The sound of a falling coin, the sound of a voice, cock crow, do not reach us the same way to the ear according to our mother tongue.
Example with the rooster's song :
| For a French speaker | cocorico |
| For an English speaker | cock-a-doodle-do |
| For a German speaker | kikeriki |
| For a Japanese speaker | kokekoko |
| For an Ethiopian speaker | koukouloukou |
| For an Italian speaker | kiririki |
| For an Hungarian speaker | koukourikou |
Perhaps you have already noticed the melody differences between your mother tongue and a foreign language. Or maybe you can not make the correct sound and intonation of a word in French despite the constant efforts of your language teacher! But what allows some of us to switch from one language to another without any problem? Why do not I have any difficulty with Spanish while in English it's very difficult? To have the gift of languages is to have the possibility to analyze the sounds of it and reproduce the rhythm of the melody. It is also necessary that the ear hear correctly the preferential frequencies in which each language is expressed.
The human ear at birth is capable of hearing from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. However, according to the languages certain frequency ranges are privileged and others disadvantaged, each language exploits a well defined register of the sound spectrum, these preferential zones (or bandwidths) evolve from one language to another.
| Languages | Preferential zones (Herz) |
| Russian
|
De 125 à 13 000
13 000 – 125 = 12 875 |
| English | De 2000 à 13 000
13 000 – 2000 = 11 000 |
| American
|
De 500 à 4000
4000 – 500 = 3500 |
| German | De 500 à 4000
4000 – 500 = 3500 |
| Italian
|
De 1000 à 4000
4000 – 1000 = 3000 |
| French | De 125 à 500 et de 1000 à 3000
500 – 125 = 375 / 3000 – 1000 = 2000 |
| Spanish | De 125 à 1000
1000 – 125 = 875 |
The Russians (spectrum of 12,875 Hz) would naturally be the best suited to foreign languages, followed by the English (spectrum of 11,000 Hz), Americans and Germans (spectrum of 3,500 Hz), Italians (spectrum of 3,000 Hz), the French (2000 Hz spectrum) and finally the Spanish (spectrum of 875 Hz). Thus, for example, French means English through its own listening band, this shift explains the difficulties that learning can pose.
Moreover, not all languages have the same emission rate. In French, for example, there is a slowing down of the rhythm on the end of sentences while in German it is faster. Some languages have a faster pace than others, each one has a different time to allow the ear to control voice transmission. Thus, a French speaker will have to listen and speak faster than he is used to.
By correctly hearing a new language, you will speak it and you will even learn to think, live and "breathe" like French or English, for example.
Thomas Ricomard specializes in teaching French as a foreign language. He has been providing private lessons since 2015, both in-person and online (via Skype). He taught at the Popular University of the Canton of Geneva (Switzerland) from 2015 to 2018, instructing several groups of 20 students from around the world (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mexico, etc.), ranging from beginner to intermediate levels (A1 to B2). With a Master’s degree in clinical and cognitive psychology from the University of Geneva, his knowledge of psychology allows him to tailor his teaching methods for optimal learning, taking into account factors such as visual memory versus auditory memory. He expresses his passion for the French language through writing texts, including poetry and songs, which he presents publicly at numerous music and slam events.