Want to learn French with Youtube?
There are many ways to learn French. But with so many options out there, which one should you pick?
Youtube has been around for a while now, and since its launch, people have been posting videos in all kinds of languages, which makes it perfect for any language learner.
Why learn French with Youtube
It’s free
Language learning is great and all, but nobody wants to spend a lot of money.
Thankfully, Youtube is still free to access for everyone, even if you do have to watch the occasional ad and close that free trial pop-up.
Pick up what you like
One of the best things about Youtube as a platform is that the amount of content on there is limitless. You can find pretty much any language and every genre on there.
Vloggers, make-up tutorials, animation, drawing tutorials, fashion advice, travel videos, true crime stories, movie analysis, gaming streams and even specified language learning channels.
Whatever it is you are into, you can find it on Youtube and you can find it in your target language.
Real speech
Instead of carefully written language learning podcasts or scripted movies, many Youtube channels are a great representation of what native people sound like when they speak freely or interact with each other. This can be daunting at first, but it is great practice and with the visuals accompanying the sound, it can be a great way to get your language skills to the next level.
Closed captions and playback speed
Some channels offer closed captions with their videos, which makes it a perfect way to practice both your speech and reading skills. It can also help if you aren’t sure what they just said.
Beyond that, you can adjust the playback speed to match your level. Start out slower, and slowly work your way up to real-time speech, or even faster to train your ears.
Cultural immersion
The internet has made worlds that were previously hard to get into easily accessible.
Where you used to have to live in the country of your target language in order to get a peek into the daily lives of native speakers, you can now find thousands of vloggers capturing and explaining their every move on camera.
This makes it a brilliant way to immerse yourself into the culture of your target language. Not only that, but following popular Youtubers might give you something to talk about with native speakers when you do meet them.
It’s fun
One of the most underrated language learning strategies is to make something fun! So many people think learning a language is all about late nights grammar studies and vocab drills.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
Language learning works best if you are actually enjoying it. This will make it easier to be consistent and get daily practice. The more you engage with your target language, the more likely you are to succeed in reaching fluency.
There are many people out there today who speak English because beyond their classroom, they interact with it on a daily basis through various sources like Youtube.
They may have had classes in school, but they wouldn’t actually speak it had it not been for the daily practice and interaction with the language.
The best part being, all these interactions didn’t feel like studying but instead felt like entertainment.
How to learn a language with Youtube
Okay, so we’ve gone over the why, now let’s talk about the how.
Beyond the standard “watch videos and learn”, here are a few strategies that might help your language learning process.
1. Let your algorithm know
Find things you like and subscribe to as many channels as you can. This way, you’re Youtube algorithm will notice your new interest and recommend more videos in your target language.
If you choose to receive notifications, you will also receive little reminders to practice when an interesting video comes along.
2. Improve your pronunciation
Use the videos to try and talk along and improve your pronunciation. In vlog like videos, you can often get a good look at how people move their mouths, and try and imitate those movements.
Often we are very used to pronouncing letters a certain way, but the way a “b” or “l” is pronounced in another language might be slightly different. Pay attention, and see what you can learn.
3. Don’t forget the comments
Look at the comments, leave a comment yourself. If you see something you don’t understand, don’t be afraid to leave a comment saying “hey, I am a language learner, could someone explain this to me?” or ask a native speaker what it means.
4. Share your own progress
Why not start your own channel to track your progress? You can join polyglot challenges and ask people for advice on how to improve.
5. Daily practice
If you check in on Youtube every day and make sure to watch at least one video, you can build a solid habit of language practice without feeling like you are putting in a lot of effort. Once a video is clicked, all you have to do is keep watching.
Even though you might miss stuff in the beginning, keeping up a habit like this is definitely going to show results in the long run.
6. Expand the learning
Many Youtube channels have other social media accounts as well. Look in the description and see where else you can add their content to your daily routine.
Maybe there are fan groups you can join, newsletters you can subscribe to, or even podcasts related to your favorite channels. See Youtube as a gateway to the culture of the language you are studying, and try to interact with it accordingly.
11 Channels to follow if you are learning French
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Category: Language & Education
Alexa is a popular YouTube teacher, who uses fun backgrounds and animations to keep things interesting. Most of her videos feature her talking directly to the camera, so it’s like having your own one-on-one French teacher. The best way to learn French with Youtube is when there are Q&As and live stream, and she has both!
2. You Learn French
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Category: Language & Education
This is another amazing channel to learn French with Youtube. It teaches basic words and phrases. The images make it very easy to follow along. What’s nice about this channel is it contains a variety of other content too, such as 100 dialogues in French with English translations, as well as some songs and interactive quizzes.
3. Monde Des Titounis
Level: Beginner
Category: Kids
This channel is intended for native French speakers. All of the dialogue is in French, but the familiar nursery rhymes and fairy tales will make it very easy to follow along. This channel is great to learn French with Youtube especially for kids.
4. Learn French with Vincent
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Category: Learning & Education
Learn French With Vincent is one of the most popular and best channels to learn French with Youtube. With over 735,000 subscribers, Vincent must be doing something right!
His videos are categorized into units, so you can start here without any previous French language experience. Or, you can just dive into Units 1 or 2 to practice your pronunciation and learn some basic phrases. Intermediate students can move on to dialogues and dictation to practice their comprehension skills.
5. Oh La La, I Speak French
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Category: Travel & Lifestyle
While Oh La La, I Speak French has some good beginner lessons and amazing intermediate material. There’s a playlist that focuses on French for travelers, French slang and even swear words, and more. What a way to learn French with Youtube!
6. Follow My French With Aurella
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Category: Travel & Lifestyle
This is a fun way to learn French with Youtube. Aurella is a native English speaker who has documented her experience learning French on YouTube. She’ll talk about what worked for her and what didn’t, and even has a few montages so you can see her progress over the years.
7. JeFrench
Level: Beginner
Category: Language Learning
JeFrench produces videos that will teach you a few basic phrases and how to count in French. This is worth checking out if you want very easy lessons to learn French with Youtube.
8. Walk, Talk, And Learn French
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Category: Travel
These videos were made in 2009 but they’re still great to learn French with Youtube because they take you around the city and show you what the street signs and advertisements in Paris actually mean!
Pierre-Benoît and Mark translate various expressions that may or may not have a direct translation in English.
9. Easy French
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Category: Lifestyle, Culture, Philosophical & Political
The Easy French YouTube series is one of the best ways to learn how people on the street actually talk to each other. Each video includes real-life interviews with native French speakers about cultural topics, ranging from the political to the philosophical.
10. Comme une Française
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Category: Lifestyle
Géraldine is a native French speaker who spent several years living in the U.K. She aims to help you speak French fluently and confidently through videos that will teach you to how to order coffee “like a local” and which embarrassing mistakes to avoid.
11. Français avec Pierre
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Category: Lifestyle & Culture
This YouTube channel is a great choice for beginners who want to level up their skills. However, his intermediate videos really stand out. Choose from his playlist on French culture to find videos about the French holidays and seasons, or the recipe playlist to learn a new French recipe.