Here are my most highly recommended resources for learning the French language.
I frequently refer to them in many of the articles I write on this site because I know they’re fantastic and they’ve been crucial to my own learning.
From time to time I use affiliate links for paid products on this site which means I get a small commission for referrals. It doesn’t affect the price of anything but doing so has helped me continue to maintain and improve this site over the last 10+ years as a helpful resource for language learners.
This is one of my favorite online courses which has some of the highest quality French dialogue material available.
Rocket French doesn’t follow a ‘cookie cutter’ approach like other well-known programs such as Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur, and it has a tonne of excellent audio content for all levels ranging from beginner to advanced.
An extremely well-made and very unique French course aimed at teaching French through a unique “story learning method” (StoryLearning).
If you’re looking for a full French curriculum that leads you all the way through to fluency, and are facing difficulties getting your head around how French works, this will definitely help you.
Frantastique is a really unique and highly popular course for French that offers ‘personalized’ lessons which adapt to your needs and skill level.
You receive corrections and exciting new content sent to you daily. Highly recommend this one.
This is an excellent French course in the form of audio podcasts and downloadable lessons.
As well as podcast-style lessons, you’ll find videos, a vocabulary database and dictionary, grammar explanations and various other useful features.
Use code MEZZOGUILD for 25% off any of their course options.
Not too long ago it was really difficult or impossible to practice French without actually traveling to France.
Thankfully, tools like italki have made it possible to connect with native speakers from all over the world to practice or to take personalized lessons over Skype (see my italki review).
The great news is, French lessons over Skype through italki are incredibly cheap compared to most teachers in person (many are as low as $6-8 an hour depending on what language you’re learning!). All the frustration of payments and scheduling is handled brilliantly by italki too which makes it very easy and stress free to arrange sessions.
Lingoda’s an excellent alternative to italki if you’re learning French and want more “structured” lesson control and feedback.
You have the option of choosing one-on-one lessons or small classes, and each lesson is topic-based and highly practical.
It’s very inexpensive too (monthly recurring subscription).
This is another very unique product that improves your fluency through a highly repetitive ‘listen and repeat’ approach.
It is, in my opinion, one of the the most useful tools I’ve seen for training French listening comprehension. Definitely not a conventional course but you’ll be amazed at how effective it is at improving your French fluency if you use it daily (read my Glossika review).
Little Pim: This children’s series is the work of Julia Pimsleur Levine, the daughter of Paul Pimsleur who created the world famous Pimsleur Method for learning languages.
Little Pim is extremely popular and effective at teaching languages to very young kids in a fun way.
French For Children (Catherine Bruzzone): This is an outstanding and very popular book for young children presented by a native French speaker that includes loads of audio with songs and games, as well as full color illustrations and activities.
The Everything Kids’ Learning French Book: I wanted to include this great book here as it’s suited for older kids but is beautifully laid out with lots of activities, dictionary and plenty of detail on the French language.
Mondly is a beautifully designed learning platform (also available as a mobile app) in 33 different languages including French.
It also teaches conversation in a Rosetta Stone-style way.
Read my Mondly review.
Second to Mondly, the Babbel app is quite good for French as a web and mobile app.
If you’re looking for something similar to Duolingo (but more professionally-designed by language experts), then definitely try Babbel.
See my Babbel review.
Pimsleur is a household name and one of the most famous French courses ever made.
It’s a research-backed, proven method that is audio-only and gets you speaking quickly through spaced-repetition of situational phrases.
One of my personal favorites.
Read my Pimsleur review.
LingoPie is an outstanding library of high quality, interactive TV shows in 6 major European languages, including French.
If you enjoy learning from your favorite sitcoms and other genres, this is your best option.
This is an excellent site for using video to learn French where you can control the speed of playback and select words from the subtitles for definitions.
Yabla has recently had some major improvements and new video content added making it well worth a try (I wrote a Yabla review here).
This is a fantastic tool for learning French using subtitled video (check out my FluentU review).
It has many of the same features as Yabla but a wider array of video content to choose from.
Memrise: This is an outstanding online vocabulary training tool that lets you select French ‘courses’ to study (or create one yourself). Many of the courses also include audio.
AnkiSRS: A highly versatile flashcard app.
Forvo: If there’s ever a French word or expression that you’ve seen written but don’t know how to pronounce, you can search for it here (or request it) and hear a native speaker pronounce it for you.
Duolingo French: Duolingo is a fun, free and effective way to study French grammar.
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