Q&A for How to Fake a Convincing French Accent

If you would like to make the accent permanent, you must continue to speak this way all the time. As you do that your brain will become used to the way you pronounce things, it's just a matter of training your brain.

Just keep practicing. Speak in the accent with your friends and family. You can try to learn a little French to better your accent as well.

Exhale more when you pronounce it. Try to make a sound between an "O" and a "U."

Roll your letters. "Park" would be "pehrk," because of the rolling of the "a" into an "e." If you can't roll your vowels, try putting your tongue directly above your throat and keep it there when a vowel needs to be rolled.

"Où" is the way "Where?' is pronounced in French.

Practice will make it better, so if you speak in a French accent until it's perfect then you will find it easier to switch back and forth.

Yes, because native speakers often revert to their first languages when they don't know the word in a second. Don't use too many French words, but it's okay to sprinkle a few in here and there.

Maybe they want to fit in with a group, or sound like a native in their new country. They also might just like the accent a lot.

It takes approximately 3 years to speak in intermediate level French.

French is a tough accent to fake, but there are some things you can focus on to make your accent more convincing. The “r” sound is produced very differently in the French language. When you say the sound, you need to pull your tongue to the back of your throat far enough to vibrate your uvula. This will sound like you are pronouncing a “gee” sound. Your "r" will turn out to be a rolled/groaned “rgr.” Additionally, “th” sound does not exist in the French language. When speaking English, French speakers tend to replace this sound with the “z” sound. And if you want to really fake it, try to make a a “dz” sound, like “dzees” for “this.” Pronouncing the vowels correctly can also help sell your accent. In the French language, the “e” sound is more open with the tongue low. To produce a convincing French accent, stretch your "e" sound to make it as long as possible.

Apart from learning the vowels and consonants, learning to speak with the right pitch and intonation can help make your accent sound more natural and authentic. In French, each syllable in a sentence has about equal stress (DA-DA-DA-DUM), as opposed to English, where stress comes second (Da-DUM-da-DUM). When speaking with a French accent, try your best to produce a smooth flow of syllables until you reach the end of a phrase or sentence. Additionally, French speakers have a very predictable stress pattern. They always put greater emphasis on the last syllable of a sentence or phrase. This is different from English speakers, where the stress may fall on any syllable in a word. Native English speakers typically use a falling pattern, where their intonation starts high and gradually goes down when they reach the end of a sentence. When producing a sentence, French speakers usually start out with their voice flat, with their intonation pattern gradually rising.

It's true. French is a beautiful language, especially when it's spoken by a native speaker. Part of the reason it's so attractive is culturally based. Famous cities in France like Paris and Nice have an image of fancy cuisine, good wine, and beautiful people. Another reason is the language itself. French is a syllable-timed language, which means each syllable is roughly equal when it's spoken. English is stress-timed, meaning the stresses are divided by equal amounts of time. This creates a certain cadence, which you may recognize in sonnets and poetry from Shakespeare. Because spoken and written French is syllable-timed, the spoken version sounds literally like poetry, which can make it sound more romantic and attractive.

Press your tongue to the top of your mouth, and move it backward along the top of your mouth, then your tongue is in position. Then try making the sound.