I found the audio of "je viens d'Omaha" very difficult to understand and recognise "Omaha"

N. M.B2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I found the audio of "je viens d'Omaha" very difficult to understand and recognise "Omaha"

Asked 6 years ago
Tom K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Nigel,

The audio sounds ok to my ear.

Perhaps you were expecting to hear the "h" sounded in the French version of Omaha?

"H" is always silent in French.

Hope this helps,

Tom

AurélieNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq

Bonjour Nigel !

I've now replaced the sound file with a clearer one, but as Tom pointed out, the two "a" sounds are very thinly distinct in French because of the non-pronunciation of the "h". It's more like a long [a] sound :)

I hope that's helpful!
Bonne journée !

N. M.B2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Aurelie,

many thanks for that.  Yes, now I hear it as I expected that it would be said.  I relistened to the original recording several times before my post, and several times again after Tom's reply, and every time I found it really hard to recognise the recording as its text, despite knowing exactly what I was listening for.

I was not originally expecting to hear the h sounded, just some separation of the different elements of the word, which I can now hear.

Merci a vous!

N. M. asked:

I found the audio of "je viens d'Omaha" very difficult to understand and recognise "Omaha"

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Let me take a look at that...