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kokikoko...[fone:tik] & animals(aux)
by joon

When we study phonetic, we learn that until around ten years old, everyone is able to hear all the sounds that a human being can produce and there is a lot !
After this age, little by little, we are becoming deaf to the foreign languages, or rather to the sounds which don’t exist in our own language... Our ears and brain programmed everything to recognize and use the sounds you have heard since your birth ... your parents’ language(s).
Of course, it depends also on people. But this phenomenon is the same for everyone. Basically, when it’s hard to pronounce something, or when we don’t make the difference between two apparently differents sounds and (damn it) we are sure it’s the same so we think we pronounce it well and it’s wrong... no panic, it’s normal, it’s because of your ears, or your brain or this weird stuff.
I think teachers should say that to children. It can explain some of the difficulties and could help a little! At least, it could avoid the loss of self-confidence we can feel sometimes!
Now I try to really care when I speak in english because I noticed several of my problems of pronounciation few months ago.
Example: there are three kind of sound close to [i] in english.
- One is pronounced as in french: “flea, sea...”
- The other is the hardest because the sound doesn’t exist in french but it is written like our“i” (which is pronounced like “ea”). This sound is more between the french [i] and “é ”. It is necessary to transform the mechanic of our jaw, how we use our lips, tongue, teeth... And of course, this one is current: “it, is, if, in...”
- The third is as the first but longer. Even if you don’t pronounce it correctly, it doesn’t really matter. It won’t change the sense of the words! Rather until now, I didn’t noticed any problem.
Anyway...
All this to say that all the sounds we hear in our lives are not exactly like what we think they are. We always transform them to be able to pronounce them according to the sounds of our language.
Do you follow me? If you have any question or even better some stuffs about what you disagree or more precisions, I will be happy to chat about it! I love it!

For the fun animals sounds...see the bottom of the french part.

Quand vous étudiez la phonétique, vous apprenez que jusqu’à l’âge de 10 ans à peu près, vous êtes capable d’entendre tous les sons que l’humain peut produire et dieu sait s’il y en a !
Après çà, eh bien peu à peu on devient sourd aux langues étrangères ou plutôt aux sons qui n’existent pas dans notre propre langue. En gros, nos oreilles et notre cerveau se basent sur les sons entendus dans notre enfance.
Je suppose aussi que tout cela dépend des gens puis que certains sont plus ou moins doués mais il n’empêche que personne n’échappe à ce phénomène.
Ce serait bien que les profs expliquent çà. Je suis sûre que cela peut aider.
Bref, quand tu prononces quelque chose et que c’est difficile ou que tu crois que tu prononces correctement et que tu t’aperçois que c’est faux, eh bien, c’est normal !
Maintenant en anglais j’essaie de faire attention et notamment l’histoire des [i]. Car en anglais y en a trois…
- le « ea » prononcé comme chez nous,
- le « i » prononcé entre notre « i » et « é » et là tu t’amuses parce que ce son n’existe absolument pas en français et tu dois transformer la manière dont tu utilises ta mâchoire…Et en plus c’est le plus courant puisque tu le trouves partout : « it, if, in… », tout ce qui s’écrit avec un «i » !
- le [i] légèrement plus long, le plus difficile à cerner finalement mais pas de panique peu à peu il disparaît et en plus n’occasionne pas de difficultés à vous faire comprendre si vous le faîtes mal !
Bref, tout çà pour vous dire que tous les sons que vous entendez ne sont pas tout à fait comme vous le pensez ou devrais-je dire comme vous croyez les entendre. Notre oreille va entreprendre quelques adaptations du son entendu afin de pouvoir prononcer le son.
Exemple… « I love him » comme « I love eam »…

Good and fun examples are sounds of animal...I asked a japanese girl some of them...
Bons exemples et amusants ...

French/Français: (f)... Japanese/Japonais: (j)

cock / coq ...(f) Cocorico (j) Kokikoko
cat / chat.... (f) Miaou (j) Niao
dog / chien ... (f) Ouaf ouaf (j) Ouin ouin
frog / grenouille... (f) Croâ croâ (j) Kero Kero
pig / cochon... (f) (unwritable) (j) Bu bu
cow / vache... (f) Meuh (j) Mo
goat / chèvre... (f) Bêêê (j) Mêêê
duck / canard... (f) Coin coin (j) Goua Goua

In japanese, I wrote with my abc that is to say how I heard the sound so of course “goua” in english should be something like “gwa” .
But “euh”, sorry uuuhhh, the most important is the cock! Isn’t that great?
And please note that it’s closer to the french one so the truth...cocorico, kokikoko... (I have a proof, I knew I was sure our “coq’s sound” is the real one!) though “cockduldoo” even if it’s cute (my parents thought it was cute!), come on...
Oh my god, I have just remembered why our mascot, symbol is the cock...because we say “proud like a cock”. I am so french... Ok I like cockduldoo... just impossible to write!

By the way, I discovered that my father can imitate the turkey!
Au fait, j’ai découvert que mon père sait imiter le dindon!

Please can you complete my repertory of sounds. English, spanish...everything...I love them!
Allez si vous connaissez d’autres sons d’autres langues...,je les adore!

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