French · Français

Flagship 19 verified age-safe resources .

About French

Language family
Indo-European, Italic, Romance (Gallo-Romance)
Where it's spoken
France, Canada (Quebec), Belgium, Switzerland, much of West and Central Africa
Speakers
roughly 80 million native speakers and 300 million total

French developed from the Latin spoken in Roman Gaul, layered with Frankish (Germanic) influence, and was standardized around the Île-de-France dialect used in Paris. Colonial and diplomatic history spread it across West and Central Africa, the Caribbean, and parts of Canada, where it remains an official language today. It shares a large cognate vocabulary with the other Romance languages.

Resource Type Levels Cost Verified
FSI French course
Public-domain FSI French courseware — hub anchor.
course free A1-B1 free 2026-07-22
Live Lingua French library
Public-domain course downloads with audio where available.
course free A1-B1 free 2026-07-22
DLI GLOSS French
Search GLOSS for authentic reading/listening lessons.
course free B1-C1 free 2026-07-22
Pimsleur French
Audio-first paid path — monetizes long-tail hubs.
course paid A1-B1 paid 2026-07-22
FrenchPod101
Pod101-style lessons; lifetime-cookie affiliate program.
course paid A1-C1 freemium 2026-07-22
italki French tutors
Speaking practice marketplace.
tutoring A1-C2 paid 2026-07-22
Wikipedia French
Open reading practice by topic.
reading A2-C2 free 2026-07-22
Forvo pronunciations
Native-speaker pronunciations.
reference A1-C2 freemium 2026-07-22
Omniglot writing system overview
Script and orthography orientation.
reference A1-B1 free 2026-07-22
TV5Monde Apprendre
Free leveled French lessons from Francophone TV.
course free A1-C1 free 2026-07-22
RFI Savoirs / Journal en français facile
Slow news French from Radio France Internationale.
listening A2-B1 free 2026-07-22
France 24
International news in French.
listening B1-C2 free 2026-07-22
Le Monde
Major French newspaper.
reading B2-C2 freemium 2026-07-22
Easy French
Street interviews with subtitles.
youtube channel A2-B2 free 2026-07-22
InnerFrench
Comprehensible podcasts/videos for intermediates.
youtube channel B1-C1 free 2026-07-22
News in Slow French
Slowed news with transcripts.
listening A2-B2 freemium 2026-07-22
WordReference French
Dictionary + forums.
reference A2-C2 free 2026-07-22
Larousse
French monolingual/bilingual reference.
reference B1-C2 free 2026-07-22
Babbel French
Beginner starter path.
course paid A1-A2 paid 2026-07-22