Think “Bien” Means “Good”? Not Quite…

As a question I think it is. When it’s a statement, I should have thought it’s fairly clear after all the discussion there has been.

However, as I’m a native speaker of both French and English the difficulty isn’t necessarily obvious to me. I am trying to be helpful.

We had a very heated debate about that with three French prof friends! They insisted that plural was ok, which we felt was just wrong.

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If it was the other way round, how many English people would take the time to learn how to pronounce the name? I suspect if it looked like an English name they would say it the English way.

I know someone who goes one further. He doesn’t bother about how to say the name, he uses English ones. It took me a while to realise that John and Henry that he talked about often were actually Juan and Enrique, Spanish relatives.

Even French prof friends make mistakes :wink:
They may need a little projet Voltaire refresher course.


Edited to add you are completely right and they should be tarred and feathered :wink:

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I know someone from GB, living in Spain, who had a boyfriend called Ankle. Or Ángel (unn khell), as his parents had named him.

Yep… I know… but my brain and my voice go in different directions quite often

if it’s regarding a “task” that we’re all involved in. I will quite often say the equivalent of “well, I’m shattered right now , shall we call it a day?” :wink: and no, I’m not writing here the words I use, but you can be sure they won’t be any rude words :rofl:

I take your point but this particular friend spoke impeccable English.

Here’s a nice lot of calembours for you all to enjoy :slightly_smiling_face:

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"Come here mister " sounds like he wants to take you out back for a quiet word :rofl::rofl:

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These calambours are good, I will use some of them… :sweat_smile:

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Well, I guess you are right.

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I did not learn phonetics but still speak good English and French.

Hence I do not catch the meaning of schwa.

I will try to tell them about 'tes leuh '. My neighbour avoids saying my last name, lol. But it will be hard to do it, with people on the phone .

Thank you for your advice, Vero.

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It can be used sarcasticly, sometimes.

How can you be a native French and English speaker?

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It’s that indeterminate ‘uh’ sound - if you say ‘pick up the laundry’ out loud as you would say it naturally, the e in ‘the’ is a schwa. As far as I remember you get a schwa only in an unstressed syllable, so eg ‘for ever and ever’ will have at least 2 if not 3 schwa sounds.

If you have a French and a British parent and they both speak both to you always and you grow up going back and forth between countries all the time, surrounded by people who don’t speak the other language. I’m lucky I speak French like my mother and English like my father (so I’m a native speaker of both) I know people who aren’t like me in spite of being ½ and ½ like me.

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You clearly have a natural talent for languages though @Vero! I guess being brought up bilingual probably got that part of your brain working early on.

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I am envious and at the same time fascinated by that, Vero, could you explain to me what is your local accent in each your 2 languages ?

I have a similar experience but by no means the same. My mother was from Manchester but having one South Welsh parent and one from Sunderland (not a Geordie but similar sound to one) she had no strong Mancunian accent. My Dad, on the other hand was similar, even more so than usual because his Dad was also from S. Wales, being the brother of my other Grandad and, similarly to Mum had no strong regional accent and somewhat different from hers. He was born and brought up in Southampton largely by his locally born Mum. Both of their fathers, my Grandads, spent many months away from home being seafarers, so that added a minus influence in some ways.

I was born in Manchester but mainly brought up in Nottingham and took my own accent from my surroundings despite the efforts of both of them to drag me away from it. They failed, but I can only detect my own E. Mids one if I hear a recording of myself, but it is still there. It will be no surprise to you to learn that my belief is that accent is garnered more strongly by surroundings than parents.

Fran, born in Nottingham of Bolton Irish parents had a similar experience to me. Neither of us had a strong accent but it would amuse us sometimes to hold a complete conversation in a very strong Nottingham accent, but it always ended with helpless giggles from both of us. :joy:

BTW and lastly both her Mum and Dad had very strong Bolton accents, real rolling ‘Rs’ etc.. But, her Dad, spending most of his working life in Nottingham lost his native one while her Mum, always at home with 3 kids spread over many years, did not and went to her grave still barely understandable to many. :rofl:

I don’t really have one, I speak in a very boring standard neutral way, as do both sides of the family. I’ve met @Angela and @Tory who could probably confirm!

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No need, I believe you. :wink:

Thank you for your explanation of the ‘uh’ sound.

I see, the reason why you say that you are a native French and English speaker. My four children are in your category. But only two speak English to me, the other two speak French to me. Of course they all speak French to their father. My children prove that two of them are not like you. More is the pity for me.

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What a shame, my children are like me, luckily - I can’t imagine us as monoglots.