French Resources on the WWW

Un grand MERCI à tous les étudiants de French in Action à l'University of South Florida qui ont contribué à cette page depuis son début sur le web en mai 2000.

VERBS

Spelling and grammar games based on Encarta
Linguaweb: After you click on "French," you can choose from four different levels, from Beginner to Advanced.
They have games and flashcards you can use for verbs or vocabulary. They also have quizzes and a chat area.
General grammar site with exercises and info on articles; the site scores you after you complete the quizzes.
Verb quizzes (present tense) from Swarthmore
This is a fun site that allows you to play matching, concentration and word search with French verbs; there are also Java and Non-Java flashcards available. It is helpful and not too boring!
French learning games for all types of exercises including verbs; select the grammar choice from the second box called "subcategory".
Conjugate any verb by selecting the tense, then entering the verb in the infinitive form.
Passé composé agreement from Duke Univeristy
Etre verbs are covered in reference to the passé composé and the famous "Dr and Mrs Vandertramp" acronym is explained.
Plus-que-parfait and the conditional are investigated for French III students.
Imparfait as explained by the University of Arkansas.

PRONUNCIATION

A "cheat sheet" of quick pronunciation tips for vowels, consonants and nasal sounds, this site also gives the viewer examples of English words where these French sounds are used.
France Keys assists with pronunciation, although its primary function would seem to be directed at traveling in France. It does, nonetheless, work through Real Player 7 so that you can hear your requested selections. There is also an option to select from a drop down list of choices to assist you in navigating through France such as: hotel reservation center, maps, sightseeing, etc.
Jump Gate has great native-speaker audio files to help with pronunciation.
LDS Missions has developed this site for prononciation; it does not have .wav files like most of the pronunciation websites I found, but I thought its explanations were more useful. It gives you all the rules for pronunciation, like when to pronounce the consonents depending on what letters they come before or follow...for example, when a "C" should be pronounced as an "S" or a "K".
BBC Languages - French is outstanding. The best part of this site is the Accents d' Europe. You can follow along with the news reports from French radio. There is also a special vocabulary section highlighting some of the words used.

CULTURE

Franceway.com shows EVERYTHING. Hotels, politics, tours, you name it. It got me so interested, I began shopping for hotel deals in Paris.
French filmmaking is amazing, and their films are some of the best in the world, studied by everyone who is serious about filmmaking. The website is in English or French and has tons of info on the films of the past and present, all about the directors, actors, reviews, and links.
Culturel.org uses "Say it in French", is a 30-minute method which will breathe new life into all this College French which you THINK will let you down once you reach the hospitable shores of France. It WILL NOT, not if you take the time to say it in French with them.
Photographies.com may not be for everyone, but there are some really great photos of the Métro that reflect a lot on French culture (I spent a lot of time in the métro when I was there.) There are also pictures from soirées and cimetières in Paris that I found interesting.
Culture is a little more difficult to navigate (more text) but I still found my way around fine. Interesting site for the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication.
Frenchculture.about.com is written in English and has links to a newsletter, chat room, recent newsletter articles and a personal guide. You can also check out one of over 20 different interest loinks like art, religion, language,etc. Sign up for a newsletter to be mailed to you! Interesting and informative.
Sunset Radio is a really weird site. Weird, yet interesting. You can select radio broadcasts and music selections from France (and other countries as well). I clicked on the flag for France to start. This leads to other options. Practically every country in the world appears to be represented here so you could have many cultural experiences should you desire. This is a web site you could spend a lot of time at as there appear to be endless choices within.
Peoplegoingglobal.com is an excellent and in-depth detailed informational website. It includes information about the economy, government, and business. The most interesting headings to me are the culture sections, both the history and the contemporary culture. It also offers an interactive forum for those who are interested in a discussion. One last important bonus of this website is the information about radio, TV and newspaper in France. Furthermore, it gives weather updates! Oh, one more thing...if you have had a hard time finding additional sites, this site gives a ton of other links.
Paris Cafe has tons of facts about France, culture and all sorts of other helpful links. You can access the site in either French or English.
Radio France Internationalelets you listen to Radio France, the news. It's really neat, and you will hear familiar words from the lessons.
Scientology Supports Religious Freedom Alert - France 2001 relates to religious issues in France. There seems to be quite an issue with the Scientology religion as well as all other "small" religions. This site is quite interesting and offers a great deal of links on democracy and other related issues. Perhaps a bit serious, but covers issues that I was completely unaware of existing in France.
American Association of French Teachers lets you discover French Culture on the web, with links for listening to French radio and French cultural news from all around the world. You can read a French newspaper and check the weather in France. The coolest thing about it is that you can read all there is going on in Paris this week like the Friday Extra we have in the Tampa Tribune. You can also find a French penpal.
Saint Lucie, an island in the French West Indies, is presented here. It's interesting to read the history, culture, and creole pages on the web site to see how quickly the islanders assimilated to French culture. The entire web site is in French so be prepared. And if you ever have time/money for a vacation, this doesn't look too shabby!
Lire Français is a French newspaper that shows you the articles in French, but as you read the the articles they guide you through the esssential message of the article. It shows the articles in full form with all the explanation of a real newspaper.

SEARCH ENGINES, DICTIONARIES AND OTHER RESOURCES

Lokace is a seacrh engine for all things French. When you click on any given subject, the search engine will provide a list of sites related to that specific topic for you to choose from. Topics include information about specific cities as well as information about France's climate, economy, geography, parks, reserves, and the population. It is easy to lose track of time while exploring this endless resource.
FrenchTutorial.com has a myriad of well-designed short lessons in almost anything you will learn in French class...verbs, pronunciation, numbers, history, and lots more.
Frenchlesson.com, give you a guide to French verb conjugations, as well as interactive excercises which can pinpoint your weaknesses in many areas and direct you to the appropriate section of the guide. It has links to other sites as well.
Thinkquest Beginner's Guide has 10 great basic lessons including the alphabet and numbers, word genders and articles, subject pronouns, basic verbs and conjugations, regular verbs, adjectives, asking a question, future and past tenses, and 101 words in french. Many of the sections offer audio with the lessons and there is a test at the end of each lesson. There is also a section on French culture and a section called "Fun French".
Education Planet provides numerous links to educational web sites for learning French. There is a brief description of all of them, with many helpful resources for both beginning and more advanced students.
Adelaide Library can help you with grammar, pronunciation, anything. It is a resource directory on the web; it's really neat because you can download tons of interactive stuff in real time. As long as you have the capability of downloading it and have speakers and a microphone you should have no problems.
Little Explorer Pictionary is designed for kids, but great for adults! Really helps you understand the concepts when you get confused.
Globegate is very helpful because it gives you a lot of resources about the French language itself. It is all in French and it gives you examples and pictures along with exercises you can do to help your prononciation and memory. It also gives you a bit of history, prononciation of vowels, phonetics, different learning strategies, and there's an audio connection where you can listen to pronunciation of words.
University of Chicago dictionary is a great resource when your glossary just isn't enough.
Parlo lets you can sign up for daily French lessons, and they will send you an email with a new word/verb/term every day with English explanations, practice quizzes and uses in context. You take an assessment and they determine what level speaker you are and send the lessons accordingly.
Sweet Briar Collegehas posted these French-related resources on the web, including pronounciation, grammar, basic phrases, verbs and idioms.
French at about.com is very easy to understand; you just click on any topic of interest and it takes you to a list where you can learn more about it. Well organized and easy to get around in.
BUBL Link not only has a page that will conjugate verbs but has many French lessons and a dictionary as well. The lessons include vocabulary, nouns, verbs and adjectives and includes tests to assess performance.

Return to FIA Homepage