how to pronounce french??

Question

i watched this ost of ratatouille on youtube. the song is very wonderful and it is french. while the song was playing i followed the lyrics, and gosh i got confused with the pronunciation!

how do you pronounce 'car rien'?? or 'les reves'?? 'amoureux'??
the r's sounds like 'k'
but it doesnt sound purely 'k'
just listen to this link:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=p_hdmt4vpBo&mode=related&search=

Answer 1

The girl is singing with a typical Parisian accent. The French 'r' is usually pronounced [R], which is made at the back of the mouth and is nothing like the flapped Spanish /r/ or the English retroflex /r/. So, 'car rien...' (for/because nothing...) starts off with the [a] sound as in 'cat' followed by the [R] and then a nasal diphthong a bit like rhyming with the name Reanne.

'Les reves' is normallt pronounced like 'lay' 'rev' (with that nice [R]; but in singing, the final 'e' is often sounded like English 'a' in 'about' - a sound often called shwa. Amoureux is 'a - moo -Reu' where the 'eu' is like English 'ur' in 'hurt' - not Am. Eng. but Brit. Eng.

Answer 2

I'm not able to listen to the link because I'm at work but from what I remember:

rien is pronounced ryun as in carrion (dead carcus) yuk.
les reves is pronounced lay rayvay and meanes "this dream" - think of the term reverie.
amoureux...well, amoor is how you pronounce love in french but I don't remember this word in total....

reux is pronounced row or roou.

I don't think the r's do sound like k's...I don't know where you get that from. When I get home I will listen to the link to get a better idea and see if I can tell what you are talking about. For now, I recommend a good French phrasebook for starters if you really want to learn the language. God bless you. ~J~

Answer 3

Stick a frog in your throat.