French at 60
Learning resources
The resources available to help you learn French seem to grow every day as more and more people use the internet as the go-to place for information.
The resources I have featured here are ones which I have used and found helpful. There will be many more out there!
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Tutorial sites
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Français Authentique
This site is amazing in respect of the amount of free content on offer. Johan, who presents the site, made such a success of it that he quit his full-time job to devote his time fully to the Français Authentique project. Naturally, he also sells commercial content and went on to form an Academy to bring together like-minded people on Facebook, as well as providing additional content for the members.
Level: Intermediate
Comme une Française
From the title, which means ‘Like a French woman’, you may guess that this is a site that’s aimed at helping you be more French. For the men out there, don’t be put off by the French woman angle. Géraldine, who presents the site, has realised that us men need as much help as the women and the content is now very much gender neutral.
Level: Beginner upwards
Lawless French
I have been using the resources on this site since the time I first started my French 'challenge'. Unlike the other sites reviewed here it doesn't offer videos but instead concentrates on vocabulary and grammar. The amount of information on the site is really quite incredible.
She has also teamed up with Kwiziq to produce a tailored learning plan.
Level: Beginner upwards
Français avec Pierre
A similar site to Français Authentique that offers free material as well as paid-for courses. The free Blog section includes a large number of short videos explaining different aspects of the language. In many of these, Pierre is accompanied by his wife, Noemi, which makes for a light-hearted double act as she offers examples as he describes the particular subject.
Level: Beginner upwards
Learn French with Alexa
This is not a resource I’ve used personally but is regarded as one of the most comprehensive sites for learning French. Alexa is a French teacher who offers a complete French course to take you from beginner (A1) to proficiency (C1).
There is a sample lesson to allow you to decide if the approach suits you. Alexa also offers live lessons for subscribers.
Level: Beginner upwards
French Today
The site of Camille Chevalier-Karfis. Her approach is to emphasise the difference between written French, as taught in many conventional French courses, and modern spoken French, which can differ significantly. She offers courses for beginners, lower intermediate and upper intermediate, each including recorded material at different speeds.
Level: Beginner upwards
Parlez-vous-French
As well as a selection of courses for all levels there is a lot of free material on this site.
The blog in particular is well worth looking at, offering a lot of material in a number of categories.
Level: Beginner upwards
French mornings with Alisa
Although Alisa has a website most of her content is on YouTube and other social media.
Alisa produces 3 minute videos dealing specifically with elements of spoken French as you will encounter it in the street. There are also longer videos offering more general advice in respect of informal spoken French. All videos are in French and although she is easy to understand for an intermediate student, beginners might struggle.
Level: Advanced beginners to Intermediate
Home language with Patricia
Patricia's image links to her website but it's probably better to visit her YouTube channel where you will find a large number of good quality videos. Links from the site to the YouTube videos were broken when I last visited.
Level: Advanced beginners to Intermediate
Inner French with Hugo
Hugo at innerFrench is a French teacher and his videos are not only easy to understand for anybody at intermediate or perhaps advanced beginner level, but they also cover interesting topics that grab your attention.
This combination makes them ideal for anybody wanting to practise or improve their comprehension
Level: Advanced beginners to Intermediate
Pronouncing French with Geri Metz
This is a very useful resource for understanding the linguistic basis of the French language. Geri Metz is an American phonetics teacher specialising in French, a language that she says she has been in love with all her life, and this shows. She explains the phonetic construction of words in an easy to understand fashion.
Subscribe to receive free mini lessons.
Level: Beginner upwards
Français avec Nelly
A resource that I discovered more recently. Like Alisa, Nelly has a websitewhere you can find courses and other offerings, but she also provides a lot of free content on her YouTube channel.
There are both short and longer videos that are delivered in French and as such could be difficult for absolute beginners. But subtitles can be added in YouTube, either in French, which helps with understanding the individual words, or in English if a translation is required. Nelly is an experienced teacher and her diction and pronunciation are superb.
Level: Advanced beginners to intermediate
Apprend le français avec Elisabeth
Another resource that I came across very recently. Once again there is a YouTube channel with a large number of videos and 'shorts'. They are presented in French so are likely to be challenging for beginners although Elisabeth's delivery is very purposeful and clear, making it easier to catch individual words.
She also has a website entitled Hello French that offers learning material as well as the ability to book a private conversation, which at the time of writing costs €53 for a 45 minute session.
Level: Advanced beginners to intermediate
Utilities sites
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Google Translate
For the purists, translation utilities are viewed with much suspicion. Indeed, they can produce some quite nonsensical phrases when faced with the subtleties of language. However, as long as you appreciate these limitations it can be helpful to see what Google comes up with, which may not be absolutely correct, but it could point you in the right direction.
Just be careful!
WordReference
Word Reference is an online dictionary resource that offers a comprehensive language database. Both the principal meaning of words and the often numerous more familiar uses are covered, as are expressions that include the word. There is also a community where questions can be posted, eliciting replies from French speakers.
Linguee
If you have a French phrase that seems to defy your normal translation resources, try Linguee. It’s effectively a search engine that trawls the Internet for bilingual texts incorporating the phrase that you have submitted.
The results are tabulated in a pair of columns in French and English, providing a large number of professional translations ranked in order of correspondence with the original submitted phrase.
Bon Patron
If you start to write a lot of French, for example to a pen-pal or perhaps in online forums, it can help greatly if you are able to check your spelling and grammar. Bon Patron offers an online checker that you may find invaluable.
Just type or copy in your proposed text, click on check, and any errors will be highlighted. Hover over the highlighted errors with the cursor and you will be offered suggestions as to what is wrong.
The site is a bit advert heavy!
Va te faire conjuger
This is a free verb conjugation utility that has a very attractive interface and is useful if you want to check a conjugation quickly without recourse to verb tables.
TechDico
TechDico is a technical dictionary that also incorporates a translation assistant linked to a number of professional translation resources. Available on the web or as a phone app it offers a free version (enhanced if you register) and subscription options that further enhance the results as well as removing advertisements.
Reverso Traduction
A fully featured web site offering translation, spelling/grammar correction, dictionary, usage in context, conjugaison and synonyms.
Particularly useful is the CONTEXT feature. Set phrases in French are often difficult because the translation is rarely literal. Very much like Linguee, this feature provides examples from translated texts in addition to dictionary definitions of the component words in the phrase.
La Langue Française
Another fully featured web site, offering a dictionary, conjugation, spelling, expressions, proverbs, literature critiques and dictations.
The expressions and proverbs are particularly interesting to explore as there is an explanation of both meaning and origin.
Media sites
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France24
This Internet-based service transmits in French, English, Spanish and Arabic. It offers a live news feed and a large selection of articles. The ‘Émissions’ section contains a selection of videos covering a wide range of interests, including political debates that can become quite heated. Check out the French viewpoint on English news stories.
Level: Intermediate to advanced
euronews
Another news channel with a web site that can be viewed in multiple languages, although for our purposes you will need to choose French.
The news videos are accompanied by a written report but this might not always be a verbatim account of the dialogue. It does, however, aid understanding, bearing in mind that the reports are aimed at French speakers.
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Radio France
If you feel brave, or just want to test yourself occasionally, visit the Radio France website where you can choose between a selection of channels. There’s no ‘facile’ here, these are French radio channels for French speaking people.
Level: Advanced
rfi Savoirs
Radio France International (rfi) has introduced this service as an aid to learning and teaching French. That’s not to say it’s easy, but it is pitched at a more learner-friendly level than normal radio broadcasts.
The Journal en français facile, for example, provides an audio daily news summary with a full transcript.
Level: Intermediate to advanced
TED Talks
TED is a non-profit organisation devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks and there are a considerable number in French. These are people speaking to francophone audiences so the level is between high intermediate and advanced, but many have subtitles, sometimes in English or, failing that, in French.
Level: Intermediate to advanced
YouTube
Just type in something like ‘French interviews’, or ‘’French films’, and YouTube will offer you seemingly an endless list of videos from which to choose. Clearly not all of them will be suitable, or relevant, but among them you will almost certainly find something worth listening to.
Check out celebrities who speak French, some incredibly well, while others less so.
Read more
A link appears on each page to the site's associated Facebook page. And there is a link to Amazon on the Book page.
Other links are to sites associated with the relevant subject matter and are considered to be trusted.
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© RJ Bassett 2023
obscuref60
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Site by Kilburnlad
© RJ Bassett 2023
obscuref60
Built in RapidWeaver
Using Source