The AI French accent checker.
Read a French passage aloud. Our AI scores your pronunciation 0–100, detects your native language accent, identifies the exact sounds giving you away, and tells you precisely how to fix them.
0–100 Native-likeness Score
A single number tells you exactly where you stand on the path from Heavy accent to Native-like.
L1 Accent Detection
The AI identifies which language is shaping your French — English, Spanish, German, Mandarin, and more.
Phoneme-level Breakdown
See which specific sounds (nasal vowels, uvular R, /y/) are the biggest drag on your score.
What is a French accent checker?
A French accent checker is a tool that listens to you speak French and evaluates how closely your pronunciation matches native-speaker norms. Traditional language learning gives you vocabulary and grammar but no objective measure of how you actually sound. A French accent checker fills that gap.
Sonner AI is an AI-powered French accent checker built specifically for French phonetics. Unlike generic pronunciation tools that handle dozens of languages with the same broad model, Sonner AI is tuned to the sounds that matter in French — nasal vowels, the uvular R, front rounded vowels (/y/, /ø/, /œ/), liaison, enchaînement, and the prosody of syllable-timed speech.
When you take the accent test, you record yourself reading a 60–100 word French passage. The AI analyzes the audio at the phoneme level, compares your production against a native-speaker model, and returns a structured report including:
- A 0–100 native-likeness score
- A rating label (Heavy · Strong · Noticeable · Near-native · Native-like)
- Your detected L1 (the language most likely shaping your accent)
- A list of accent features ranked by impact, each with a word example and explanation
- Strengths — things you are doing well
- Actionable tips to improve each flagged feature
- Prosody notes on rhythm and intonation
How the AI accent detection works
Sonner AI processes your audio through a multi-stage pipeline:
1. Automatic speech recognition (ASR)
The audio is transcribed using a French ASR model. This step aligns what you said with the target passage, so the system knows which parts of the passage you read and where you stumbled.
2. Phoneme alignment
Each word in the transcript is force-aligned against the audio at the phoneme level — meaning the system identifies the precise time range during which each sound occurred. This is what allows the AI to say “your /y/ in ‘tu’ at 0:04 was produced as /u/.”
3. Accent feature extraction
The aligned phoneme sequence is compared against the expected native-speaker realization. Deviations are classified by type (substitution, deletion, insertion, prosodic error) and mapped to known cross-linguistic interference patterns. For example, English speakers commonly substitute /u/ for /y/, replace the uvular /ʁ/ with an approximant, and fail to nasalize nasal vowels.
4. L1 identification
The pattern of accent features is matched against a database of known L1-specific interference patterns. English, Spanish, German, Mandarin, Arabic, Italian, and other L1s produce characteristic sets of French pronunciation errors. The AI returns the most likely L1 with a confidence percentage.
5. Scoring and rating
The overall score is a composite of phoneme accuracy, prosodic accuracy, liaison correctness, and fluency. The score is normalized to a 0–100 scale where 85+ is Native-like, 65–84 is Near-native, 40–64 is Noticeable, 20–39 is Strong, and below 20 is Heavy.
Understanding your French accent score
Your pronunciation is indistinguishable from a native speaker at the passage level. You have mastered the core phonemes, liaison rules, and prosodic patterns of the target variety.
A very strong accent. Native speakers will notice you are non-native but your French is easily intelligible and does not impede communication. A few specific phonemes or prosodic patterns remain to be refined.
A clearly foreign accent that is nonetheless intelligible. Multiple phoneme substitutions and/or prosodic patterns from your L1 are present. With focused drilling of the flagged features, most learners in this range make rapid progress.
A strong accent that may occasionally impede comprehension. Several fundamental French sounds (nasal vowels, /y/, uvular R) are being replaced by L1 equivalents. Systematic work on the flagged phonemes is recommended before focusing on vocabulary or grammar.
A heavy accent where French phonology is largely replaced by L1 patterns. This is common at the beginning of language learning and is completely fixable. Start with the two or three highest-impact features in your report.
Most common French accent errors by native language
English speakers
- Replacing the uvular /ʁ/ with the English approximant /ɹ/
- Substituting /u/ for the front rounded /y/ (“vous” instead of “vu” for “tu”)
- Failing to nasalize nasal vowels, adding an audible /n/ instead
- Using English stress-timed rhythm instead of French syllable-timing
- Pronouncing silent final consonants (“par-is” instead of “pa-ri”)
- Failing to make obligatory liaisons
- Pronouncing E at the end of words (“madame” with audible final E)
Spanish speakers
- Using the Spanish trilled or tapped R /r/ instead of the uvular /ʁ/
- Reducing the four French nasal vowels to /an/, /in/, /on/, /un/ with full nasal consonants
- Using Spanish pure vowels for French vowels that have no Spanish equivalent
- Applying Spanish stress patterns (penultimate stress) instead of group-final stress
- Over-pronouncing silent letters (Spanish orthography is largely phonemic)
German speakers
- Using German /x/ or /r/ instead of the French uvular /ʁ/
- Adding glottal stops before initial vowels (common in German, absent in French)
- Applying German word-final devoicing to French voiced consonants
- Using German front rounded vowels (which are slightly different from their French counterparts)
Mandarin speakers
- Using the retroflex Mandarin R /ɻ/ instead of the uvular /ʁ/
- Applying Mandarin tonal patterns to French, creating unnatural pitch movement on individual syllables
- Difficulty with consonant clusters (Mandarin syllable structure is very restricted)
- Aspiration errors: French /p/, /t/, /k/ are unaspirated, unlike Mandarin counterparts
What to do after you check your accent
Getting a score is the beginning, not the end. Here is how to use your results:
- Read your accent features list top to bottom. Features are ranked by impact. Focus on the top one or two, not the whole list at once.
- Understand the articulatory description. Each feature includes an explanation of what you are doing and what the target production is.
- Use the word drills. Sonner AI's practice screen lets you drill individual words and sentences at the IPA phoneme level, with native audio to compare against.
- Re-test after two to four weeks. Return to the accent test with a new passage and measure whether your score has moved on the features you targeted.
- Expand to broader practice. Once a sound is solid in isolated words, practice it in full sentences and then in free speech.
Check your French accent now — free
No signup required for your first three tests. Record yourself reading French, get your score, and find out exactly which sounds to work on.
French accent checker — FAQ
Is it free to check my French accent?
Yes. You get three free accent tests without creating an account. After that, you can sign up for a free account to access additional free tests, or upgrade to Pro for unlimited tests and full access to the word and sentence practice drills.
How accurate is the AI accent scoring?
The AI's phoneme-level analysis is based on automatic speech recognition and forced alignment technology that has been validated on French speech corpora. The score is a consistent, reproducible measure — the same recording will always receive the same score. It is highly correlated with native-speaker perception for the systematic errors it targets. It does not capture every nuance a human phonetician would catch, but for the practical purpose of identifying what to practice, it is highly effective.
Does the tool work for both Parisian and Québécois French?
Yes. Select your target variety in the region dropdown before starting the test. The passage text, the native audio model, and the scoring norms all adjust accordingly.
What microphone do I need?
Any built-in laptop or phone microphone is sufficient. For best results, record in a quiet environment. The AI is robust to minor background noise but very loud environments may reduce ASR accuracy.
Can I use this to prepare for the DELF or DALF oral exam?
Sonner AI is a pronunciation-focused tool, not a broad proficiency assessment. However, since DELF and DALF oral components are evaluated partly on pronunciation, improving your accent score on Sonner AI will directly improve your performance on those exams.
How is this different from Duolingo or Babbel pronunciation?
Duolingo and Babbel pronunciation features evaluate single words or short phrases and give a binary pass/fail. They are trained on many languages simultaneously and are not specialized for French phonetics. Sonner AI evaluates full passage reading, returns a quantitative score, identifies your specific L1 accent, and provides phoneme-level feature analysis with articulatory guidance. It is a dedicated French pronunciation tool, not a feature inside a general language app.