French language sites
About the French Language. A compendious resource of French language and culture, including beginners French lessons (with audio), grammar guides, and a large collection of annotated links to sites on French language and culture, sorted by as many categories as you could think of.
Accord-academie. Managed by a Paris language school, this site contains a large, categorised, and annotated collection of links to useful resources on the Net for learners of French as a foreign language. You can also email them for help with your French, and to be put in touch with French learners of English. Site text in French with some English.
Bibliothèque Nationale du Canada. The Canadian national library online, indexed and searchable. In French and English.
Bla Bla Français. French conversation video lessons. Animations of conversational situations using colloquial French. The site is very much aimed at verbal learning, using the tried and tested method of presenting dialogues with short accompanying language notes, and encouraging you to role play characters. As the site says (and I know from experience!), everyday spoken French is often very different from that which you learn in the classroom, so exposure to colloquial French is essential. The animations are quite humorous and cute.
Bonjour de France. An "interactive magazine" for all levels of learner, to practice and learn French. The site includes comprehensions (using audio clips), grammar, idioms, business French, and many other learning resources. Each section has interactive exercises.
Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers
Dicos d'or. A site full of resources for learners of French at all levels, including exercises, grammar info, tests, contemporary language, and a "mot du jour". Run by the French glossy weekly L'Express, the site requires cookies to be enabled on your browser.
Encyclopédie Project. A project to develop an online version of Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des métiers et des arts. There's a description of the encyclopedia and its history, and a prototype search form.
Evangéline: The Website. A site dedicated to the history, culture, and language of the Cajun people of North America, with a particular focus on Longfellow's poem Evangéline. To view the animations and video clips on the site you need Quicktime Player. Text in French and English.
L'Express. The French glossy current affairs weekly online.
Fle.fr. A directory of language schools and courses teaching French as a foreign language, both public and private, and a collection of well-annotated resources for French teachers sorted by type. Website text mainly in French, with some pages in English, German, and Spanish.
French Language Course. French for beginners in 9 lessons, with a few audio files (.wav). (This is the course maintained by Jacques Léon and formerly hosted at Teleglobe in Canada.)
Frenchlearner.com. This site provides a large number of embedded video clips for learners of French, though the video mainly comprises text and voiceover. The clips/lessons are divided into sections: Basic Phrases, Grammar, Verbs, Vocabulary and Songs. Page text backs up the video content.
FrenchLesson.org. A site chock full of resources for learners of French at all levels, comprising three sections:
- Grammar Guide: detailed grammar references and exercises
- Interactive Readings: texts with hyperlink and audio annotations
- Interactive Pictures: a 'pictorial dictionary' with hyperlinks and audio clips (eg 'les animeaux de mer')
The site is run by a non-profit organisation reliant on native speaker volunteers to donate content, which through its work "hopes to strengthen the bonds between civilizations and people". You can also register, for free, to customise your learning experience (eg, build personal vocabulary lists) and receive notification of site updates. An excellent and free collaborative resource, and well worth supporting. Recommended.
French Resources on the Net. A list of links to French Internet resources, sorted by type.
FUNAMBULE. Apprendre et enseigner le français avec TV5. French exercises based on downloadable RealVideo excerpts from TV5. Recommended.
An Intermediate Guide to French. Grammatical tutorials for intermediate learners of French, including Java exercises.
Internet Resources for French Studies. An extensive collection of categorised and annotated links to selected sites of interest for teachers and learners of French, put together by the School of Languages and Literature at the University of Ulster.
John McCafferty's French Study Pages. Exercises (mostly non-interactive text) for beginner and intermediate-level students, verb pages with extensive grammatical details of French verb tenses and endings, and a section with recorded (RealAudio format) interviews in French and Spanish, one or two with transcripts.
Learn French. A deceptively large site for learners of French, with a lot of text content and interactive Flash games in a range of categories, including words, verbs and phrases. This is part of a larger Learn a Language site with various other available languages, including Russian and Japanese.
Learn French with Inspector Roger Duflair. Online murder mystery for learners to solve. Working through the program users read and listen to texts which offer clues and then carry out a range of exercises testing comprehension and allowing them to practice their grammar and vocabulary.
Le Monde Diplomatique. The French left-wing weekly paper online
.Le Monde Interactif. Online version of the French newspaper, including Le Monde Diplomatique.
Libération on the Web. The online version of the French daily newspaper.
Liens pour l'enseignement du français. Internet resources for teachers of French at all levels and ages, sorted by type.
Lire Français. French reading exercises based on articles in the online version of the Bordeaux newspaperSud Ouest.
MinistÉre de la culture et de la francophonie
Papier-Mâchés: French writing workshop. An interactive tutorial designed for college students and individual language learners who want to improve their French writing skills outside of the classroom setting. Any user can access the program online, and at no cost. Papier-Mâchés offers two writing workshops: Artisan (intermediate advanced level) and Pénélope (advanced level). Examples of student work are posted on the third section of the program, Mille pattes. The content was developed the the Department of French at New York University. The site requires free registration to use, and the materials are made available under a Creative Commons licence.
Paris Match. The French glossy picture magazine online.
Paris Pages. Information on the city and its culture, in French and English versions.
Radio Canada. Up to the minute news and live RealAudio broadcasts.
Radio France. Includes RealAudio clips of news broadcasts.
Le Soleil. The Quebecois newspaper online.
Study in France. A very detailed guide to the practicalities of studying in France, for any subject, with a particular focus on higher education institutions. There's information on why study in France, how to apply for courses, accommodation and daily living, and much more.
Sud Ouest. The online version of the Bordeaux-based newspaper.
Le TLF informatisé. A very sophisticated monolingual French dictionary, with full definitions and etymologies of words. You can choose to use a sophisticated Java-driven, and very user-friendly, interface which greatly simplifies use of the dictionary, and you can also look up terms in other monolingual French dictionaries online. A resource suitable more for researchers and teachers than students. Recommended.
WordProf. Online interactive French vocabulary tests and lessons. (This site is a bit 'iffy' in Netscape, but is ok in Internet Explorer.)
WordReference.com French-English Dictionary. It returns full definitions of words, multiple definitions when words have multiple meanings (eg "present"), and phrases and expressions using the word. You can also translate words on a web page simply by double-clicking them. There are also Italian, Spanish, and German versions of WordReference.
Zut! Interactive exercises for French teachers and learners, from beginners to advanced, organised by UK school year - the advanced and intermediate sections might be of use to university teachers and students. Some of the exercises incorporate audio clips with native speakers, and some are designed to be used with an interactive whiteboard.
Links on this page last checked: 15/02/20
Page last modified: February 15 2020