French · Français
French with TV5Monde, RFI Journal en français facile, Easy French, and a carefully checked free-and-paid resource list. · 96 checked resources.
- A1–A2 starterFirst steps, free course anchors, beginner media
- B1–B2 plateauSlow news, speaking practice, denser input
- C1–C2 masteryNative broadcasters, newspapers, nuance
- Word roots100 families · open in Explorer
- Quick practiceConjugation · gender · minimal pairs
- Topic decksTravel, work, school, and more — leveled groups
- Resource listFilterable · check dates · classroom-safe
- Word-roots methodThe shared system behind Language Hacks
- Language Hacks booksSeries page on Avery J. Parker Books
- Buy on AmazonAffiliate link · tag studynewl-20
About French
- Language family
-
Indo-European, Italic, Romance (Gallo-Romance) Source: Glottolog stan1290
- 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 Estimate source: Ethnologue language page (fra)
- Writing
- Latin
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.
Speaker counts are approximate orders of magnitude for learners, not census figures. Family labels follow Glottolog-style classification; vitality notes (when shown) follow UNESCO WAL / Ethnologue-style framing and should be re-checked for program planning.
Sources
- ISO 639-3:
fra - Glottocode:
stan1290 - Ethnologue — French (fra)
- Glottolog — French (stan1290)
French beyond one country
French is taught worldwide from a Paris-centered standard, but real speech shifts by country and register.
- France: Textbook baseline. Informal speech drops ne, uses on for “we,” and packs in slang (verlan, youth forms) that exams still under-test.
- Québec: Distinct vowels, vocabulary (char, dépanneur, magasiner), and anglicisms. Formal writing stays close to international French; street French needs Québec-specific listening.
- Belgium & Switzerland: Small number differences and local words (septante, nonante in Belgium/Switzerland vs soixante-dix/quatre-vingt-dix in France).
- Africa & the Caribbean: Huge communities of speakers. Local French mixes with national languages; news French is often clear, while informal speech may include code-switching learners should expect.
For CEFR exams and most courses, aim at international/Metropolitan French first, then add the regional media you actually need.