Updated on March 1, 2024
The 10 best resources to learn French and hit your language goals
If you’re on the path to learning French, that’s fantastic! Hopefully, you’ve found a great course and engaging, knowledgeable instructors. But no matter how good your classes are, there’s always room for supplementary french learning resources—after all, learning shouldn’t stop when your class does.
If you’re asking yourself, “What’s the best website to learn French?” you’ll be happy to know that there are lots of great ones! Thanks to the internet, there’s no shortage of online resources for learning French so you can boost your skills—from listening to grammar and everything in between.
In the list below, we go through some of the best resources to learn French. Whether you’re a beginner who’s learning basic phrases or an advanced speaker, you’ll find something that’s right for you.
Coffee Break French is a useful podcast for learners of any level. Podcast episodes are divided into Season 1 (Beginners), Season 2 (Intermediate), Season 3 (Upper Intermediate), and Season 4 (Advanced). These lessons feature various French-language topics; many are presented via stories of characters in different scenarios.
Learners can also choose from other content like La vérité éclate toujours, a crime drama for advanced learners, and Coffee Break French Magazine, featuring audio stories about everything from film festivals to comic books.
If you like a more structured experience, the Français facile podcast is for you. Content is divided into categories like pronunciation, grammar, dictation, and reading texts. Each category will take you to several different lessons so you can target the specific areas where you need to improve your skills.
The French en route podcast is a bit of a departure from the typical lesson format. Episodes take listeners to different French-speaking places around the world where true-to-life stories are told by various people (with some vocabulary and background explanations by the host). If you’re interested in not only the French language but also cultural context, this podcast is right up your alley.
Check out the Le Monde website to read daily news stories in French. Covering both local and international news, the site also features categories like culture, economy, and opinions. This is a really useful site if you’re looking to practice your reading comprehension within a real-life context.
Head to the Radio France website and you’ll have your pick of real-world resources to beef up your listening skills. The website offers 24-hour news coverage, regional French news, talk radio shows, music, and more.
The Langue Française section of the TV5Monde website is probably one of the best free resources to learn French. It’s divided into four sections: Découvrir (discover), Jouer (play), Apprendre (learn), and Enseigner (teach). These categories offer a ton of engaging french learning resources like videos, quizzes, practice exercises, and more. Everyone from beginners to advanced learners will find something here.
More advanced learners can go to the website’s main page where they’ll find real-life French content such as news, culture, style, travel, and weather.
[Interested in improving your French reading skills? Look no further than Ebooks libres et gratuits. This website has a huge selection of French reading materials, including novels, poems, and plays. Books can be searched according to title, genre, category, and author. You can download them as PDFs; they’re also available in a couple of e-reader formats. A small donation of 4 to 6 euros per year is encouraged on the home page to keep the site up and running.]
Intouchables (The intouchables) is a French-language movie about an unlikely friendship between a quadriplegic man and his caretaker—two men who come from vastly different backgrounds. The touching story, full of humor and honesty, will keep you hooked from beginning to end.
Plus belle la vie is a soap-opera-like TV show that follows residents of the fictitious neighborhood of le Mistral. Its over-the-top dramatic storylines offer tons of entertainment for those who aren’t looking for anything serious or realistic. With 17 seasons, you won’t run out of episodes to watch when you just need a bit of a break from formal French practice (and an escape from reality).
Tanguy is a quirky comedy featuring a 28-year-old Parisian man living at home with his parents after being promised by his mother that he’d never have to move out. The movie depicts the tension between Tanguy and his parents—who begin to regret their promise—through a lens of classic French humor that will inform and appeal to intermediate learners.
The picks we discussed above are just the start; there are many more online French teaching resources to choose from. And with so many useful and entertaining choices spanning a range of skills and topics, you can tailor your French practice to support your learning needs—while keeping you interested and excited to learn.
Andrea is a Canadian freelance writer and editor specializing in English, e-learning, EdTech, and SaaS. She has a background as an ESL teacher in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. In her free time, Andrea loves hanging out with her husband and son, creating recipes in the kitchen, and reading fiction. She also loves camping and jumping into lakes whenever possible. Learn more about Andrea on LinkedIn or check out her website.
