The French Podcast

Want to work on your French listening and comprehension skills? The French Podcast is a website maintained by a Bilingual French couple living in Lyon. Their goal? To bridge the gap between what you learnt at school; by listen to their audio files, you'll get a good handle on speaking French fluently and naturally.

The website provides an audio conversation and a transcript so you can follow along with the conversation. Marie and Paul speak at a good pace and have excellent pronunciation. They talk about several things such as the lottery, England, sports, etc. I think it's useful if you not only listen to French speakers, but then go ahead and translate the vocabulary words which you are unfamiliar with.

The French Podcast is updated weekly. So what are you waiting for? Click here to visit the site.

How to Start Learning French

This is a comprehensive beginner's guide about how to start learning French. Learning a new language can be daunting at times; this article will discuss where to begin learning French, what materials and topics to start with.

Where to begin?

I think the first step to learning a new language is to start with key vocabulary. Remember that throughout the whole process, pronunciation and retention of the material you learn (practicing), are extremely vital. IF you learn something incorrectly, then you'll have a super hard time fixing your error down the road (for example, you get into the habit of mispronouncing "Bonjour" (hello).. it will take less work to learn it right the first time and more effort to correct yourself).

Vocabulary (verbs, nouns, and adjectives, etc) are the basis of any sentence or conversation. Here are some common French topics which beginner French classes often focus on (and thus, you should focus on too):

L'Union Libre (Ma Femme) - André Breton

Voila, un poème sur une femme par le surréaliste André Breton. Ce écrivain était s'initie aux théories de Freud. Dans son Manifeste Du Surréalisme, Breton a voulu trouver ses pensées inconscientes... il écrivit sans sujet préconçu. Il y a beaucoup d'anaphores et métaphores dans ce poème.
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Ma femme à la chevelure de feu de bois

Aux pensées d'éclairs de chaleur

À la taille de sablier

Ma femme à la taille de loutre entre les dents du tigre


Ma femme à la bouche de cocarde et de bouquet d'étoiles
 de dernière grandeur

Aux dents d'empreintes de souris blanche sui- la terre blanche


À la langue d'ambre et de verre frottés

Ma femme à la langue d'hostie poignardée

À la langue de poupée qui ouvre et ferme les yeux

A la langue de pierre incroyable

Ma femme aux cils de bâtons d'écriture d’enfant

Aux sourcils de bord de nid d'hirondelle

Ma femme aux tempes d'ardoise de toit de serre

Et de buée aux vitres