't a problem, but I am a bit obsessed with at least attempting to pronounce names correctly.
Maybe Google translate does this and I'm dumb?
What's your favorite free website I can type a French word or NAME (most importantly) in and have it speak out my input back to me in probably a Parisienne accent, which is fine.
What's your favorite free website I can type a French word or NAME (most importantly) in and have it speak out my input back to me in probably a Parisienne accent, which is fine.
I've been starting to learn French and Julian (linked above!) is great for pronunciation. I have also seen a lot of recommendations for Forvo.
posted by socky_puppy at 3:55 AM on March 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by socky_puppy at 3:55 AM on March 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
I would not trust Google for this, unfortunately. For example, look up their pronunciation of "tres leches". At least it gave my Spanish speaking family members something to laugh about :)
posted by Eyelash at 3:57 AM on March 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Eyelash at 3:57 AM on March 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
This fairly awesome site lets you search for instances of people saying words or phrases in a particular language on Youtube. I think it works by searching video captions, so it's limited by how good those are, but it's still fairly impressive.
posted by trig at 4:33 AM on March 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by trig at 4:33 AM on March 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
If you specifically want a pronunciation workout then FrenchSounds. - I also like Geraldine on Comme Une Française
posted by rongorongo at 5:02 AM on March 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by rongorongo at 5:02 AM on March 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
forvo.com. Their motto is, iirc: All the words in the world, pronounced.
If a word you look up has multiple speakers, filter out the Canadian French speakers. Sorry, Canadians. In France, French Canadians are considered to have a strong accent from the 16th century.
If you don't get a hit on your word of choice you may need to sign up and then you can make requests, which are usually filled pretty quickly.
posted by sevenstars at 5:14 AM on March 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
If a word you look up has multiple speakers, filter out the Canadian French speakers. Sorry, Canadians. In France, French Canadians are considered to have a strong accent from the 16th century.
If you don't get a hit on your word of choice you may need to sign up and then you can make requests, which are usually filled pretty quickly.
posted by sevenstars at 5:14 AM on March 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
If these are people you work with, could you ask them how they pronounce their name, in their accent? That would be much more accurate and respectful than the Parisian French version. (signed, someone who has had to mangle the syllables of her name into American English her entire life)
posted by basalganglia at 5:20 AM on March 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by basalganglia at 5:20 AM on March 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
Nth Forvo!
posted by sillysally at 6:56 AM on March 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by sillysally at 6:56 AM on March 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Came here to suggest YouGlish, already linked by trig above. I sometimes use the English site just as a fun diversion when I come across an unusual word and am curious to hear various speakers uttering it.
posted by staggernation at 7:21 AM on March 4, 2023
posted by staggernation at 7:21 AM on March 4, 2023
Nthing Forvo.
posted by brianogilvie at 9:04 AM on March 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by brianogilvie at 9:04 AM on March 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
I have to do this a lot for work, and I find the best way is to search for a person with that name being interviewed on a show or news program in that language.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:19 AM on March 5, 2023
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:19 AM on March 5, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
For example this gentleman.
posted by freethefeet at 3:05 AM on March 4, 2023 [2 favorites]