Internet resources for learning French

The links on these pages offer a series of Internet starting points for learners and teachers of French. They will be especially useful for learners studying at University level and will also be of interest to learners of other languages.

The links cover the following categories:

• TV and news 
• Reference and study 
• Science and technology
• Arts
• Social Science 
• Education 
• Sport and Leisure 
• Institutions 
• About France and the Francophone World 
• General
• Search engines 

  TV and news

• Revue de la presse française- 6 week archive of news items
• French Language News and Magazines- a list of over 50 general and specialist titles
• Gigapresse – a portal of international, national and regional francophone newspapers and magazines
• France Info  - Website of the major public news radio station with free audio archives
• Le Canard enchaîné – France’s No.1. weekly satirical paper
• Charlie Hebdo- "des dessins satiriques et de véritables articles de réflexions..."
• Bakchich Info – ‘Informations, enquêtes et mauvais esprit’ : dark-humoured, satirical coverage of current affairs
• Le Figaro – daily national newspaper with weekly thematic supplements
• Le Monde- daily news and 'dossiers' covering a number of topics
• Libération- a selection of news and 'petites annonces'
• Le Monde diplomatique- political news and archives dating back to February 1995
• Paris Match- news and photos plus online discussion forum
• Marianne – a national weekly current affairs magazine
• L’Express – an accessible weekly current affairs and comment magazine, updated daily and including excellent thematic dossiers
• Le Nouvel Observateur – a weekly current affairs and comment magazine, updated daily
• ELLE- the online version of the monthly magazine
• Marie Claire – the website of the monthly fashion magazine
• Cosmopolitan – ‘le magazine féminin mode et sexy’
• Canal +- programme listings and cybernews
• La Cinquième- French educational tv
• TF1 
• France 2- programme times, magazine and six week news archive
• France 3- programmes and video links
• M6
• Arte – France’s terrestrial arts and documentaries channel
• TV5 Monde – News and views about the francophone world including games, sports and arts coverage
• Radio France internationale – News and views about the francophone world including news bulletins in ‘français facile’

 Reference and study

• Lexilogos – A wealth of different dictionaries (monolingual, bilingual, etymological, biographical, place names, synonyms, quotations etc)
• Mediadico – User-friendly two-way bilingual dictionary, word games, an anagram-generator, quotations and idiomatic expressions
• Trésor de la langue française informatisé (TLFI) – A sophisticated lexical resource enabling you, amongst other things, to check spelling by typing in the approximate pronunciation
• IATE – Interactive Terminology for Europe - a database of official and technical terms in the languages of the EU
• OrthoNet- "Orthonet dépanne, informe, corrige, explique, raconte…”  An excellent range of strategic grammar and vocabulary reference tools
• L’Internaute encyclopédie – a large range of useful lexical, factual and linguistic tools and up-to-date reference materials
• Cours de phonétique de la section de linguistique de l’Université de Lausanne
• Bescherelle Verb Conjugator
• French Grammar Central – An abundance of links to  grammar explanations and exercises
• La Grammaire de l’absurde – Very comprehensive set of grammar resources designed by the University of Texas (d’où ‘Tex’s French Grammar’…)
• Expressio – ‘Les expressions françaises décortiquées’ : a wealth of idiomatic French expressions and their meanings and origins
• La Lettre - Letter-writing resources including models, advice and inspiration from a user-friendly searchable database
• Linguistes – An introduction to French linguistics
• Langue régionales et minoritaires – The official charter relating to France’s regional and minority languages’ policy
• Wikipédia – French version of the collaborative encyclopedia
• Le Grand répertoire des centres de français en France (FLE) – The ever-growing list of validated French as a Foreign Language teaching centres in France

 Science and technology

• CNRS – France’s national centre for scientific research, the country’s largest government-funded research organization
• Directory of National Science and Engineering Schools – a comprehensive list of links to France’s distinguished écoles nationales and supérieures
• Observatoire de Paris- astronomical maps, information and pictures.
• Institut national de la recherche agronomique 
• Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale 
• Institut national d'études démographiques- "Mortalité, santé, épidémiologie".
• Institut Pasteur 
• Observatoire des Sciences de l’Univers at l’Institut universitaire européen de la mer (IUEM) – European oceanographic and earth sciences research centre
• Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer 
• Météo-France- maps and meteorological data
• La Recherche – France’s biggest science weekly
• Sciences et Avenir – National weekly science and environment magazine
• Science and Technology Magazines – A comprehensive list of links to French-language science publications, both popular and academic

 Arts

• Télérama – France’s top quality weekly TV listings magazine accompanied by cutting edge critical reviews of the latest in new media, radio, TV, film, theatre, music, books, exhibitions etc
• Guide to Current French Culture – keep up-to-date with the vast array of cultural events in France, including dance, theatre, architecture, fine art, literature and languages…
• Culturebox – Over 500 good quality videos relating to current trends and events in the cultural world
• Ministère de la culture et de la communication
• Videomuseum- "un consortium de 42 musées et collections publiques françaises d'art moderne et contemporain"
• La base Architecture-Mérimée- the national database of France’s monuments of historical interest comprising over 180 000 entries
• Fabula – news and output from a research group of some of France’s leading academics in the fields of literature and literary theory 
• Hapax: Arts-related French and francophone resources on the Web - this portal is no longer updated but still contains useful live links
• WebLettres – teaching and learning resources for French literature and advanced French language usage
• le serveur de Poésie française de la société Webnet 
• Lire – News, reviews, interviews, profiles and excerpts from the French-language literary world
• Ebooks libres et gratuits – eBooks in French language available for free download
• Livres pour tous – Over 5000 eBooks for free and legal download
• Francophone Music – Videos, charts, shows, concerts etc
• EuroDocs: History of France- archives of primary documents from the Capetians and the crusades to the present day

Social Sciences

• Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (Insee) - France’s national statistics agency
• EuroDocs: Legal and Governmental Documents 
• Ministère de la Justice et des Libertés – the government website with links to the structure of the French legal system
• EUROPA Opinion publique – Analyses of public opinion in the EU and a searchable eurobarometer database
• Institut national de prevention et d’éducation de la santé (Inpes) - France’s public health agency
• L’Expansion – A monthly business and economics magazine of specialist and general interest

 Education

• Ministère de l’Education nationale - government body for pre-school to lycée
• Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la recherche - government body for Higher Education and Research
• L’Enseignement supérieur en France – a clear and detailed overview of the structure of Higher Education in France including many useful links
• L’Etudiant – online magazine with a vast array of resources for school and university students aged 16+
• Alphabetical List of French and Francophone Universities 
• Collèges et Lycées sur le Web en France – Organised by ‘académie’ (regional education authority)

 Sport and Leisure

• Ministère de la Santé et des Sports – France’s state body for sport
• RTL-Sport – The text and audio sports columns of France’s RTL radio station on-line
• Eurosport – the French version of the TV channel including video, live TV and radio coverage of major sporting events
• L’Equipe – National sports newspaper online containing video clips, TV and text
• FFF – French Football Federation’s official site
• Le Tour de France – videos, interviews, maps and weather forecasts for France’s biggest annual sporting event
• The Dakar – Archives and updates relating to the famous rally raid, formerly known as the Paris-Dakar, which currently takes place in South America
• Loisirs en France – a comprehensive alphabetical list of links to almost every leisure activity conceivable in France from abbeys to zoos
• Guides Petit Futé – the website to accompany the eponymous series of domestic and foreign travel guides including searchable databases, reviews and downloadable iPhone apps…

 Institutions

• Assemblée Nationale - the site of the lower house of the French parliament: a wealth of information about policies and papers of current debate as well as an online shop where you can buy a pair of socks or oven gloves bearing the official insignia!
• Sénat  - the site of the upper chamber of the French parliament
• Le site du Premier ministre et du Gouvernement 
• Le site du Président de la république
•  Le Ministère de la Justice 
• Institutions de la France - fiches thématiques, animations, commentaires et infographies
• Service-public.fr – French administration website
• Académie française – The official website of one of France’s oldest institutions

About France and the Francophone World

• Ministère des Affaires étrangères et européenes – An excellent selection of videos, photos and texts 
• La France- A drag-and-drop activity to test your geographical knowledge of the regions of metropolitan France with additional information
• Ministère de l’Intérieur, de l’Outre-Mer et des Collectivités Territoriales – The overseas section of the official government site
• La France d’Outre-mer en 2009 – An excellent thematic dossier from the ‘documentation française’ series
• Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) – ‘La voix de la diversité’ : historical and current news, facts and figures relating to the francophone world
• Paris Info – The capital’s official online tourist office
• FranceGuide – A comprehensive online guide to regional and overseas France
• Travelling Around Paris and Ile-de-France – The official site of the RATP
• Travelling Around France by Train – The official site of the SNCF
• Bison Futé – The driver’s friend on French roads: up-to-date travel information about roadworks, restrictions, closures etc  

 General

•  HAPAX: French Resources on the Web- categories include: Cinema, Culture, Education, Embassy Servers, Especially for Students, Gastronomy, Government, History, Humour, Language, Law, Libraries, Literary Criticism and Theory, Literature, Music, News, Political Science and Economy, Science, Sports, Tourism, Transportation
• BBC Languages: French

Search engines

• French Yahoo
• French Google