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Language Learning Resources: French

Language Learning Resources at Willamette University

Bonjour! (/bɔ̃ˈʒur/)

Bonjour et bienvenue! If you are pursuing interests into the French and Francophone world at Willamette, you have come to the perfect place.

Through My French Space on WISE we offer a vast amount of online resources for learning French and the Francophone world. On top of that, there are resources in the Digital Learning Studio (Ford Hall 101) and you have 24/7 access with your Willamette ID card. 

You can sign up for tutoring with the French tutor through WISE. Tutoring is available throughout the weekdays. Check out Willamette’s French and Francophone Studies to learn more about our wonderful professors and the opportunities available for students.  

If you are planning on studying abroad, the DLS has put together a list of helpful resources and ideas of things you can be doing now to prepare you for your prospective country.

(* = on-campus specific tool)

French Resources

Music

  • Radio France Internationale MusiqueRadio France Internationale Musique is a great website devoted to French music and its latest events. In French or in English, read about and listen to French music.
  • Listen Live to Radio France Internationale MusiqueListen to the international French radio live. Discover French music from all over the world.
  • Radio NovaListen to Nova, a French radio station playing music that French youth like. It is mainly rock, electro, reggae and jazz. Discover during the day what is being played at night for the French!
  • Radio FranceThe Radio France website provides access to 7 different radio stations. No English
  • version is available but music does not need translation.
  • Afropop.org
    • music from Francophone Africa
    • free song download of the day
    • live radio streams from multiple countries

Francophone Africa

  • Le QuotidienA daily independent Senegalese newspaper online, here you will find all the major stories of the day in Senegal, as well as links to stories of interest around the rest of Africa.
  • Senegal Aisement.com: A site all about Senegal with an interactive map of the country, regional information, weather, pictures, videos, sports, music, literature, food--just about everything!
  • AllAfrica.com: Leading news stories from all over Africa, covering politics, economics, sports, and more. The most recent stories greet you as you enter the site; do a regional or thematic search to find archived stories.
  • Africa and Women Authors: A great page of African Women writers, their autobiographies, some of their short works and poetry, and information about their home countries with further links.

French Culture and Music

  • Frenchculture.org - The World of French Culture and Education in the USA: This website, all in English, is devoted to French culture in the US . Find everything about art, books, cinema, education, music, news, performing arts, TV, radio, and even a regional calendar of French related events!
  • France.com - The Definitive Guide: Discover all about French culture from its regions, to its economy or history. It is all about French culture and traveling. This website will be of a great help if you are planning on traveling in France.
  • French Food and Cook: What about discovering all about French food and French cooking? Try one of the recipes...you can do it in English as well as in French.

Art

  • Discover France! - Art and Architecture: A website that will explain French art simply. You can select an art period or topic, or an artist or architect. You can extend your research to literature, music, theatre, dance, etc...

WordReference.com: This online dictionary will give you French-English translation or English-French translation. It will also conjugate any verb for you and has an online forum where you can look up or ask grammar questions. This dictionary is so helpful to have open while writing papers or reading assignments. There is a tab on WISE that links you to this site or you can go directly to: (www.wordreference.com/enfr/go).

  • Quizlet - Quizlet's flashcard function can help you study for tests and learn new words. And the best part is: you don’t have to spend all that time and paper writing them down! Create flashcards or search Quizlet’s flashcard database. You can practice them online or download them to your personal computer. Studying just got way easier.
  • BBC French - A resource that aids with contextual vocabulary, including audio pronunciation, games, and videos.
  • Larousse: They have a dictionary, a synonym dictionary, and a conjugator. They have a quiz option as well!

  • Frenchculture.org: The World of French Culture and Education in the USA
  • Le MondeFrench-language newspaper
  • 1 jour 1 actu (1 day 1 news): They post one new story each day. Aside from written news, you can also find videos, podcasts and even games on a variety of subjects to make your learning even more engaging.

  • Lingua: Readings are available for levels A1 (beginner), A2 (upper beginner) and B1 (intermediate). Accompanied by a few multiple-choice questions in French.

  • Language Guide: Readings with audio are available; good for learning pronunciation and reading comprehension. If you scroll over sentences, it translates the sentence.

Bon Patron - Bon Patron is an online text editing database that Willamette subscribes to. What does this mean, you ask? It means Bon Patron will edit your essays for you! Simply copy your writing into the text box, click “Vérifier le texte,” and Bon Patron will check your spelling and grammar. Trust us, it’s much better than Word spell check.

To use *Bon Patron Pro, go to: willamette.bonpatron.com on any computer on campus. You can use the regular Bon Patron from your computer, but the LLC subscribed Willamette campus to a special Pro version with extra features. Taking even 10 minutes to check your paper, your grade will show the difference.

Check out the tutorial.


  • Bescherelle – Write from Dictations: Here, you can listen to short audio recordings in French and fill in the correct words to complete the text. This is an excellent way to combine practicing listening and writing skills in French.

  • Lawless FrenchThis website has resources to help you write and type in French, there are resources about how to type in accents, French writing challenges, and combined listening and writing practices.

  • RFI (Radio France International): A website with audio and script of French News.
  • Le français façile avec RFI (French made easy with RFI): The French news service RFI offers a simplified daily summary of international news in both audio and text format on their website

  • Kwiziq: Practice your French listening with two types of exercises: bilingual readers and dictations. You can pick based on your level of comfort. Bilingual readers are short articles that you can read and listen to at the same time. This type of exercise can be done when you don’t feel like typing.

  • Coffee Break French: Coffee Break French is a spectacular podcast every French learner can use, regardless of their level.

Tutoring - Get essay help, ask grammar questions and practice your language skills with native French speakers! Click “Sign-up” on the left side of WISE to schedule an appointment with your language assistant.

Tex’s French Grammar A website with self-correcting grammar exercises, pronunciation audio and grammar tutorials.

French word processing in the DLS

The DLS at Willamette University, in Ford 101, is a Mac lab with 7 Macs.
Each computer also has Systéme D v.6.0, a writing assistance program for French.

Microsoft Word

PC Windows XP English (United States) Keyboard

1. Typing special characters: to type special characters in Microsoft Word, you must do it in two steps. The first step involves pressing the control key plus other keys simultaneously.

The second step is typing the letter you want. Here is a chart that explains how to type the
various characters:

á - control key + " , then a
à - control key + ~ , then a
â - control key + shift + 6 , then a
é - control key + " , then e
è - control key + %7e , then e
ê - control key + shift + 6 , then e
ë - control key + shift + ; , then e
ô - control key + shift + 6 , then o
æ - control key + shift + 7 , then a
ç - control key + < , then c

2. To use the proofreading tools to proofread in French, highlight the selection you want to proofread; then, go to the "Tools" menu up at the top, go to "Language," and click on "Set language. "Select" French (France)" from the dialog box that appears. Then click on "Spelling and Grammar" under the "Tools" menu to proofread the selection.

Macs, OSX English (United States) Keyboard

á, é, í, ó, ú: option + E + a, e, i, o, u
à, è, ì, ò, ù: option + ~ + a, e, i, o, u
ä, ë, ï, ö, ü: option + U + a, e, i, o, u
â, ê, î, ô, û: option + I + a, e, i, o, u
ç: option + c
Œ: option + q

OR

(Mac OS 9 only)

  1. Click on the Apple in the top left of the screen.

  2. Single click "Keycaps". A little keyboard will appear on the desktop.

  3. Hold down the option key- the accents will apear.

  4. Single click the accent you want.

  5. Type the letter you want accented and it will appear in your document.

OR

Use this website: http://french.typeit.org

Willamette University

Willamette University Libraries

Mark O. Hatfield Library
900 State Street.
Salem Oregon 97301
Pacific Northwest College of Art Library
511 NW Broadway.
Portland Oregon 97209