Your accent is not what lowers the score
Speaking tests measure how easily a listener understands you, not how native you sound. A clear French accent is compatible with the top bands.
The main issue: stress, not sounds
This is unusual among first languages, and it is why French speakers can pronounce every English sound correctly and still be asked to repeat themselves.
French gives syllables roughly equal length and puts the stress at the end of a phrase. English puts a strong stress on one syllable inside each word, and squashes the others down. If a word arrives with even weight, a listener has nothing to lock onto.
| Word | English says | Even weighting sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| photograph | PHO-to-graph | pho-to-graph |
| photographer | pho-TOG-ra-pher | pho-to-gra-pher |
| comfortable | COMF-ta-ble (3 beats) | com-for-ta-ble (4 beats) |
| development | de-VEL-op-ment | de-ve-lop-ment |
Getting stress right will do more for your intelligibility than any single consonant, and it costs nothing in accent — you will still sound French, just easier to follow.
Squashing the unstressed syllables
The other half of English rhythm is what happens to the unstressed syllables: the vowel collapses to a weak uh sound (the schwa). French keeps its vowels clear and full, so this feels wrong to do on purpose.
- banana is really b'NA-n', not ba-na-na.
- about is uh-BOUT.
- Little words — a, the, of, to, for, is — are almost swallowed: a cup of tea is a cup uh tea.
Deliberately weakening the small words makes the important ones stand out. It is the single fastest way to sound easier to follow in English.
The sounds worth fixing
| Sound | Why it's hard | What a listener may hear |
|---|---|---|
| /h/ | French h is silent, so it gets dropped — or added where it should not be. | house → ouse; eat → heat |
| /θ/ and /ð/ (th) | Not in French; become /s/, /z/, /t/ or /d/. | think → sink, this → zis |
| /ɪ/ vs /i:/ | French i covers both. | ship / sheep, live / leave |
| /ʌ/ | No close equivalent. | cut, but, love drift towards other vowels |
| /r/ | The French r is made at the back of the throat; English /r/ is not. | Very audible, but rarely blocks understanding — low priority |
| /ŋ/ | -ing can pick up a hard g. | singing → sing-ging |
Note the /r/ row. It is the most recognisable feature of a French accent in English, and it is near the bottom of the list, because it almost never causes a misunderstanding. Fix the things that change words first.
How to practise
- Record yourself. As you speak you hear what you meant, not what came out.
- Spend the first weeks on stress. Take long words — photographer, development, necessary — and hit one syllable hard while letting the others collapse. Exaggerate; it will still sound less extreme than natives do it.
- Weaken the small words. Read a paragraph aloud and deliberately swallow a, the, of, to.
- Then take one contrast — the th sounds, or /ɪ/ vs /i:/ — for a week, in full sentences.
Aflo scores your speech sound by sound and shows you which sounds were hardest to catch.
For the test, and for real life
For the exam: stress one syllable per word, weaken the rest, and fix the th sounds. Leave the French /r/ alone — it costs you nothing.
Outside the exam you may want to sound more English or more American, for work or for yourself. That is a reasonable goal and a separate one from scoring well. Clarity is what the test pays for; the accent can stay.
Frequently asked questions
Will my French accent lower my speaking score?
No. These tests score intelligibility rather than native-likeness, and Aflo's pronunciation scoring has a floor so that differences which are only accent stop affecting the score. French speakers usually lose marks on rhythm rather than on individual sounds.
Why do people ask me to repeat myself when my pronunciation is good?
Almost always word stress. French gives syllables even length and stresses the end of a phrase; English puts a heavy stress on one syllable inside each word and squashes the others. With even weighting, a listener has nothing to lock onto — even when every sound is correct.
Should I fix my French r?
It is low priority. It is the most recognisable feature of a French accent in English, but it almost never causes a misunderstanding, so it costs you very little. Fix the things that change words — stress, the th sounds, ship versus sheep — first.
What does 'reducing' a vowel mean?
In English the vowels in unstressed syllables collapse to a weak uh sound. Banana is really b'NA-n'; a cup of tea is a cup uh tea. French keeps vowels full and clear, so this has to be done on purpose. Weakening the small words is the fastest way to make the important ones stand out.