French tongue twisters for adults and children

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Patters (or, as the French call them, virelangues - what torments the tongue) are very useful to correct your speech. Not only children need tongue twisters, but also adults who are engaged in public activities (actors, tour guides, politicians, journalists, teachers, TV presenters, etc.) or who just want to speak beautifully.

French is not easy to pronounce, which is why tongue twisters will always be useful for both adults and children, and at any stage of learning. Even real "pros" in the language are sometimes forced to turn to tongue twisters to keep their pronunciation and diction at a high level.

History and specifics of tongue twisters

No one knows exactly when the first tongue twisters appeared, but it can be assumed that they arose quite a long time ago. Almost all folklore collections have a small section with tongue twisters, since they are part of oral folk art, but are considered an exclusively comic genre.

A tongue twister is based on a combination of sounds that are difficult to pronouncetogether. First of all, tongue twisters were invented in order to "amuse, amuse the people." They reflect the worldview and history of the people who created them, their customs, traditions, customs, humor and common sense. Since few people managed to pronounce tongue twisters correctly and quickly, this gave rise to a comic effect.

Besides this, in most cases tongue twisters narrated about some event in an embellished form, and an unpronounceable combination of sounds added an ironic coloring to the story, and the more often the "performer" made mistakes, the more fun it was for the audience! Often it was nonsense, although it sounded rhythmic, not requiring much effort to memorize. In tongue twisters you can find the names of animals and plants, proper names - this makes the tongue twister informative.

French has a lot of sounds that don't exist in Russian and that cause difficulties for people who learn it. Such difficulties are overcome by memorizing and practicing tongue twisters after the speaker, as well as by listening to them repeatedly.

On the Internet you can find special videos in which native speakers pronounce the necessary tongue twisters. It is best to repeat after them and pay attention to articulation and intonation - this is one of the best methods!

How to learn tongue twisters?

You need to pay attention to French tongue twisters in every lesson, especially at the initial level of learning the language. There are several rules so that the pronunciation of tongue twisters is not meaningless, but, on the contrary,efficient process.

1. It is necessary to translate tongue twisters into Russian. It is difficult to memorize incomprehensible phrases, the meaning of which you do not understand.
2. We train with the pronunciation of the most difficult words, paying attention to enchaînement (melodic chaining of sounds in speech) and iaison (pronunciation of unpronounceable sounds at the junction of words in some cases).
3. Slowly, syllable by syllable, we pronounce the tongue twister in French until it sounds without hesitation. We try to actively articulate, following the position of the organs of speech.
4. Articulate the tongue twister silently several times, and then pronounce it in a whisper.
5. Then you need to say the tongue twister out loud 3-5 times, but a little faster.
6. Meaningfully pronounce the French tongue twister, correctly placing the semantic stress and following the intonation. Note: it is quite possible to work with 2-3 tongue twisters at once.
7. Learn the tongue twister by heart.

If you can pronounce a French tongue twister three times at a fast pace without stopping, it means that you have done a good job on it. It is better to work more slowly, but carefully - you should not "drive horses" and teach in a hurry, without making the necessary efforts. Better yet, find the right motivation to make learning easier.

Patters

How to interest the most demanding students, children, in memorizing tongue twisters? They do not have the perseverance that adults can boast of (and not all of them). A sure way to get your child interestedcome up with a funny story related to the tongue twister, illustrate it with a funny picture, or ask the child to draw a funny picture himself. The main thing is to make the process not boring and fun, so that the child does not perceive memorizing tongue twisters as torture, otherwise this "punishment" will be associated with the language. It is important to cultivate a love for the language from a very early age, even with such simple methods.

Next, we give you examples of tongue twisters in French for children and adults. Practice and improve!

• Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archisèches! - And the Grand Duchess's socks are dry, extremely dry!
• Trois petites truites crues, trois petites truites cuites. - Three small fresh trout, three small boiled trout.
• Rat vit riz, Rat mit patte à ras, Rat mit patte à riz, Riz cuit patte à rat. - The rat sees the rice, the rat puts its paw on the edge, the rat puts its paw on the rice, the rice burns the paw of the rat.
• La roue sur la rue roule, la roue sous la rue reste. - The wheel rolls on the road, but the road remains under the wheel.
• Napoléon cédant Sédan, céda ses dents. - Having yielded to the Sedan, Napoleon lost his teeth.

By constantly practicing tongue twisters, you will improve your phonetic skills and sound like native speakers. Proven by experience and time! Do not be lazy, and your work will not go unnoticed. Come to France, and even the French themselves will appreciate them.