Hamdeyyah
How to pronounce the word "foyer" The word "foyer", I read in a book that it means like a salon, and the letter r is silent. But Today i listened to pronunciation lesson and the audio said it like "lawer", I mean the letter r wasn't silent. Is it another word with another meaning? Thank you
Apr 12, 2020 5:06 PM
Answers · 12
2
There are two accepted pronunciations that you'll hear: (1) "foy-yay" (no "r" sound) and (2) "foy-yer" (with "r" sound--I am American, and this is what I normally use and hear). P.S. A good resource to check the pronunciation of individual words is Forvo; you can also hear different accents there.
April 12, 2020
1
English has borrowed many words from French. It is always best to consult a dictionary, and this is a case where it is probably best to use a British dictionary if you are using British English and a US dictionary if you are using US English. For a word like "foyer," the answer is almost always the same. If people think of it as being a French word, they use a rough approximation to the French pronunciation, using English phonemes. If they are not conscious of its origin, they use a completely Anglicized pronunciation. There is a third possibility: in the United States, French is one of the most commonly studied foreign languages, and depending on the word and the situation, some speakers will actually try to give it a good French pronunciation. I am 99% certain that when I check a dictionary, it will give two pronunciations: the fully Anglicized pronunciation, rhyming with "lawyer," and ending with the same sound as "her" or "fur;" and a Frenchlike pronunciation, FOY-ay https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=foyer In this case, I am actually seeing all three. The most frequent is the "fully Anglicized." The second is the "French-like" FOY-ay. And the third is an even closer approximation to French, FWAH-yay. English dictionaries record only frequency of use--the language as it is, so you can't say any of these is "right." Another example involves French-derived words such as "envelope," "envoy," and "enclave," in which some speakers pronounce the "en-" as you'd expect from the spelling, while others pronounce it as "ahn-."
April 12, 2020
1
Note that when you pronounce French "er" verbs, the "er" is pronounced "ay". Examples are chercher, trouver, penser, étudier, regarder, demander, etc. Therefore, if you're speaking French, "foyer" is pronounced "foy-yay", . If you're speaking English, then "foy-yer" or "foy-yah" are acceptable.
April 12, 2020
1
English has borrowed this word from French, which is why it has an unusual pronunciation. It isn't pronounced like a normal English word, but it isn't pronounced as in French, either. It's a kind of hybrid of the two languages! The first syllable is pronounced 'oy' as in English (like in 'boy'), but the 'er' is pronounced 'ay', similar to French ( as in 'day'). So the whole word is pronounced 'foy-ay'. It doesn't mean 'salon', though.In English, we use this word to refer to large entrance hall of a large building, such as a cinema, theatre or concert hall. A cinema foyer, for example, is where you might meet your friends to buy tickets and popcorn.
April 12, 2020
Thank you Mr. Peter and Mr. Jacob
April 13, 2020
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