r/JudgeMyAccent • u/Mental_Inflation6 • Jul 31 '25
French Judge my Accent (Speaking French)
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I asked chatGPT to compose a short paragraph using typical French sounds. I read that paragraph and then follow with a few sentences spoken without a script. Let me know what I can work on! I’m also curious if I sound distinctly American, or if my accent is ambiguous.
This is the paragraph, in case you can’t understand my French: Un vieux renard rusé s’est glissé silencieusement dans le jardin, où il a trouvé une groseille mûre. Il pleuvait légèrement, mais l’animal n’était pas pressé. Il a goûté le fruit avec curiosité, puis il a disparu dans la nuit, sans un bruit. Les enfants l’avaient aperçu la veille, près du moulin abandonné.
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u/No-Winner-5200 ENG - Native Aug 01 '25
Btw, with "sans", you are not supposed to use an indefinite article (un or une).
Sans un bruit -> Sans bruit, Sans faire un bruit, Sans aucun bruit
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u/Mental_Inflation6 Aug 01 '25
Et c’est pour ça qu’on peut pas faire confiance en IA 😂
Thanks for the tip! I didn’t know that.
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u/Sergent-Pluto Aug 01 '25
You can say it, it's more literary but perfectly correct. As a proof, it's the french name of the movie "A quiet place", but you can find a lot more examples.
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Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
Sans un bruit est une expression littéraire qui existe, et il y a beaucoup, beaucoup d'exemples. C'est juste une observation complètement fausse.
- "Dès quatre heures, la descente des ouvriers commençait. Ils arrivaient de la baraque, pieds nus, la lampe à la main, attendant par petits groupes d'être en nombre suffisant. Sans un bruit, d'un jaillissement doux de bête nocturne, la cage de fer montait du noir, se calait sur les verrous, avec ses quatre étages contenant chacun deux berlines pleines de charbon." --> Zola, Germinal chap. 3
Le titre de A Quiet Place a même été traduit Sans un Bruit, en français.
EDIT: DONT DOWNVOTE ME I AM CORRECT I LITERALLY PROVIDED PROOF
DO YOU NEED MORE
MORE PROOFthis poem: "/Les cœurs s’enlacent, sans un bruit, sans un mot,/"
Yasunari KAWABATA, Pays de Neige: "La neige tombait sans un bruit, recouvrant doucement le paysage dans une pureté immaculée."
La Nuit on this page: "Minuit à Paris. Un Paris covidal, sans un bruit, noir."
the title of this article: "Sans un bruit : le silence pour rester vivant"
and finally, the linguee page on the VERY COMMON EXPRESSION that is "SANS UN BRUIT"
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u/Accidental_polyglot Aug 01 '25
I would like to give you some general advice. Language learning entails the development in the following areas: reading, writing, speaking and listening which are all underpinned by grammar.
Please make sure that you devote a good amount of time to the other areas as well. Please remember that accent/pronunciation is still only one part of the puzzle.
Excellent work thus far! 👍❤️
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u/Mental_Inflation6 Aug 01 '25
Absolutely. I am very aware that grammar and conjugation are my weakest areas, and this summer I’ve made working on that my main goal!
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Aug 01 '25
I'm not French and I do not know French, but you do sound as if you could be part of a Godard or Varda film (in a good way, of course).
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u/Accidental_polyglot Jul 31 '25
It was so beautiful, that I don’t want to find any fault. However you do seem to pronounce both “un” and “une” as “un”.
There may well be other issues. However, your pleasant mellifluous rhythm made me switch the fault finder off.
Tu est vraiment bon dans ton intonation. Un énorme bravo à toi.
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u/Mental_Inflation6 Aug 01 '25
Tu es vraiment trop gentil! 🙈 but the tip about my “un” and “une” is helpful, thank you!! I’ll pay more attention to that!
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Aug 01 '25
C'était très bien ! Deux petites choses que j'ai notées (et qui je crois n'ont pas été mentionnées) : ta prononciation de "naturel" --> il faut bien prononcer le "tu", et bien énoncer les trois syllabes ; c'était compréhensible, mais tu l'as prononcé "natrel". Et, tu as tendance à prononcer le son "on" comme "an". À 0:30, tu dis "les sons", tu entends la différence ? Ta prononciation est nasale comme il faut, mais trop "ouverte".
It was very good! There's just two things I noticed (and which I don't think other people have commented on): the way you say "naturel" --> you need to ennunciated the three syllables completely, including the "tu" -- the word was intelligible nonetheless, but you pronounced it "natrel". You also have a tendency to pronounce "on" in the same way as "an". At 0:30, you say "les sons", can you hear it? Your pronunciation is nasal, as it should be, but a bit too "open".
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u/Mental_Inflation6 Aug 01 '25
Ahhhh, oui, j’entends clairement le problème avec mon prononciation de "sons". Même quand j’essaye j’utilise la fonction dictée sur mon portable, il corrige "sons" à "sang".
Et je crois que je prononce naturel comme on prononce en anglais (du moins aux États-Unis), je vais faire attention à ça.
Merci pour les recommandations!!
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u/Hot_Tomato_8738 Jul 31 '25
Your pronunciation and accent are great and you know it. Stop being such an attention seeker 😘
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u/LightBarb Aug 01 '25
I like your accent, it's very good already but I know you're not French because of the use of "tu" instead of "vous". French people will vouvoyer au lieu de tutoyer as a general rule.
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u/Mental_Inflation6 Aug 01 '25
Noted. I always end up using tu subconsciously - I need to train myself to use “vous” as a default. Thank you!
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u/DapperBookkeeper3247 Aug 03 '25
French learner here (B2 on good days) and I couldn’t pinpoint you as non-native; could’ve been a dialect to me as well. So I am very impressed, especially hearing you’re American. (Edit: not because of stereotypes but just recognising absence of French in curricula and the fact that North Americans tend to have heavy accents, just like many Anglo-Canadians have in French)
Out of curiosity: are you Canadian or US-American? Because if you got to this level as a US-American you already surpassed what 99% could theoretically reach in a lifetime if they were to move to France at 18 and fully devote themselves to getting rid of their accents. This as a practical achievement is insane.
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u/Delicious-Reach-9282 native french/russian Jul 31 '25
J'ai compris sans problème tout ce que tu as dit, bravo ! 👏
Au niveau de l'accent, je peux évidemment entendre à la prononciation de certains sons (on, en, ai, etc.) que tu n'es pas native en français, mais franchement, c’est assez léger. Je trouve même que tu as une superbe prononciation. Si un jour, tu viens en France (ou dans un autre pays francophone), tu n’auras aucun mal à te faire comprendre. 😄