Voted Best Answer
Feb 12, 2011 - 01:35 PM
Brian, this is absolutely normal. It does get better with lots of practice. You are asking your mouth muscles to do something they have not been trained to do, much like a sport! Every day spend some time speaking French. It doesn't matter if you understand what you are saying only that you are focused on correct pronunciation.
FSI (Foreign Service Institute) has a very comprehensive French course. It's a bit dated but it is free! It uses the imitative language teaching technique. It's a big download! The key is to try to imitate exactly what the native speakers are saying.....over and over again. Not much grammar but that you can get from Fluenz. Here's the link:
http://www.fsi-language-courses.org/C...
There is an updated version available for a fee, of course. Here is the link:
http://www.multilingualbooks.com/fsi-...
You can download a free sample at this site to see if it meets your needs.
I use the Spanish version. It's been very helpful in improving my Spanish pronunciation. It's not for the faint of heart! It does require a good deal of concentration. These classes may be too intense for some. It depends on what your goals are.
Good luck to you!
FSI (Foreign Service Institute) has a very comprehensive French course. It's a bit dated but it is free! It uses the imitative language teaching technique. It's a big download! The key is to try to imitate exactly what the native speakers are saying.....over and over again. Not much grammar but that you can get from Fluenz. Here's the link:
http://www.fsi-language-courses.org/C...
There is an updated version available for a fee, of course. Here is the link:
http://www.multilingualbooks.com/fsi-...
You can download a free sample at this site to see if it meets your needs.
I use the Spanish version. It's been very helpful in improving my Spanish pronunciation. It's not for the faint of heart! It does require a good deal of concentration. These classes may be too intense for some. It depends on what your goals are.
Good luck to you!