Our editors independently research and recommend the best products and services. You can learn more about our independent review process and partners in our advertiser disclosure.
We may receive commissions on purchases made from our chosen links. Are you interested in learning the beautiful French language? Maybe you already know some French and want to improve your skills. Whether you want to learn French for personal or professional reasons, or even just for fun, there are many offerings out there that can help get you started on your French learning adventure.
Some people who enjoy independent study opt to use a traditional language textbook for learning French, while others go for the more modern approach of using an app to learn the French language. Others prefer to use a French tutoring service. Another approach is to take lessons online. Online classes can be live, one-on-one or group lessons, and they can also be self-paced sessions that you complete on your own. Here, you'll discover the best online French classes to find the one that best fits your needs.
As one of the oldest and most well-known language schools, Berlitz is known for its immersive, communicative style, using and learning language in a natural way for communication. The Berlitz corporation has been hosting lessons at language centers for years, but now you can also take its classes online.
The French classes are taught live by Berlitz-certified instructors, and you can enroll in either private or group classes. There's also a program for online self-paced lessons, called Berlitz Connect, that provides the materials and lessons to study on your own, but you can also schedule minute practice sessions with instructors via video call.
It offers a week online group class that meets twice a week for minute lessons. FrenchPod is a French learning system with audio and video lessons that are based on real French conversations. The classes focus on listening comprehension and pronunciation, and the teachers and speakers vary so that you can be exposed to different voices and speaking styles. A positive aspect of this program is that FrenchPod releases new content every week, so its material is always current and relevant.
The basic plan includes unlimited access to all the audio and video lessons and notes, as well as a list of French core words and phrases. It offers French classes that feature an immersive, culturally rich setting, both in-person and online. The FIAF offers one- and two-week refresher courses, which would be ideal for someone who needs a crash course to brush up on their French before traveling or starting a new job.
A great advantage of the FIAF is that it also offers lessons that are specifically designed for kids 1 to 4 years old and pre-teens and teens 5 to 17 years old at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.
Additionally, the FIAF offers private French lessons for adults, kids, and teens, which can be customized to fit your needs. Rocket French is a language learning program based on interactive audio lessons.
Each lesson is 20 to 30 minutes long and is accompanied by reinforcement activities like games, flashcards, as well as language and culture lessons. The sessions also use voice recognition, so you can practice your pronunciation. Rocket French has a mobile app where you can track your progress and keep practicing.
The company offers a free trial, and after that you have the option to purchase the program and obtain lifetime access to its materials. However, Rocket French usually offers coupons that reduce the price considerably. You can buy each level separately or buy two or three levels together as a bundle. Reviewers who enjoy this program claim the lessons are fun and entertaining and said it's nice to work at their own pace.
If you enjoy learning by listening and repeating, and perhaps you want the flexibility to do the lessons while walking or doing other activities, Rocket French might be right for you. Babbel is a language-learning system that offers 13 different language options.
The Babbel method involves learning through conversation and real-life dialogue. With lessons that are between 10 and 15 minutes long, the company uses realistic scenarios and interactive dialogues to help you learn. Babbel uses the spaced repetition technique to help with long-term memorization, too. That may not sound exciting at first, but Lingodeer offers several different methods in their course to keep you interested. Lingodeer has a better platform for reviewing the vocabulary and for learning the grammar in most reviews.
Course summary: Massive Open Online Course platforms are gaining attention these days and for good reason. University-style courses on a wide variety of topics without the university class price? Courses cover advanced grammar and verb conjugations, and will even help you learn to write a French composition for an AP exam. If you really want a challenge, Coursera offers classes on other topics in French — no English added.
Course summary: Very similar in concept to Coursera, the main differences between edX and Coursera are the number of courses — Coursera has a wider pool — and cost. Where you may have to pay to access features within a free course or buy a course outright from Coursera, edX offers free courses. Course summary: More than a podcast and more educational than your average novel, French Today offers audiobooks ranging in subject and purpose from learning the basics to advanced stories.
The audio learning series for beginner and intermediate levels gives you two speeds of the entirely French story and a PDF transcript in both English and French. This PDF also has a study guide to work you through new vocabulary and grammar. Other audiobooks include subject-specific recordings on things such as pronunciation, poetry, and different grammar topics. These vary in length depending on the topic.
Duolingo functions on a game-style of learning. As you learn new skills you earn experience points to keep your daily streak. Other than the sometimes impractical sentences, there are also exercises with multiple different translations, but only one or two are accepted by Duolingo.
In cases where something should be accepted, users can flag that sentence for admins to review and are often added to the correct solutions. The premium plan takes away adds and allows some features to work on the app rather than just on the website, like testing out of a level. Course summary: Another well-known name in the language learning field is Michel Thomas.
This course uses a classroom learning style, where the English-speaking host and a native speaker teaches two students — there for real students to put themselves in their place. The lessons are well laid out in a logical order. The principle behind the method is a bit strange, however. Course summary: This website is less of a course than it is a resource for all things tricky about French. Each podcast has a variety of subjects alternating between vocabulary, grammar, and cultural information.
Her podcast subjects come directly from listeners who are encouraged to write in their questions. In the meantime, there are hundreds of podcasts to listen to on French Your Way and on French Voices, the sister podcast featuring interviews of native French speakers talking about their passions.
Comme une Francais focuses not only on natural-spoken French but on how to be French. Geraldine has a YouTube channel rich with a variety of topics, all presented in a fun, easy way.
Some classes are limited in the number of students but do have a waiting list. Course summary: Is there a better way to move from book learning and academic principles to thinking in natural French than to listen to real news? Relevant articles about news from French-speaking countries opens the door to the culture of the French-speaking world. There is no teaching per se here and is better suited for people who already have a basic French foundation.
But even the earliest learners can find information to help them learn by immersion. The articles have both slowly-spoken audio and a transcript. Some potentially unfamiliar terms are highlighted and give you a translation when you click on them.
The intermediate offerings are especially large, from politics to lifestyle to historical events and how they changed French culture. Some of the content is even free if you want to try it out. Course summary: Similar in concept to FrenchPod, Ilini is a relative newcomer to the French world. Using short French videos with captions and definitions, Ilini also offers PDF printout exercises to print out. Like FrenchPod the videos cover lots of different topics at all different levels.
Course summary: To improve your pronunciation and diction in French, use Speechling to record and compare your speaking to a native speaker. By mimicking native speakers lower level learners hear where their pronunciation needs improvement. Speechling is free to use, but the Unlimited plan adds a teacher review and correction to the automated recording comparison.
When you sign up for Speaky you select your native language and the language you want to learn, in this case, French. Speaky is like social media for polyglots; you can message anyone to start a conversation. For others, friendships are an added bonus. Speaky is free to use but has a premium subscription option that adds features like added search filters and no ads. Lingoda offers online classes like you were actually in a classroom with other students.
Once you sign in to the classroom platform, you have access to the library of classes. The classes are live and are offered at all different times, midnight to midday and back again. The amount of material covered in your chosen class depends a lot on your classmates and how comfortable you and they feel with the covered material.
As you can see by now, the internet is full of stellar and not-so-stellar resources for French learners. To choose the best online French course depends greatly on the person learning French and how they learn best.
Overall here are my top picks:. Courses: For a combination of value and valuable content, I would go for Coursera for more advanced learners, and Rocket French for all levels as the all-purpose best online French course.
For immersion into full French podcasts and videos, Ilini is my choice. Just remember: Even with the greatest French course in the world, you still need the right mindset and commitment to succeed. Of course, it needs to be said that you can have the greatest resource in the world and still not learn effectively with it.
In addition to quality course content, make sure you're using French frequently with native speakers. If you don't have access to French speakers, I highly recommend italki. Parlez-vous Francais? Voudrais-vous apprendre parler Francais? The Internet is full of options for online French courses, but which do you choose? One last word before we dive in: take these reviews with a grain of salt.
What works for one person may not work for another. Ideal for learners who love structure Extremely comprehensive Speaking, listening, reading and writing are evenly covered. The app supports more than languages, and their community of speakers includes more than 20 million people.
Their methodology is unique, since it consists of a language exchange where you learn from a French speaker while you teach them your own native language. The benefit of that is you get exposed to the language and culture from real speakers of French. There are several ways of interacting, such as through text, voice recordings, voice calls, and video calls. During these conversations, you can get built-in help with pronunciation, translation, grammar correction, spelling, etc.
The app also includes language courses and live French classes. Babbel is one of the most popular apps for learning a language.
Babbel offers 14 languages, and French is one of them. It is a conversation-based app, which means that the focus is to get you speaking from the beginning, using real conversations about everyday topics. They claim that you can be talking about basic topics after just one month of using their program. Babbel is organized in minute lessons, so that you can fit it into your busy schedule.
Some of their features are speech recognition technology to help you with your pronunciation, grammar tips, and review activities. Babbel also tracks your progress so that you can see how much you are learning. If you want to try it out, the first lesson is free. It uses both visual and audio memorization to teach you vocabulary, phrases and verb conjugations. As you advance, you can unlock bonus content which will keep you motivated.
The method adapts to your needs and provides the right spaced repetition for your learning needs. They claim their content is the equivalent of four years of high school French. The Memrise app offers 16 different languages, and one of them is of course French. The Memrise system makes language-learning fun by mixing technology and science with real-life language content, using audio, images, and memory techniques, such as flashcards.
Their memory-based methodology helps you learn new concepts by teaching you to make connections between words and concepts. Another great feature is the Learn with Locals video clips, where you can watch and listen to real native French speakers.
Then you can also record your own pronunciation and compare it with that of native speakers. Busuu is a language-learning system that offers 12 different languages, including French. Their French courses include grammar, vocabulary, speaking, writing, reading, and conversation activities. They have a wide variety of topics for you to choose from and their machine-learning technology allows for personalized lesson plans and practice using speech recognition.
Busuu is unique because of its social feature, where you can connect with millions of other language learners and French native speakers who can give you instant feedback. For example, you can do writing and conversation exercises which you can then send off to obtain feedback.
The Busuu program includes several levels of French instruction, plus a French for Travel course and a French Pronunciation course. The Nemo program contains apps for 34 different languages!
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