Learning tools

Typing accents:

• International Keyboard (you can install this on any PC, it makes typing accents a lot easier, and you do not need to switch back and forth between French/English keyboard)

Pronunciation:

• Phonetics (simple discrimination exercises, between 2 sounds for example)
• Visual dictionary (chose a subject and you can mouse over different pictures and hear the vocabulary.  Also some grammar and texts)
• Forvo (you can type a word in French and hear someone pronounce it for you)
• Vocaroo (record yourself and listen, or send recording by email)

Language

• Larousse Dictionnary (English-French)
• Larousse Dictionnary (French-English)
• Larousse Dictionnary (French only)
• Dictionnaire de la zone (slang dictionnary, you can also view the page in English)
•  BBC French ( lots of good activities to learn French)
• Polar FLE (Solve a mystery while learning French)
• Easy French videos (a series of short videos on You Tube with French and english subtitles)

Verbs

•  verb database
• verb2verbe (verb database)
• Larousse verb database
• verbs with prépositions (a list of verbs and the prepositions they are used with)

 Culture

 Music

•  NRJ Radio
• Skyrock radio

 

• FNAC: Main culture store in France, you can select a style of music and listen to some extracts.
• Amazon: another place to listen to some music extract

 

• Lyricstraining (select French at top, and then you can chose songs in French with Karaoke style captions and some words missing that you have to fill in.  Click on “Language” tab at top (not advertisement for Babel language) select French and it will take you to songs in French).

 Cinema

•  Allo Ciné (movie site with lots of trailers (= bandes annonces) for French movies but also Foreign movies either dubbed in French or subtitled.
• Netflix: Of course, if you subscribe to Netflix (or any other streaming method) , you should explore the French movies that are available.   Some movies can be subtitled in French.
• Hamersly Library: check out the French movies at the WOU library (the list is not complete)

 

French Medias

                       Newspapers and magazines

• Le Monde: the iconic French daily newspaper.  You can read up to 15 articles per month without a subscription, if you want to read more, change browser.
• L’équipe: French daily newspaper about sports and only sports
• Les Inrocks: French weekly cultural magazine (music, cinema, books, arts,  some politics)
• Voici: the equivalent of People’s magazine

                      Radios

• France Info: information radio
• Europe 1: general radio
• News in slow French: this  site plays news in slow French with transcript.  It’s great to practice your listening skills.

   Television

•  France 2: one of the main TV channels in France
• Arte: Cultural French-German TV
• Canal +: French TV channel a little equivalent to comedy central, which started out as a movie channel but has iconic  shows like ” les guignols de l’info” (the info puppets) and “le petit journal”

Francophone Medias

•  Radio France International: French radio but who is specialized on news from rest of the world.  If you click on “apprendre le français” (top left) there are materials for learning French
• TV5: Francophone TV channel, click on “langue française” for materials to help you learn French
• Jeune Afrique: newspaper in French with news from Africa mostly

 

Miscellaneous

• Culture Pub: A French website (originally a TV program) with best TV ads from all around the world
• French Resource Guide at Hamersly library.  You can see what material the WOU library has available to help you study French, including easy reader in French and comic books
• Common European Framework of reference for languages: Describe different levels of languages as theorized by the European Union.