h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Look, I'm sorry but I don't think there are any long vowels in french, except in the dialect spoken around Besançon.

how do the French pronounce the "e" in "le"? How do they pronounce the "e" in "les"? I was always taught that the first was short and the second was long. What do you call the two sounds?

Sorry for not answering before, I was away...
Anyway, in "le" you have a 'rounded-lips, smaller aperture' e, and in "les" its 'stretched lips, larger aperture', as they are described in phonology.
In the international phonetic alphabet, they are respectively noted [ø] and [ε].

Hmmm, the second one doesn't display. It's supposed to be the greek letter epsilon. Anyway only the position of the lips changes, whereas the lenght of the vowels is the same in both cases.

Yes, you're right. But using the same terminology there are no "long" vowels in English either. The terms "long" and "short" are used in English to describe what you call "large aperture" and "small aperture". The terms "long" and "short" may be confusing because they are the same terms used in classical prosody, where the actual temporal length of the sound was being described. This is not what is being described when talking of modern English long and short vowels.

In a nutshell, French does have vowel sounds that we would describe as long and short in English. Of course, the French have sensible terms for them and the English have confusing terms for them.

Ok!
I wasn't aware of this. Thanks for your attention.