Why do English speakers have such troubles with pronouncing French?

Question

I heard one explanation (from an American friend) that said they feel awkward pronouncing it correctly.

Answer 1

The problem is not with the writing system as the other answers imply. The problem is that many of the sounds of French, especially the vowels, are different than the sounds in English. English does not have front rounded vowels or nasalized vowels (as in the words leur and bon), so English speakers must try to learn how to pronounce these sounds on a regular basis. Learning to pronounce new sounds as an adult is generally difficult. The French sounds t, d, n, s, z are also all dental sounds (the tongue is touching the teeth), but in English these sounds are alveolar (the tongue is further back). Another sound that English speakers have a great deal of trouble with is the French r, which is a voiced uvular trill in Parisian French. There is nothing like this sound in English. The English r sound is not even close.

Answer 2

if u r a native english speaker than it will be a big trouble for u pronouncing french bcoz u dont know it as u know english, additionally, some french words like " vois" it will be pronounced as "voaa" and in english it will be different..it is just that u learn french afterwards...u didnt start learning french when u were in kindergarten..and pronouncing the words correctly in french feels awkward coz firstly u r not used to it and secondly, there are some different pronounciation for the alphabets so...
hope it helps! :-)

Answer 3

It's because Americans use different parts of their mouth and throat to speak than French people do.
It sounds silly, but it's true.
In linguistics class, I learned that the different range of sounds that a human can pronounce are all produced in different areas of the mouth and throat. Proper pronunciation of French requires an American to use their vocal cords, lips and tongue in ways they usually don't.
I felt awkward at first too doing it.

Answer 4

French words can be very nasal and have different sounds to english, generally speakers of different language groups (germanic) will have problems speaking languages in other groups (Romantic)

Answer 5

It's just something we're not used to. Plus french words are NEVER pronounced the way they're spelled, like english words are, lol. It gets confusing.

Answer 6

If you mean english speakers from USA, they don't even know how to pronounce their native language. What do you expect with a foreign language ?

Answer 7

i don't know i guess its cuz with english almost all the letters are pronouced and with french they are lots of silent stuff like "h" in homme and with french you don't really have to move your tongue with some words and with french you don't pronouce the e at the end of some words then you do with others