French Studies links
Below is a selection of sites that we find useful either as teaching tools, for research or for general interest. Those that include audio or video require a plug-in, a link to which is normally provided in the site. Most of the sites are in French but there are also some good English language ones too. Many of the French sites offer English language versions.
French sites
- Muses, galeries d'art et chteaux en France
- Faire du shopping rel ou virtuel
- Les mdias en France
- D'autres renseignements utiles
- Dictionnaires bilingues et monolingues
- Le gouvernement franais et la vie politique en France
- Voyages et tourisme en France
- Les affaires et l'emploi en France
- La musique contemporaine
- Pour apprendre la langue franaise
- Search engines in France
Other
Sites based in France
Muses, galeries d'art et chteaux en France
- Muse du Louvre - includes a virtual tour
- Centre Georges Pompidou (Beaubourg) - much more than an art gallery
- Muse d'Orsay - not everything is on-line but some of the most famous impressionist paintings are
- Chteau de Versailles - includes a virtual tour
Faire du shopping rel ou virtuel
- Librairie Furet du Nord - achat de livres en ligne - books
- Le Site de la Fnac - books, CDs, computers
- Amazon-France - books, videos, dvds etc
Les médias en France
(some of these sites offer live audio or video and most use Real audio/video)
- Bienvenue sur le site de TF1 - Tlvision franaise 1 (commercial channel)
- Bienvenue sur le site de France 2 - France 2 (public channel where the SBS French news programme comes from)
- TV5 accueil - more television, including educational programmes
- Le Guide de la Radio, Liens - links to many French national and regional radio stations
- Bienvenue sur le site de Radio France - Radio France
- Bienvenue sur Libration - left of centre quality daily paper, Paris-based
- Le Figaro - right of centre quality daily paper, Paris-based
- Le Monde - arguably the top quality daily, Paris-based
- Le Parisien - another Paris-based daily, more downmarket
- Ouest-France - one of many French regional daily papers
- Le Nouvel Observateur - quality weekly magazine reporting on and analysing French culture, society and events, left of centre
- L'Express - another quality weekly, right of centre
D'autres renseignements utiles (might be useful some time)
- Quel temps fait-il en France? - today's weather in France from Mto France
- Dcouvrir la France - general information on France ... from the French Foreign Affairs Ministry
- Les annuaires de France Telecom - yellow and white pages, street directory (with photos), e-mail addresses ...
Dictionnaires bilingues et monolingues
A word of warning: In just the same way that small paper bilingual dictionaries tend to be less informative and sometimes less accurate than the big ones from reputable publishers (e.g. Larousse, Collins, Robert, Harraps), many on-line dictionaries and glossaries have to be treated with caution. They may be helpful for single word translations and spellings but they will generally not tell you enough about how the word is used nor give examples of use or changed spelling for adjective agreements and verb endings. Just as dictionary use skills need to be developed so too do on-line dictionary skills.
- Orthonet lexique - fairly small on-line lexicon, good for spelling
- Dlgation gnrale la langue franaise - not really a dictionary but the CRITER database provides official (government recommended) alternatives to English words that have been absorbed into French e.g.marketing
Le gouvernement franais et la vie politique en France
- Bienvenue l'Assemble nationale - the French lower house of parliament
- Prsidence de la Rpublique - the institution and information about the current incumbent
- Le premier ministre franais - Information about the current incumbent and his government
- Ministre de l'conomie, des Finances et de l'Industrie - one way to find out about French-Australian trade links
- Ministre de l'ducation nationale, de la Recherche et de la Technologie - everything about the French educational system
Voyages et tourisme en France
(France is the world's most popular tourism destination and there are thousands of travel and tourism sites to choose from. This is just a selection of useful, interesting or amusing ones we've found.)
Voyages (travel)
- Bienvenue sur le site de la SNCF - for rail travel, good and reliable in France
- RATP - Transports en le-de-France - for travel in and around Paris (bus and mtro are the easiest way to travel when it's too far to walk in Paris)
- Air France - international and domestic flights
- Bison Fut: circulation routire en France, trafic routier - essential reading before you set off if you're driving around France, particularly during peak holiday periods at the beginning and end of the school holidays
Tourisme
- Tourisme en France - a portal to help holiday planning
- Voyage virtuel - this is actually an American site but once you've clicked on the map it takes you straight to France
Les affaires et l'emploi en France
L'Euro (Single European currency)
- Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Paris - more information on the change to the Euro on this site
- Bienvenue l'euro - the European Community version of events
L'emploi (these are French sites offering advice on CV and letter writing as well as job advertisements)
- Cadres On Line - to get an idea of managerial level jobs in France
- Agence Nationale Pour l'Emploi - more jobs, advice on CV writing, etc
La musique contemporaine
Le rap et le hip-hop
(Rap
and hip-hop are almost as big in France as in the USA)
- Supreme NTM - were once charged with inciting violence against the police. Strong words but are they selling out?
- Assassin Productions - record company for rap and hip-hop bands
Pour apprendre la langue franaise(French language learning sites - lots more in the Australian and Other links section below)
Pour les tudiants (et les profs)
- Tongue Twisters - Virelangues - good fun and good pronunciation practice
- Bonjour de France! - made in France for learners of French, interesting well-thought out activities
- Vous voulez rire! - French humour
- franceworld - find an email pen-pal
- Test de franais langue trangre - the French National Centre for Distance Education (CNED) offers this site that lets you assess your level of French and identify the problem areas
Pour les profs
(et les tudiants)
(most are in the Other
links section below)
- Scnarios Pdagogiques - great ideas from French FLE masters students
- Mmes (Kids) - takes you to lots of good child/education oriented sites with interactive stories, nursery rhymes, etc.
Search engines in France
Links in Australia
- France in Australia - the French Embassy's site with useful information for travellers to France
- The Lonely Planet's pages on France - useful background info' and advice
- French Australian Chamber Of Commerce and Industry (Victoria Chapter) - active in every state, not least because there are some 180 French companies with permanent Australian operations
- Site des Postes d'Expansion Economique en Australie - the French equivalent of Austrade
Other links
- Dictionnaires - American professor Tennessee Bob's huge collection of links to on-line dictionaries (some good, some not so good)
- Dictionnaires et Lexiques (ClicNet) - another good set of links from an American university
- Babel Fish - Alta Vista's on line translator. See how long it takes you to catch it out! OK for single word or very simple phrase translation, but for anything else it's just not reliable.
- Pages de Paris - Paris Links - an American site with masses of information about Paris (including accommodation) in French and English
- Pages de Paris; Scenes from Paris - to whet your appetite
- Pages de Paris - Plans de Paris - modern street maps etc and some wonderful old maps (16th century and later)
- Virtual Francophone Tourist Link Page - links to sites about francophone cities (in France and around the world)
- Tennessee Bob's Famous French Links - a huge collection of links covering everything the student of French might need
- Royalty-Free Electronic Collection of French Realia - a web site whose authors collect realia such as tickets, brochures and make them available for all of us
- Writing - part of Tennessee Bob's collection
- Grammar - part of Tennessee Bob's collection
- Franais Interactif (UT Austin) - a good example of what can be offered on-line