Today, I'm offering you a little pronunciation test of 10 French brands. So, we're going to show you the name of a brand on the screen and I'm going to describe it to you, and you're going to try to pronounce it correctly. And then, I'll give you the correct pronunciation and explain why we pronounce it that way.
The idea is to help you work on your pronunciation, review some French spelling rules, and try to learn a little more about French culture. Are you ready? Let's go.
The first brand, it's a luxury brand, it's very very well known all over the world, it's a brand of handbags, luggage, etc. and the name of this brand, well it's the name of its creator. It's not very easy to pronounce. Can you do it?
Yes, it's not easy because of the vowels, but we say "Louis Vuitton". Here, you have to pay attention to the sequence of the sounds "ou" and "i". So, we say "Louis". It's a first name, it was even the name of some kings in France. You know Louis XIV, for example. And we have a sequence of u and i in the name. So, we should say "Vuitton", but the French tend, to go faster and certainly because it's easier, to say "Vitton". So, we say, we French, we pronounce "Louis Vuitton".
Be careful, the "s" at the end of Louis is silent. We don't say "Louiss", we say "Loui". And at the end of Vuitton, we have "on", we don't pronounce the "n", it's a nasal vowel. We say "on". We don't say "onn", but we say "on" → Louis Vuitton.
Second brand, we show it to you on japan whatsapp number data the screen. It is also the name of the designer. It is a brand of cosmetics, bags too and even clothes. Can you pronounce this brand?
Yes, that's it. It's Yves, that's his first name, Saint-Laurent, that's his last name. Yves Saint-Laurent. The pronunciation difficulties here, well they're always the same, they're the nasal vowels. In "Saint", we have the nasal vowel "in", so we say "saint", and in "Laurent", we have the nasal vowel "en", Laurent, like the wind. There is a silent letter in each of the three words, Yves, Saint, Laurent. So, we don't pronounce the "s" at the end of Yves, we don't pronounce the "t" at the end of "Saint" and we don't pronounce the "t" at the end of "Laurent".
Thirdly, we show it to you again on the screen, it is a brand of leather goods and bags. It is rather a brand intended for mothers, therefore, for ladies of a certain age, even if this brand has had a certain success with the younger ones around the 2010s.
Yes, it's pronounced Longchamp. You can memorize it in two parts: long and champ. Again, you don't pronounce the "n" in the nasal vowels "on" and "en", you don't pronounce the "n". And you also see that the "g" and the "p" are silent letters. And you also have the sound "ch", which comes from "ch". Long ch amp.
Fourth, it's something very famous, it's a supermarket brand, you can find them all over the world, especially quite a few in Asia too. Do you know how to pronounce this supermarket name?
Yes, it is Carrefour. So, here, the classic mistake would be to say "Carr e four", but we don't pronounce the "e", we say "Carrefour". And there is a pronunciation difficulty for non-native speakers with the French "r". We say "Carrefour", that... I rolled it on purpose, and it is indeed an "r". Carrefour.
Fifth, a DIY store. There are a lot of things there related to the home, related to renovations, related to work. It's a store that many French people visit, especially men who like to DIY. Do you know how to pronounce it?
Yes, we pronounce Leroy Merlin. Leroy, like a king. Just because there is a y doesn't mean it has to be pronounced differently. We say Leroy, like a king. Mer, like mother, mother, mother, Mer, and lin, again, it's like the number 1 → Merlin. Leroy Merlin.
Sixth, it is a brand of water that is very very famous in France and elsewhere. It is also a city, because it is in this region that we will collect the water. So, it is a city that is located in France on the shores of Lake Geneva. Can you pronounce this brand?
We say Évian. With the "v", the "e" becomes "é", we don't say E vian. It would be difficult to pronounce, E vian. We say É vian. And once again, the nasal vowel "an". Évian. It's the same sound as in "vent". Évian.
Seventh, it is a brand of cars. There are many of them in France. I really like this brand. I had owned several vehicles of this brand, which is also called the Lion brand. Can you pronounce this brand?
Yes, we say Peugeot. So, here, the difficulty is perhaps the sound "e", like feu, jeu, peureux, paresseux. So, it is really this sound "e" that we have in P eu geot. So, in this case, we have "ge" which gives "j". Peu ge ot. And the "t" at the end is a silent letter. We do not pronounce the "t", we do not say Peugeott, but Peugeot.
Peugeot is a family name, eh, which comes from the creators. The Peugeot family is still very famous in France today.
We have three more brands to find. I hope you can pronounce them.