Learn French

Anyone looking to improve their French should think about trying Fluent French Audio and/or Bien-dire Magazine. Both offer the user more than just French lessons. Fluent French Audio is full of everyday people talking about French life and events. Bien-dire is a glossy magazine full of short articles on French culture, history, politics, etc.

The issue I tried of Fluent French Audio had 5 articles. One was an interview with a decorator at the Strasbourg Christmas Market. As I had lived in Strasbourg for two years I found this interview interesting.

Along with hearing the interview the Fluent French booklet had the French text along with an English translation. The English translation was below the French and matched either word for word or in groups of words to the French. This made understanding any unknown words or phases easy.

Something else I liked about Fluent French Audio was that along with the booklet, there were not one, but three CDs. One had the articles spoken at normal speed whereas another had the articles spoken at a pace slowed down by 25%. I found this an interesting twist and good for those at lower levels. The third CD had listen and repeat exercises where some of the more difficult words that English speakers have problems saying correctly were spoken slowly, syllable by syllable.

The Bien-dire issue I looked at had a number of interesting features including an interview on an artist that had transformed a house into a ‘dwelling of chaos.’ The second page of the magazine had short news articles about France. There was also an article about the Château of Chambord.

As with Fluent French Audio there was a CD that had audio of the articles. Each article of Bien-dire was short, only one was longer than a few pages. Each page had a vocabulary box on it. This made it quick to understand unknown words.

Both Fluent French and Bien-dire are designed for the intermediate and advanced learner of French. The Fluent French web site has other material for beginners. For more information pelease see - Fluent French Audio.