Online French language resources

THERE is no doubt that having an understanding of French will help you integrate and enjoy your new life in France.

But the days of dog-eared books and reams of paper are on the way out, with the wonderful world wide web offering a vast array of French language resources.

Here are some websites that will help you out that offer text based learning as well as audio and video.

Learn French at About.com
French language tips on grammar and vocabulary updated daily, also features listening exercises, games and a busy forum.

French tutorials
Site offering words and phrases from the very basic level to advanced stages.

French Linguistics
A very plain and simple site that will help you translate French words into English.

French Pod Class
Listen to language lessons as well as music and tips on French living.

Le Patron
Lets you type in body of text and then scans it to check for errors.

Project Gutenburg
Archive of classics from authors around the world, includes the likes of Victor Hugo and Baudelaire.

French Language Packs
Language tips you can install in your mobile phone or iPod.

BBC French Language
A vast resource of texts, games, audio and video that will help you improve your French.

Archives pour tous
Audio and video from the French media service INA aimed at school children and students, but open to all.

Learn French by Podcast
Audio lessons that are free to listen to, with a subscription service for lesson plans.

FreeLang
Computer based dictionaries that translate words from French into many languages and vice-versa.

French Slang - Argot Français
Short and sweet fun site offering colloquial phrases to read but also listen to.

Letter templates for France
Collection of letters for users of public services and customers of banks, shops and a variety of other suppliers.

France TV On Demand
Programmes from state television channels including regular news programmes, but also discussion shows.

Collège de France podcasts
Readings on many subjects from the lecture halls of one of France's finest educational establishments.

Daily Lit books in French
Receive bite sized chunks of a variety of titles either via email or in your RSS reader.

Merci Professeur
Videos offering quick sound bites, delivered in a snappy manner that can become quite addictive.

Mango Languages
Listen to the spoken word covering everything from the most basic phrases to more 'real life' encounters.

LiveMocha
Online courses but also lets you talk and chat with other members to get a real taste of a language.

Digital Dialects
Interactive games that will most probably help people who are at a beginners stage.

And if you have any favourites to add to the list please feel free to leave a comment pointing them out.

Comments

[online books]

It's all related to French, I think this is good site to learning French online and thanks for providing some good links for Online French language resources.

[Jon Bischke]

Another good one to check out is eduFire.com. We've been aggregating a lot of French educational videos and also have dozen of French tutors available to teach one-on-one via video chat.

http://www.edufire.com

[gerry]

Anyone know of a site that streams video like a TV channel to a web browser ? I'm looking for something educational or travel related with a french focus. Many thanks in advance.

[Nicky]

Try this for a useful French language resource; Le Petit Journal is a free monthly e-magazine with lots of free French language resources in it. The sign-up is on http://www.concordefrench.com/le_petit_journal/

[John]

I did find another one, apart from the ones in the comments: http://www.studentteacherexchange.com/ which is completely free and uses chat/video/voice and whiteboards as well. They are new but my guess is they will be booming soon since they charge nothing.

[Pascal]

Hi, this site is useful: http://freefrench.frenchspanishonline.com for beginners!