Is there a French speaker in the house?

[daniel1948]

I intend to return to French Polynesia some day, to swim with the whales again, and I want to try learn a bit of French before my next trip there. I downloaded a free French language program and found a free YouTube channel of French lessons. Perhaps someone would be willing to answer the occasional question.

For starters:

(I'm not going to attempt to type the accents, since I'm writing at my desktop computer.)

The teacher says, and the screen shows the words "en Angleterre" but it sounds to me as though she is saying "a nangleterre." Then the screen shows "en Espagne" but it sounds to me as though she is saying "a nespagne." She seems to be splitting the word "en" and attaching the "n" to the start of the country name.

Is this just a quirk of the teacher pronouncing slowly and carefully, or is this how it would actually be pronounced in French? If I was speaking English slowly for the benefit of a foreigner, I would say "in ... England," not "i nengland."

Thanks in advance for any help.

[albator]

Yes, you should add an n and  say ɑ̃nɑ̃ɡlətɛʁ instead of ɑ̃ ɑ̃ɡlətɛʁ but in this case I'd doubt most people would even notice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaison_(French)

[Harry Black]

Yep. As pointed out, she is correct.
A common mistake of english speakers learning other european languages is to try to pronounce certain words phonetically in our own dialect.
At the moment you are reading the word, approximating the pronunciation and then experiencing confusion when the correct pronounciation doesnt match.
An alternate approach is to start with the pronunciation from the teacher and then learn how that sound is spelled. Not always possible of course but having that attitude can help get over such confusion a bit earlier I find.
Something other people find useful is to learn some songs in the language you are learning, because that way you are more trying to approximate the sound to fit with the music and will get closer to sounding like you should.

[daniel1948]

Yes, you should add an n and  say ɑ̃nɑ̃ɡlətɛʁ instead of ɑ̃ ɑ̃ɡlətɛʁ but in this case I'd doubt most people would even notice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaison_(French)

Thank you. Note that the teacher didn't say "ɑ̃nɑ̃ɡlətɛʁ." She inserted a distinct pause, "ɑ̃    nɑ̃ɡlətɛʁ." The Wikipedia article explains, though. I think the teacher inserted the pause, which would not be apparent in conversation, to clarify the syllable break.

Yep. As pointed out, she is correct.
A common mistake of english speakers learning other european languages is to try to pronounce certain words phonetically in our own dialect.
At the moment you are reading the word, approximating the pronunciation and then experiencing confusion when the correct pronounciation doesnt match.
An alternate approach is to start with the pronunciation from the teacher and then learn how that sound is spelled. Not always possible of course but having that attitude can help get over such confusion a bit earlier I find.
Something other people find useful is to learn some songs in the language you are learning, because that way you are more trying to approximate the sound to fit with the music and will get closer to sounding like you should.

My question wasn't about the pronunciation, but about the pause in the middle of the word "en." I studied French 55 years ago in high school. I think my pronunciation is better than average for a beginner. But I slip into pronouncing all foreign words as though they were Spanish because my brain sees non-English words as being the only other language I know.

In lesson 2 the teacher gave us the days of the week. Then had us repeat them. I found myself using the Spanish for a couple of them. OTOH, there are French words I recognize because they are cognates of Spanish.

What I really need are formal classes, but the only ones I've found are either in Paia (very far from me) or in the morning (and I'm not willing to give up my morning paddling, which was THE reason I moved here.) I'm going to see if I can find a private teacher, though I know from my experience studying Spanish that if my teacher is not a native French speaker I won't understand the actual spoken French.

[Harry Black]

Theres an app my friend used called italki which puts you in touch with native instructors for video chat lessons.
Maybe take a look?

[AQB24712]

Paging random poet to the thread.  Native Francophone random poet report to the thread, si'l vous plait.

[brilligtove]

I think you meant  "silver plate" (please) and "mercy buckets" (thank you).

[arthwollipot]

I think you meant  "silver plate" (please) and "mercy buckets" (thank you).

I quite like it when I'm at an event and they serve horse doovers.

[random poet]

As a professional French man, I have nothing to add to the answers above. They are basically correct.

But I am available if you have any further questions.

[daniel1948]

As a professional French man, I have nothing to add to the answers above. They are basically correct.

But I am available if you have any further questions.

Thanks. I think I'm going to try italki. But if I have more questions I'll post them in this thread.