Operational intelligence is key to doing well in any job field. For those of us who have made transitions to living abroad, the first step(s) are often learning the local language and customs.
If you are relocating to France or just would like to learn more about the language and culture, please check out the below courses. The online courses are all 100% free - many put together by well known and well regarded institutions in the US and France.
Free Online courses:
1. Fun MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) - is a website supported by the French Government and included all kinds of courses, including history, music, culture, language, exercise and much much more. Some of the language courses are put together by the Alliance Française a semi-private teaching organization that is of top quality.
2. Edx has A great French course for those who already learned are looking to refresh their French.
3. Coursera has a great French course for those who want to study at the university in France - it is required you speak atleast B1 or B2 level of French. This course was put together by one of the best universities in France and specifically tests your level for university study and also gives cultural information about studying in France.
In person courses: - this is a PAID-FOR OPTION
Courses for Adults in Paris (CMA) - is where you can sign up for the extremely low priced courses at the mairies (town halls) in Paris (fyi: unless you speak at a B2 level, you are going to want to turn on the translator for this page in your web browser).
Additional sites to help learn French:
1. Radio France Internationale (RFI) is a French public radio service that broadcasts in Paris and all over the world. With 35.6 million listeners in 2008, it is one of the most listened to international radio stations in the world, along with BBC World Service, Voice of America and China Radio International.
2. TV5Monde is a French television network, broadcasting several channels of French-language programming - they offer French language learning support online from beginner through upper intermediate levels (A1 through B2).
3. The National Center for Textual and Lexical Resources (CNRTL) is a French organization that puts linguistic data online. It is "...a set of computerized linguistic resources and language processing tools online." This is a very detailed website with a depth of linguistic information.
4. Reverso - For those looking for something better than Google Translate, this is a great site for translating between French and English and it has conjugation, correction, synonym and expression lookup - among other sections.
5. Linguee - this site searches the internet for instances of the words or phrases you input into the search engine - in/between many languages, including: French. The data comes from the internet and isn't proofread though, so accuracy/correctness of the French are NOT GUARENTEED. Still, it's good to use when you need to search quickly.
6. Partajon - For those preparing for DELF/DALF exams, this is the site to go to and is one of my new favorites. It has a lot of FREE study material, especially at the intermediate to advanced level of French (B1 through C2).
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