New "slow playback" feature for Utter French!

The Utter French! pronunciation guide for iPhone has been updated with a new feature. On certain screens, a red speaker (playback) icon is now displayed alongside the regular speaker icon. You can tap this red speaker icon to hear the word or example in question played back at a slower speed. This feature should help you to hear some of the individual sounds and pronunciation features mentioned in the explanatory notes.

New "graphemes" tab added to the Utter French! pronunciation guide

Users of the Utter French! pronunciation guide for iPhone can now download an update from the App Store. Along with a few minor improvements and corrections, the new version includes a brand new "Graphemes" tab. This new tab lists the various letter combinations used in French and explains which sounds they typically represent under particular circumstances. In each case, the explanation is of course accompanied by specific examples from the app's built-in bank of 1,200 native speaker recordings.

If you view Utter French! in the app store on your device, then you will also be able to view the 30 second preview video, showing the app's various features. The app preview video has also been showcased on the French Language Forum Facebook page.

Updates to the French verb conjugation tables

The French verb conjugations section of the web site is being updated with a clearer layout and menu system. Conjugation tables also now include the Past Historic and Past Anterior tenses. Example conjugations:

• aller: conjugation
• être: conjugation
• avoir: conjugation
• faire: conjugation
• aimer: conjugation (regular -er verb)

New navigation menus being added to the French grammar section

New drop-down menus have been added to the French grammar section of the site. These will allow easier navigation of the material on this section and will eventually allow the index page of this section to be less cluttered as some of the links are removed.

Vote for the new French Audio Quiz icon!

Readers of the French Linguistics site are invited to vote for the icon they would like to see used in the next update to the free French Audio Quiz app for iPhone. This second vote marks the final stage of the competition; many thanks to those who entered candidate icons.

The update, which is due to feature a new "French word of the day" alert, will be released later in October.

The complexity of simple synonyms: the case of "an" and "année" in French

A new article added to the grammar section of the French Linguistics web site looks at the question of when to use an and when to use année to translate the word "year" in French. To the English speaker (and indeed in some cases to native French speakers), the issue of which of these two synonyms to use can be surprisingly complex. The articles attempts to summarise this complexity by highlighting various conditions that tend to favour either an or année. For example, the use of an adjective or quantifier strongly favours année, whereas the use of a "normal" cardinal number strongly favours an. (For what happens when you have a number and an adjective, see the article!)

The article touches on an additional difficulty that advanced students may encounter with these words: their use has actually changed over time, including relatively recently. Therefore, readers of some of the French "classics" are liable to come across uses of the word an in particular which are now obsolete.

Update to Utter French! pronunciation guide

The "Sounds of French" tab in the Utter French!
pronunciation guide for iPhone. Today's fix means that all
three words in the list will be read out: even on
iOS 8!

An update to the Utter French! pronunciation guide was released to the app store today. This update fixes an issue caused by an apparent bug in iOS 8 that prevented the example words from the "Sounds" tab from playing back correctly. This tab contains a list of sample words as examples for each of the various sound classes or "phonemes" in French, and prior to the update, only the first word in each list would play back under iOS 8. (If you're thinking that this sounds like a slightly weird issue, programmers may like to check out the aforementioned article for the technical details of why this occurred!)

Apple is evidently busy with a large volume of updates to fix iOS 8 related issues given the number of updates that are being released to common apps every day and the extended time apparently required at the moment for app updates to be released.

As things settle down, look out for feature updates to Utter French! over the coming weeks. At present, the app focuses on audio and phonetic descriptions. An upcoming update will also include more information about how to read French words from the written form ("grapheme-phoneme correspondences" to use the spuriously posh-sounding linguistic term!).

Site down time 22-23 September 2014

The reasons why the dictionary and other parts of the site were down during some of the day 22 September 2014 and again in the early morning US of 23 September US time are currently being investigated.

Sincere apologies to all those affected.

Multilingual GCSE word search apps for iPad: save money with the new iOS 8 app bundle!

Well, it's finally here: iOS 8 was released to the public today. One of the new features it brings is app bundles, allowing users to purchase multiple related apps at a discounted price.

The French Word Search, Spanish Word Search and German Word Search apps are now available as an app bundle, effectively allowing you to download all three for half price.

The bundle will be ideal for GCSE language students (or basic to intermediate level students in the US and elsewhere) looking for an additional fun activity to reinforce their essential vocabulary in French, German or Spanish.

Click here to view more details about the language word searches bundle.

Version 3.0 of Utter French! Pronunciation app released today

The all-singing, all-dancing, spanking new version of Utter French! Pronunciation guide for iPhone is now available in the App Store!

The app has been re-written from the ground up and now includes

• a brand new modern user interface, optimised for the iPhone 5 screen size
• expanded pronunciation material, with more detailed guides on how to pronounce the sounds and words of French
• a new series of diagrams and illustrations to help you achieve more accurate pronunciation
• a new feature allowing you to record and compare your pronunciation with that of the native speaker

Whether you're a relative beginner or a degree level student, there'll be something in the app for you. Use the link above or search for "Utter French" in the App Store or iTunes to download the app and brush the cobwebs off your French pronunciation!

Minor corrections to page on 'translating French contracts'

A couple of minor typos have been corrected in the page on Translating and Understanding French contracts. But I am always looking out for suggestions. Did you have an issue understanding a French contract? Was there a particular item of vocabulary that you found difficult (or perhaps still are!) that you think should be included on the page? Why not leave a comment at the bottom of the page.

Article on the French "h aspiré"

If you have a smattering of French, you are probably used to the notion that the h is "silent" or "not pronounced" in French. In a new article published today, I give a brief overview of why this isn't quite the case.

If you're up to date on your French cinema, then you have probably seen Kassovitz's La Haine (and if you haven't seen it, you should). But you may not have stopped to wonder why it is La Haine and not L'Haine. In may article, I explain why this is, and look more generally at an intriguing phenomenon of French pronunciation and phonology often referred to as "aspirate h" or "h aspiré".

Free French language software for iPhone and iPad

On the French Linguistics forum, I have posted a various promo codes for free copies of my French language software. These include French Vocab Games, a complete suite of activities for iPhone to re-enforce basic GCSE vocabulary, along with the Utter French! pronunciation tool.

I also regularly post codes for free software on my Twitter feed @BitterCoffey

French Vocab Games for iPhone among iTunes Top 20 GCSE Revision Apps

Firstly, I have a confession. I actually didn't realise that iTunes had a "GCSE Revision Apps" section of the app store. (Did you?)

However, I was pleased to discover that French Vocab Games is listed in the top 20 apps in that section (at no. 17 in the UK at the time of writing).

For more information about French Vocab Games and other apps I have developed for iPhone and iPad, please see the mobile section of the French Linguistics site.

Site restart tomorrow 6AM GMT

The French Linguistics site will be briefly unavailable at around 6AM GMT tomorrow morning (Saturday 6 April) for a server restart.

LetterMeister for iPhone now includes German

Version 2.2 of LetterMeister, the multilingual word puzzle game for iPhone was released to the App Store earlier. This new version adds German to the list of languages, so that the game is now playable with English, Spanish, French or German vocabulary.

The game is free to download today. Don't miss out!

A key feature of LetterMeister is that the game is customisable to your desired language level. You can set the game difficulty from two points of view: firstly the level time, and secondly the vocabulary level. This means that vocabulary learners can use the EASY option and will generally be presented with levels that contain common, 'easy' words (generally the first few thousand words, depending on the language).

The German vocabulary was added to the game after testing with the beta version of the same LetterMeister word puzzle game for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. This desktop version currently includes Finnish, and new languages are expected to be added regularly to both iPhone and desktop versions. Feedback from language learners regarding the chosen levels of vocabulary is always appreciated.

The game integrates with the iOS Game Center, so that if you so wish, you can compare your progress with other players. The Game Center also sets you various "Achivements", such as completing a certain number of words with certain letters, thus adding a new dimension to the game.

If you do try out LetterMeister and enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating and review on the App Store. This will help other users to find the game and bring further suggestions and improvements for later versions.

LetterMeister update (and free copies)

An update to LetterMeister word puzzle game for iPhone is due to be released soon that will allow players to play the game in German, in addition to English, French and Spanish.

In anticipation of the release, I am giving away a few free copies in various places. Don't miss out!

• free copies of LetterMeister on the French Language Forum
• free copies of LetterMeister on TouchArcade
• free copies of LetterMeister on the FLTEACH bulletin board
• follow @BitterCoffey on Twitter for free codes to LetterMeister and other apps from time to time

And finally, a couple of codes here: redeem JH9NK46TXXLP or FATEJFH6NKA3 while they are still avaialble!

Small bug fix to LetterMeister desktop version

Version 0.76b of LetterMeister was released earlier today. This latest update to the desktop version of the word puzzle game includes a bug fix that affects gameplay when using German vocabulary. Specifically, under some circumstances, marking of the "s sharp" character would not appear correctly; this issue is now fixed in the latest update.

Possibility of brief downtime this Sunday 27 January

There is a small chance that the French Linguistics site will be down briefly this Sunday around midday UK time for maintenance. Thank you for your patience!

New article on the pronunciation of French stops

The first of a number of articles I will be writing on various aspects of French pronunciation has just been published. This initial article looks at the pronunciation of French stop consonants, considering the important ways in which they differ from their English counterparts.