Which topics should you listen to? Where can you find materials suitable to your level?
No matter if you can’t tell the difference between a “pain au chocolat” and a “chocolatine” (answer at the article’s end), or if you can ace complex conversations in perfect French, podcasts are essential tools to help you reach your language learning goals.
Online tutoring platforms like AmazingTalker are a great way to strengthen your French skills with certified online French tutors.
Listening to French podcasts is a great way to train your ear to native French speakers, all while deepening your understanding of French culture. You can listen to podcasts wherever you are, whenever you have time, and always remain updated on current events.
With so many podcasts available online, finding materials that best fit your goals can be a daunting task. Should you purchase a monthly subscription? Or should you just listen to free materials? To avoid spending countless hours navigating search engines, here are 10 French Podcast Suggestions that will make your learning journey fun and effective.
Coffee Break French
- Difficulty: For all levels, beginner to advanced
- Topics: Everyday life, travel, cultural expressions
- Available on: Website
Divided into 4 levels, from beginner to advanced, Coffee Break French is the ultimate French learning resource. Each episode teaches French through intriguing stories, providing new grammar points and real-life cultural expressions that can’t be found in conventional textbooks. Access to all these resources is free of charge, making Coffee Break French the perfect choice for low-budget learners.
Learn French by Podcast
- Difficulty: For all levels, beginner to advanced
- Topics: Everyday life, travel, news, politics
- Available on: Website
Focusing on real-life French conversations with methodical explanations, Learn French by Podcast gives you all the learning tools you need, from complete beginner to advanced. Each podcast comes with pdf lesson guides providing vocabulary charts and detailed explanations.
With hundreds of topics to choose from, Learn French by Podcast has a search tool that allows you to find podcasts about topics that attract you the most, which is an especially useful feature in the intermediate to advanced levels (available topics include sports, current events, politics).
Parlez Away
- Difficulty: Beginner
- Topics: Romance, useful expressions, everyday life
- Available on: Website, Apple Podcasts, Android
Perfect for absolute beginners, Parlez Away is Babbel’s own French podcast that follows the journey of an American tourist as he tries to learn his French girlfriend’s mother tongue.
Most episodes focus on greetings and self-introductions, slowly building vocabulary and grammar towards an intermediate to a conversational level. Each episode follows the babble.com
French curriculum, so this might be the perfect option for language learners already familiar with this platform.
JeFrench
- Difficulty: Beginner
- Topics: Travel, everyday life
- Available on: Website
Perfectly designed for the traveler trying to learn as much as possible prior to a trip to France, Je French.com offers a comprehensive series of podcasts in basic vocabulary, pronunciation, and useful expressions.
All lessons are held half in French and half in English, which can be very beneficial to beginner level students.
After listening to all podcasts available for free on JeFrench.com, you will have the necessary foundations to have survival-level interactions on your next trip to France, allowing you to start challenging yourself with intermediate-level podcasts.
French BlaBla
- Difficulty: Beginner/Intermediate
- Topics: Everyday life, pronunciation
- Available on: Website, Apple Podcasts,
Growing tired of beginner-level courses? After having reached a basic understanding of the language, you may start realizing that the French that natives speak to each other are very different from what you have learned so far.
Why are you still failing to understand them? That’s because French people smoothen words out when talking to each other.
A great resource to learn about the differences between textbooks and spoken French is French BlaBla, a free online platform administered by Caroline, a teacher with great English-speaking skills that helps intermediate learners solve all problems they might come across.
Conclusion
And there you have it! Listening to podcasts is the most effective way to enhance your language skills, especially if you don’t live in a French-speaking country.
You can listen to podcasts while doing anything at all, and with the above suggestions, it’s easy to find materials about topics you’re attracted to. Looking for other ways to improve your French?
Try AmazingTalker, an online language learning platform with certified tutors always ready to help. Start taking 1 on 1 French class regularly, and in no time you will be able to tell the difference between a pain au chocolat and a chocolatine: there is none!