learning French

[fiksal]

Howdy,

I am currently learning French and thinking to give it a shot at reading a book or watching a TV show in French.

I tried translated into French tv shows, but that doesn't work, I am immediately reminded of the original language of the show.

So I was thinking maybe something in original French.

Can you folks suggest something?

I have asked the same question in French off topic too

[CBJ]

This is obviously both a personal opinion and a massive generalisation, but in my experience French TV is really not a good place to start. The TV channel schedules seem to be mostly filled with endless panel shows, interspersed with tedious music spectaculars and unfunny comedies. There are some fairly decent documentaries, but that's probably not what you're after. Of the dramas and other series that do appear, many are dubbed American or German shows, and often not particularly good ones at that. You might have better luck with films, but if you're trying to practice your French then you'll clearly need to avoid the subtitled versions.

[esd]

I don't speak French, but this film, The Brand New Testament is pretty good, is funny (I especially liked the priest losing his temper and beating up God when he realised that loon was telling the truth) and is written and acted in French (I had English subtitles).

Bonne chance!

[burger1]

Not sure how well this would work but use skype translator to play a video on one pc and translate to skype running on another pc? So play french program and share the screen on one device and get english subtitles on the second device? Might need to sandbox the web browser to defeat the drm?

French quebec or france french? There's quebec french specific channels/services.

french space series ? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14902026/

If you have netflix can try using unogs to see whats in french on netflix. Might not differentiate between quebec and france french.

If you have a region changer can try french tv stations and services.

[clakclak]

Not so much on the TV-Show front but there are a bunch of (subjectivly) good french movies. (CBJ might disagree here.)

Some I would recommand are:

Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain

La Haine

La vie d'Adèle

Wasabi

BIENVENUE CHEZ LES CH'TIS

Also for documentaries you can check out Arte on youtube. It is a French-German channel and they usually upload documentaries and journalism pieces in both French and German sometimes with subtitles in different languages. For example here is there documentary/investigative report about gang issues in Kinshasa in french and here is the german version with English subtitles and here is the fully dubbed german version. It is a bit confusing but offers a wide variety of topics that are covered and may be a good point to start language learning as unlike in a movie there is a focus on information being presented in a clear and understandable way. EDIT: Arte is a European channel, I was under the impression it was French-German but it is more widespread than that, only that audio tracks are mostly provided in French and German and production is done for 80% in France and Germany, but there is a significant influence from other European nations here.

[fiksal]

You might have better luck with films, but if you're trying to practice your French then you'll clearly need to avoid the subtitled versions.

Do you mean skip the French subtitles?

I don't speak French, but this film, The Brand New Testament is pretty good, is funny (I especially liked the priest losing his temper and beating up God when he realised that loon was telling the truth) and is written and acted in French (I had English subtitles).

Bonne chance!

Now that looks fun! Merci! The hard part looks like to find how to buy or stream it...

If you have netflix can try using unogs to see whats in french on netflix. Might not differentiate between quebec and france french.

If you have a region changer can try french tv stations and services.

The skype trick sounds complicated So it can transcribe audio I guess.

It's a thought to just click through everything I find on Netflix. Not sure I hear difference between French Quebec and French yet, I am sure there's one.

Not so much on the TV-Show front but there are a bunch of (subjectivly) good french movies. (CBJ might disagree here.)

Some I would recommand are:

Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain

La Haine

La vie d'Adèle

Wasabi

BIENVENUE CHEZ LES CH'TIS

Also for documentaries you can check out Arte on youtube.

Ah nice, book marking all. Found a free tv station with these too.


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It's a good start, thanks everyone!

[CBJ]

Do you mean skip the French subtitles?

No, I mean avoid versions that are voiced in French but subtitled in English. In principle it would help you understand bits you had difficulty, but in practice you just end up reading the subtitles and don't learn much.

[fiksal]

Do you mean skip the French subtitles?

No, I mean avoid versions that are voiced in French but subtitled in English. In principle it would help you understand bits you had difficulty, but in practice you just end up reading the subtitles and don't learn much.

Ah yes, my head doesn't work that way anyways.

I can't hear one language I understand and read another

[Falcrack]

Not sure how good it is for learning French, but there is a free app you could get on your phone called DuoLingo.

[fiksal]

Not sure how good it is for learning French, but there is a free app you could get on your phone called DuoLingo.

I think it's not good... or rather not good for me. I found Babbel app more my speed

[Chips]

Since you're learning and want to go a bit further but not actually talking with a french person...

Songs.

You can easily find the lyrics in both French and English - meaning you can try to understand what's being said, can see the written and pick out the spoken correspondingly.
Best yet, it's highly memorable, and very very repeatable (short duration).

And not all French music is bad

But honestly, the best may be just watch "French Mornings with Elisa" on Youtube. She won't speak English... but you can turn on the subs (in French or English to suit), to give you time to keep up and immerse (and you can pause, then switch the subtitles between French or English or... to give you time) - while being structured for learning. Also, just happens she's very easy on the eye

I don't know if she has videos where she speaks really slow to give you time to try and discern the words; I find that while i can translate nearly everything she says via the subtitles in French - I just can't keep up with her speaking. And that's why i know the channel, dip in and out to try and just not lose spoken French comprehension Though, realistically, it's gone >.< - the ability to pause, subtitles, back 5seconds, repeat - find it very useful. Not as useful as talking to someone though... because they can pace and speak so slowly you have time - but it may be an okay option before going for TV/Film etc.

[burger1]

There might be browser extensions or options to get french subtitles on netflix?

You can get dvds from your local library or maybe hoopla Canada that might have french options? Never tried it.

Internet archive might have stuff but don't download anything. Also might get "inappropriate" search results.

Youtube might have stuff.

You might be able to download subtitles but that seem like asking for a computer virus.

Tubi tv and crave tv (expensive these days but might have an ad supported version - seems a bit dodgy?) might have french sections?

https://ici.tou.tv/ is french and in Canada

french television stations in canada

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category: ... _in_Canada

Not sure if there's a french version of cbc, ctv, city tv or global tv. Might be required to have french lanmguage options. Ctv has some free movies. CBC, city tv and global tv are more tv programs oriented.

You can go through the list of streaming services in Canada on the justwatch website.

https://www.justwatch.com/ca

On youtube change your language preference to french. Click on the three dots on the right and change language to french. Youtube might also have auto generated subtitles or other options.

If you have a roku or other streaming device there might be french stations/channels

[fiksal]

ah lots of interesting ideas!

didn't consider music, interesting about YouTube and checking all streaming channels.

I haven't dug into those much yet