"H" is for happy!

Wadjasay? American English Pronunciation Practice

If you are a native speaker of French and have studied English, then you have probably run into the /h/ problem. This sound, which Americans make when we say "Hello" and "How are you" and "Ha ha ha", does not exist in French. This makes two problems for French speakers.
1) Problem one: The sound is dropped. So I say Hello and the French speaker says 'ello. Or I say How are you? and he says 'ow are you?" Or I say "I'm hungry" and she says "I'm 'ungry" (which to us often sounds like "I'm angry.")
2) The other problem French speakers have is over correcting, putting in /h/ sounds where they shouldn't be. So "I am" might be said "I ham". Or "It's time to eat" might be said "It's time to heat."
To illustrate these problems, here is a recording from a kind, generous, and courageous native speaker of French who gave me permission to share her reading of these sentences:
Is Charlie happy? Not at all. He's angry. He missed breakfast. Then he missed lunch. Now he's very hungry and he's hoping to eat dinner as soon as possible.
Now listen carefully to her reading. (It's a little noisy since it was not recorded with a fancy microphone, but quite good enough to hear her pronunciation.) I'll play it twice and then we'll get to work on helping you sound more like an American.
[Note: the rest of the podcast is almost all listening and repeating. Too long and repetitious to transcribe.]
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A good translation site: DeepL

Comments and suggestions are always welcomed: language[at]caravanbeads.com

Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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