One great resource for learning French is through podcasts – they’re a great supplement to more traditional French classes and textbooks. One benefit is that listening to natives speaking in French can improve your pronunciation. Some podcasts also provide transcripts, so you can follow along with what is being said. Podcasts that provide information about current events in France can also build your understanding of French culture.
Popular French Podcasts
Here are several high-quality podcasts available for different levels of learners. Some are ongoing programs, and some concluded years ago, but the information they provide is still helpful.
Le Journal en Francais Facile
This is a daily news podcast in French that discusses current events in natural, yet understandable and clearly enunciated French. As well as learning to better understand spoken French, you will also learn about international current events, and will probably notice a different spin on current events, especially if you live in North America, from how your domestic media reports the news. French learners of any proficiency level will benefit from listening to and understanding as much as you are able to the news, but the sheer broadness of the vocabulary used will probably require you to be on at least an intermediate level before you get a good idea of what the reporters are talking about.
Status: Ongoing, unordered
The VERBCast
This is a 20-episode podcast that reviews French grammar, especially, as its name suggests, verbs. It is a complete course.
Status: Complete course, ordered
Learn French by Podcast
This podcast is designed to teach conversational French and basic grammar to people who need to have real conversations with native French speakers. Each podcast comes with a PDF that re-iterates and explains the concepts, vocabulary, and grammar used in each lesson. The situations described are natural, and relevant to those who are traveling to a French-speaking country.
Status: Ongoing, unordered
Learn French with Alexa
This is a concise, fun, and easy to follow podcast aimed at teaching French to beginners in an interesting way. Concepts are explained slowly and repeated so that even the most basic beginner can quickly begin to understand French. Each episode includes a PDF guide to follow along with that explains the grammar and vocabulary being taught.
Status: Last updated March 2022, unordered
When looking for a podcast TO Learn French
When you are deciding where to start, find out if the difficulty level of the podcast progresses over time, as well as whether there is an ongoing story line in the episodes, or whether the episodes in the podcast can be listened to out of order. Some podcasts are designed to be completed courses or complete lessons, while others are meant for new listeners to begin their journey whenever they want!
