This year March 13th to the 21st is the Semaine de la langue française et de la Francophonie. To celebrate, I thought I’d share some great resources for indulging your love of all things French.

[CC0] Photo by Cecile Hournau on Unsplash

Un petit air de francophonie

The Centre National du Patrimoine de la Chanson¹The National Center for Music and its Hall de la Chanson²Hall of Song vous proposent de “[r]etrouvez chaque jours … une nouvelle chanson“.³gives you a chance to “discover a new song each day” It’s a great way to discover some new artists and a variety of French songs.

Perhaps you would like Cortezz from the Swiss hip-hop/funk artist Varnish la piscine. Or maybe Bofou safou from the Malian artists Amadou & Mariam is more your speed. Whatever groove you choose, music is a great way to practice your language skills!

Of blogs and vlogs

There are lots of great YouTubers sharing tips and tricks to help you learn French … like Parlez-vous FRENCH? which I’ve mentioned before. When you’re not in the mood for lessons though, you might enjoy one of these thematic blogues vidéos⁴video blogs or vlogs that will let you practice your French around a topic that you enjoy.

Captain Popcorn

Captain Popcorn “est une chaîne de critiques, théories, analyses et avis consacrés aux films et séries” télévisées⁵a channel of critiques, theories, analysis, and opinions dedicated to films and tv series, mostly of the superhero and fantasy genre. Si vous aimez⁶If you like Game of Thrones or the Avengers, this channel is for you.

Léna Situations

Léna Situations is a 23-year old fashion and lifestyle blogger with almost 2 million subscribers to her YouTube channel. More than just de la mode ou la déco⁷fashion and design, Léna, who is also a best-selling author, shares tips for living a positive life.

Sooo Pop

Another great resource for music lovers, Sooo Pop is a YouTube channel created by the French singer Cléa Vincent for “les copains de la Pop française“.⁸friends of French pop music You can discover live performances and interviews from some of today’s musical up-and-comers. Here’s a fun little song of Cléa’s to put you in the summer mood (as the weather heads towards spring here in the northern hemisphere!)

C’est pas sorcier

C’est (or ce n’est) pas sorcier (lit. it’s not sorcery)⁹Note: sorcier actually means a sorcerer; the French word for sorcery is la sorcellerie is an expression that means it’s not complicated. In English, we might say it’s not rocket science. It is also the name of une émission¹⁰tv show “de la science et de la découverte, ludique, accessible dès le plus jeune âge et pour toute la famille!“¹¹about science and discovery, fun, for the youngest and for the whole family This episode from May 2013 highlights more of the story of Baron Haussmann and his parisian revolution (including his expansion of les égouts¹²the sewers, the arrival of l’eau courante¹³running water, and the construction of numerous parks) and introduces another major player in the beautification and clean up of Paris, Eugène Poubelle … who literally gave his name to the handy poubelles¹⁴waste/trash buckets that we use today.

A new map of Paris

Le Twitto¹⁵Twitter user Lucas Destrem recently published un plan culturel et artistique du métro parisien¹⁶cultural and artistic map of the Paris metro. He replaced the names of the metro and RER stations with nearby notable artistic and cultural places to, in his words, “[soutenir] un secteur tellement fragilisé par las crise Covid19“¹⁷support a part of the economy that has been particularly hard hit by Covid19.

You can find a link to the map, read more about Lucas’s goals, and find links to new coverage of the map here.

And if subways and other forms of public transportation are your thing, be sure to check out Parigo, l’émission des transports en Île-de-France.

La journée internationale de la Francophonie

March 20th marks the international day of Francophonie. You can find activities, events, and more from French groups around the world using the handy interactive map here.

If you do anything special to mark the occasion … or if you have favorite French resource you enjoy … let me know in the comments!

• 1
  The National Center for Music
• 2
  Hall of Song
• 3
  gives you a chance to “discover a new song each day”
• 4
  video blogs or vlogs
• 5
  a channel of critiques, theories, analysis, and opinions dedicated to films and tv series
• 6
  If you like
• 7
  fashion and design
• 8
  friends of French pop music
• 9
  Note: sorcier actually means a sorcerer; the French word for sorcery is la sorcellerie
• 10
  tv show
• 11
  about science and discovery, fun, for the youngest and for the whole family
• 12
  the sewers
• 13
  running water
• 14
  waste/trash buckets
• 15
  Twitter user
• 16
  cultural and artistic map of the Paris metro
• 17
  support a part of the economy that has been particularly hard hit by Covid19