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French · Français

Guided 96 resource listings .

French has full A1–C2 paths and on-site tools on this site — start with the level that matches your speaking, not your reading vanity. Last reviewed 2026-08-01

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.

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

Related languages: Spanish Italian Portuguese Romanian

How to start

  1. Pick one free course (or free-with-upgrades) below and finish a short beginner unit before hopping apps.
  2. Bookmark one dictionary or grammar reference and look up every unknown word for a week.
  3. Add 10–15 minutes of listening most days — news, radio, or a teaching channel.
  4. Drill vocabulary with First 500 words , then situational lists in topic decks .
  5. Go deeper with the Language Hacks – French series · Buy on Amazon.
  6. When ready, use a tutor marketplace listing below for short speaking sessions.

Practice on this site

Deep links into trainers and drills that already cover French.

Language home First 500 words Topic decks Root Explorer Root of the day Cloze practice Conjugation Explorer Quick practice False-friend quiz Register & nuance Collocations Output workshop Media sheets C1 tasks Listening picker

All reading course paid course free listening tool reference youtube channel tutoring

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Resource Type Levels Cost Verified
HelloTalk French
Well-known learning resource.
 tutoring A1-C2 freemium —
italki French tutors
Well-known learning resource.
 tutoring A1-C2 paid —
Speechling French
Well-known learning resource.
 tutoring A1-C1 freemium —
Tandem French
Well-known learning resource.
 tutoring A1-C2 freemium —
Verbling French tutors
Professional online tutor marketplace.
 tutoring A1-C2 paid —

Know a better classroom-friendly resource for French? Suggest it with attribution.