Types of French Accents

There are many different types of French accents. You can hear all kinds of accents in movies, plays or in real life, but French accents are very distinct. You can easily tell them apart from most other European accents.

The classic accent

When one thinks of someone with a French accent, generally they picture an artist in a beret with a paintbrush, trying to impress a woman sitting in a cafe. They are outgoing, charming, and suave in nature. Something about the French accent seems to make women go weak in the knees. An example of this classic accent is the candlestick from Beauty and the Beast. His words are overly exaggerated, and he seems to concentrate more on the flow and motion of the sentences rather than on the actual words. He is charming, of course, but his accent may not be entirely authentic.

The little French girl

One other accent that may come to mind when thinking of the French is probably a little French girl. You know, the kind with a short bob haircut and wide, innocent eyes. She plays the naive character who is in reality more intelligent than she appears. Her accent is also somewhat exaggerated, but it is definitely higher pitched and helpless sounding.

The real deal

Of course, when authentic French people speak English, they have an accent, which is probably a little different than what you might expect. It is French, of course, but the words roll effortlessly off the tongue, like the speaker is not trying to make the language sound pretty.

The French have a number of different accents, all of which are important to history and society, but most of the supposedly French accents heard in movies and television shows are not entirely authentic. The best way to discover what a real French accent sounds like is to visit France.