How to Use the News to Learn French

A great way to learn spoken French is to listen to the news. Although their pronunciation and sentence structure is a little different from everyday French, a newscaster can offer a great start for listening comprehension. I use the news to also work on vocabulary because once I feel that I am comfortable with the language, I start to add more words to my repertoire using various forms of media. This is a great way for immersion if you don’t have the opportunity to visit the country of your target language. I want to share with you my method for improving my French through the news.

1. Give it some time

Allocate about 30 minutes about this process. Learning and retaining vocabulary is demanding, and 30 minutes is enough time to concentrate on the task at hand. I recommend doing this in the morning if you have the time and energy. If you are not a morning bird, doing this in the evening can work as well.

2. News in Slow French

I use an app called Linguistica for this method. I like this app because they offer translations of words or phrases when you tap over the highlighted text. I just choose a topic and then listen to it without stopping the first time around. Don’t think too much, just immerse yourself. The next go around, start taking note of new vocabulary in a journal. Create a chart where you have the word in French, the word in context, and the translation of the phrase in English with the word bolded or underlined. Sometimes, you will see phrases and not a single word. That’s okay, so just put the phrase and leave the word column empty, and you don’t have to bold anything. It should look something like this:

3. Create a flashcard deck

Once you have a vocab list ready, add them to a deck. You can use Quizlet or Anki, or you can get index cards and make physical cards. I recommend using Anki because they have a certain algorithm that promotes spaced repetition. For example, if you get a card correct, they will show up less often whereas if you get a card incorrect, they will show up more often. Physical cards are great to an extent, but keep in mind, the goal is to get the information on the card into your long-term memory. Try out different methods, and test yourself often.

Donc, j’espère que ces conseils vous aideront dans votre parcours. The news will definitely build your vocabulary because it’s meant to convey information to the general audience. I recommend you give yourself a month using this method, and see how it goes. The flashcards will definitely show what gaps you need to fill and what you need to work on. You’ll eventually find a process that works best for you!