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Pronunciation of 'France'

Ahmed   Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:57 pm GMT

Bot of them "KORAN" or "Qur'an" are true it is a matter of personal perception

greg   Thu Jun 15, 2006 2:32 pm GMT

Qur'an 2,160,000 Koran 4,520,000 Coran : 4.340.000

Ahmed   Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:27 pm GMT

kuran 9,590,000

Makkkkhhmoud   Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:50 pm GMT

caca 17,100,000

Ahmed   Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:29 am GMT

greg : 251,000,000 Ahmed: 53,100,000

Zeta   Fri Jun 16, 2006 8:56 am GMT

>Adam, I usually say "FrAnce" and I'm not even English. I'm a RP speaker from Greece...< The RP (and cockney) pronunciation of France as "Frahnce" is also used by New Zealanders, South Africans (after a fashion) and a few others, but has no resemblance to its pronunciation by the French. RP/cockney types also tend to say "Ba-loin" for Boulogne, and "Dor-doin" for Dordogne. Suggests a desire to pronounce French words as badly as possible.

greg   Fri Jun 16, 2006 11:09 am GMT

Zeta : « The RP (and cockney) pronunciation of France as "Frahnce" is also used by New Zealanders, South Africans (after a fashion) and a few others, but has no resemblance to its pronunciation by the French. RP/cockney types also tend to say "Ba-loin" for Boulogne, and "Dor-doin" for Dordogne. » Philip : « Perhaps worse, and even more affected than pronouncing France as "Frahnce" is pronouncing Boulogne as "Ba-loin" and Dordogne as "Dordoin", as many, if not most in the UK seem to do these days. Although most of my pronunciation agrees with that of what is now termed RP, I find I can't corrupt the French pronunciation to the extent of saying Frahnce and Ba-loin, preferring a shortish A for France, and the slightly Anglicised Boo-lonya and Dor-donya. » La prononciation la plus répandue en France : <Boulogne> [bulOJ] <Dordogne> [dORdOJ] <Bourgogne> [buRgOJ] <Catalogne> [katalOJ] <Bastogne> [bastOJ] <Langogne> [lÃgOJ] <Sologne> [solOJ] <Pologne> [polOJ] Symboles : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-SAMPA .

Zeta   Sun Jun 18, 2006 9:04 am GMT

Thanks awfully greg. I've been pronouncing them that way for quite a while, when speaking French. Your unsolicited advice agrees sweetly with that of my French teachers over 40 years ago. The question remains: why pronounce (in English, greg, not in French, so please don't miss the point again) "France" as "Frahnce"?

Guest   Sun Jun 18, 2006 1:34 pm GMT

Because some people pronounce "dance" as "dahnce" so it follows that "Frahnce" is not unreasonable.

Ed   Sun Jun 18, 2006 7:47 pm GMT

> Perhaps worse, and even more affected than pronouncing France as "Frahnce" is pronouncing Boulogne as "Ba-loin" and Dordogne as "Dordoin", as many, if not most in the UK seem to do these days. There is nothing "affected" about pronouncing "France" with a long A as this is the accepted, standard pronunciation in southern England as well as in South Africa. To say "France" with a short A in our dialects would be most unnatural. In fact the American pronunciation of the name of the country is often regarded as comical, especially the expression "Paris, France" as it evokes the thought "Oh, *that* Paris!".

Guest   Sun Jun 18, 2006 8:06 pm GMT

<<"Paris, France" as it evokes the thought "Oh, *that* Paris!">> Could be Paris, Texas like the movie/ song!

Ed   Sun Jun 18, 2006 8:25 pm GMT

> Could be Paris, Texas like the movie/ song! Yes, but we'd assume "Paris" to be the capital of France unless there was some reason for believing otherwise.

Ed   Sun Jun 18, 2006 8:35 pm GMT

France with a long A sounds much more like the French pronunciation to me than the English short A version, but this is rather beside the point as it is given the same pronunciation pattern as words like "dance", "chance", "plant" etc.