French cognates: true enemies? How to avoid making a big mistake

FRENCH COGNATES: TRUE ENEMIES? HOW TO AVOID MAKING A BIG MISTAKE

Do you find yourself having trouble pronouncing the words that are spelled the same in both English and French, also called vrais amis?

Do they sometimes seem to be more enemies than friends?

You are not alone – this is a very common problem – and these words can sometimes be the hardest to pronounce, simply because you may not know how to “French it up” so that the natives understand you.

Read the article below, to find out what mistake you should avoid making, and listen to the podcast to hear the most common French cognates.

(This week: French cognates pronunciation)

Given that there are 30-40% of words with the same spelling in French and English, you already have a considerable start to acquiring a large French vocabulary.

That’s great, that means that reading should be relatively easy and you should be able to understand quite a bit of the French films, at least when you have French subtitles.

What about pronunciation?

That’s when the rubber meets the road.

We lean another language in order to speak with other people, make friends, find new clients, and communicate in a real, social way.

It’s helpful to understand the written French, but how easy is it to understand these cognates?

In my experience, it’s not that easy.

I have the experience of them from the opposite direction: I speak French and try to communicate in English… with you : )

When I immigrated, these cognates gave me the hardest time.

Some still do.

It took me 2 years of full immersion in the English language to learn that there is a “little” detail that made the whole difference.

I don’t want you to spend 2 years of immersions in France or to pay for courses to find this secret on your own, so I decided to give it to you here.

I was coming home crying, not knowing what I’ve done

…seriously crying, after a bus driver had to ask me 3 times what I was saying.

I thought: “How am I going to get a good job, when the bus driver can’t understand me?”

I went to the book shelf and picked up my dictionary to see if I had used the right words.

Yes, I had!

Then WHY?

What am I pronouncing so wrongly, that people have trouble understanding me?

And then, I heard it!

I suddenly started to hear the difference between my way and the English way.

It wasn’t “accident”, it was ACCIDENT, it wasn’t “commercial”, it was COMMERCIAL, not “monument” but MONUMENT.

Stress or emphasis is as important as everything else in pronunciation.

It gives the cadence of the speech, and it has to do with our breathing and phrasing of the sentence, which is specific to each language.

It doesn’t have to make or break the communication per se, but it’s enough to make people ask you to repeat, and it definitely doesn’t make a great impression for a job or client interview.

Typically, English has the stress in the first half of the word, while French has it at the end.

Once I realized that, I made myself understood about 50% more.

So will you.

It’s not that obvious for one word at a time, but within a sentence, it’ll start adding up.

Notice the way the words are said and compare with the way you are used to.

People don’t necessarily judge this, it’s simply a matter of not expecting that pronunciation.

And knowing this secret, you’ll now be able to “French it up” when you don’t know what to do with a new word ; )

And now, that you are a master at this, let me add something that came up, in one of my conversation sessions.

My client, Jeff, brought up another brilliant point in class today.

Are the letters with accents also accented?

Have I confused you? Let me explain.

In English, we use the word “accented” or “stressed” or “emphasized” for the vowel that’s a little longer inside of the word:

“the address” vs. “to address”

In French, we have actual accents on top of vowels: é, è, ê, à, î, etc.

Therefore, only these are accented letters.

The stress or emphasis doesn’t have anything to do with the accents.

Therefore:

la fenêtre
un élève
BUT
école
restaurant

Now you know that more important that the volume of your vocabulary are the 70 rules of pronunciation and placing the right stress on the words.

Even with a small(er) vocabulary, being CLEAR is much more valuable than spreading yourself thin and learning dozens of words a day.

Just knowing a few tricks and “little” secrets like this can save you from some sticky situations in real life.

And now, I think you’re ready for a list of examples of French cognates, with their proper stress, to get you started.

Most common French cognates

These are words that you will most likely have trouble with, or at least you need to think a bit before you say them – I know they’re not easy for me in English.

A

absence
absorption
accent
accident
accusation
action

addition
admiration
adolescent
agriculture
alphabet
animal

applicable
attention
avenue

B

banquet
bonus

C

campus
capture
caramel
central
certain
champion

cigarette
clarification
classification
collection
commercial
communication

complication
compliment
compression
concentration
concept
conclusion

condition
confession
confrontation
conscience
continent
contribution

convergence
coordination
costume
crucial
cruel
culture

D

danger
description
destination
destruction
dialogue
diligent

dilution
distinct
durable

E

encouragement
endurance
estimation
expert
export
extravagant

F

fascination
final
fruit
futile

G

gratitude

H

hibernation
horizontal
hypocrite

I

identifiable
imagination
impatience
improbable
inaccessible
indulgence

innocence
instinct
instruction
intelligent
intuition
irritation
isolation

J

juvénile

K

kayak

L

laser
latent
limitation
logo
lotion

M

magazine
manipulation
maritime
maximum [pronounced “o”]
mental
message

microphone
miniature
minimum [pronounced “o”]
minute
miracle
monument

moral
multitude

N

nation
national
nature
normal
notable
nuance

O

objection
obsession
omission
opinion
optimal
orientation
original

P

parachute
pardon
participation
perceptible
perfection
pertinent

pirate
plausible
position
possession
public
publication

Q

qualification

R

radar
radiation
radio
recyclable
religion
respectable

restaurant
royal

S

sacrifice
satisfaction
saturation
sauna
science
secret

segment
service
session
signature
silence
simplification

situation
slogan
sociable
social
sofa
solitude

solution
sophistication
spinal
spiral
statue
stimulation

structure
substitution
succession
suffocation
suggestion
suicide

suspect
syndrome
synopsis

T

taxi
tension
texture
transition
transparent

U

urgent

V

vacant
variation
vertical
vibrant
violence
virus

visa
volume

X

xylophone

Y

yoga

Z

zoo

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN!
Write in the comments below, what other French cognates do you know, which have a different stress than their English counterparts?

Let me guess.