It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of Old French c. 1100–1200 AD, and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite enormous changes to the pronunciation of the language in the intervening years.
It would be more accurate to say the French language 'evolved', rather than was created. The Romans introduced it to Gaul in the form of Latin, and the Frankish nobility helped give French its unique flavour.
Are French words pronounced the way they are written?
French spelling also preserves historical forms from Latin, but over time, pronunciation has evolved—and today, many written words no longer match the way they sound. For example: Beaucoup (many) is pronounced boh-koo, with a silent “p” Fils (son) is pronounced fees, with a silent “l”
The Frank invasion is perhaps the most significant reason why French sounds so different from other Romance languages. When the Franks arrived, their language played a significant role in the evolution of the French language of modern times.
The current standard French r [χ, ʁ] was introduced into the language in the 17th and 18th centuries. Before that, the standard French r was the trilled or rolled r (in French, le r roulé).
Officially there is no instruction that in standard Dutch one type of pronunciation of the “r” should be used. It is my own opinion that the rolling “r” is the most correct one. And now you perhaps say – well that's just your personal choice, because you speak with this “r”.
The letter R in French was historically pronounced as a trill, as was the case in Latin and as is still the case in Italian and Spanish. In Northern France, including Paris, the alveolar trill was gradually replaced with the uvular trill from the end of the 17th century.
In old French, this world used to be spelled with an “s” between the “a” and “t”, but this “s” was not pronounced. Over time, the letter “s” was dropped, but it was not forgotten and replaced by the accent on the “â”. This little explanation may not solve your reading issues, but at least you will know why.
Italian is seen to be one of the closest Romance Languages to Vulgar Latin and resembles it closely in syntax compared to Classical Latin words. Is Latin closer to Italian or Spanish? - Italian is the closest national language to Latin, followed by Spanish, Romanian, Portuguese, and the most divergent being French.
The bottom line… Spanish is arguably somewhat easier for the first year or so – beginners may struggle less with pronunciation than their French-studying colleagues, and one of the most basic Spanish verb tenses is easier than French.
The symbol [œ] is used in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for the open-mid front rounded vowel. This sound resembles the "œu" in the French œuf or the "ö" in the German öffnen. These contrast with French feu and German schön, which have the close-mid front rounded vowel, [ø].
Each of the romance languages evolved in their own way from Latin. Indeed, linguists generally believe that Italian is the closest of all romance languages to French.
The idea is based in the fact that the French eat rich foods high in saturated fats and still have lower rates of heart disease than Americans. More casually, the Paradox can include the commonly accepted notion that the French are thinner than Americans.
In Northern France, the “R” sound is pronounced much lower in the throat, almost where the English “H” sound or Spanish “J” sound is. For older people in rural France, the “R” is pronounced like the trilled “R” in Spanish or Italian.
French is not a phonetic language, meaning one letter doesn't have a single corresponding sound. Because of this, when you learn French, you must not only learn the alphabet but also learn the pronunciation rules.
Dutch roll is most dangerous in fast aircraft with swept wings. To reduce this tendency, these planes sometimes require an automatic yaw damper. Severe Dutch roll oscillations exceeding the aircraft's load limits have caused several accidents.
Depends on the place in the word and on the dialect you speak as well as personal abilities and habits. Programma - just a light tongue tap just behind the front teeth. With a bit more emphasis just a slight roll, 2 or 3 taps. Aard - more of an English R.
UNESCO is giving credit where credit is due: Chinese is officially the most difficult language in the world. To give you an idea of the complexity of this language: The written form gives no clues as to pronunciation… And pronunciation and intonation completely change the meaning of a word.
Nitty-gritty things like these can make getting started a bit of a challenge – but between the two, French will be a little easier, with (slightly) fewer endings to learn. That said, experts largely agree that the more German you learn, the easier it gets, while French gets more complicated the deeper you dive in.
