How To Find Comprehensible Input for Learning French

When you start learning French you are going to be told that you need to be listening to and reading comprehensible input to make progress.

The problem is, it can be hard to find, so I am going to try and point you in the right direction.

The majority of French content on the internet is for native speakers, and if you are a beginner, this is going to be too hard to understand, but you will still be able to find something out there at your level.

Focus On Studying First

If you are a on your first day of learning French, you will really struggle to find any sort input you can grasp. This is simply as you know nothing, so nothing is going to be comprehensible.

If this is your situation then you need to focus on learning some very basic vocabulary, and probably look at some simple beginner grammar lessons. These are going to give you enough to start understanding some very simple French.

As you progress you will find more and more material will become comprehensible.

Search For Your Interests

A good place to start trying to find comprehensible input is to start looking at topics you are interested in, such as any of your hobbies.

The fact you have interest in these topics has two benefits, you are going to be interested in it, so will be engaged, but more importantly you are going to be able to work out what is going on a little easier, making it more comprehensible.

For example, let’s say you enjoy playing chess. All you need to do is learn the word for chess in French, which is of course D’echecs, and then you just need to search this on youtube and see what comes up. (Or google if you want to read things)

It’s probably best to start watching videos or reading things that are aimed at beginners to the hobby, or kids. Even if you are really good at chess, it is better to watch these more basic type of videos.

These videos are going to start explaining what the pieces are and how they move, something you already know, which is fine. It’s not about that, it’s about hearing how this is explained in French and finding out how things are described or what they are called in French.

The fact you already understand in English what it all means will allow you to just focus on the French and actually start to comprehend what is being said.

Of course as you progress with French, you can then watch or read more complex material, that might actually me more to your own level in chess, or whatever it is you are interested in. 

Don’t Be Scared To Repeat Things

I think a lot of people believe that they need a constant stream of comprehensible input to learn, which wouldn’t be further from the truth. In fact it’s probably better to focus on a few pieces of material and really master them.

When you find a piece of content you want to watch, listen or read, you should not worry about repeating it over and over again.  You will be surprised how beneficial this actually is, especially at the start when you will just be drowning in a sea of language.

There are a number of ways to do this, all of which are great approaches.

You can just watch/read it, and then repeat it immediately after, where you will be surprised how different it seems the second time round.

You can study it over a number of days, watching it a few times, each time getting more comfortable with it.

You can also come back to the material a few months or weeks later and hopefully you will find it much easier since you have made progress.

Language Apps

Language apps by their very nature should be a form of comprehensible input. Their lessons are structured in way that you should be able to understand what is going on right from the start.

However, that is not what I’m talking about here, you want actual chunks of text or audio that you can listen to and comprehend outside of the lessons and there are two apps that are very good for this:

LingQ

The whole point of LingQ is to expose you to comprehensible input. They have short stories that you can read and listen to, which are perfect for beginners, then as you develop you can read more complicated articles.

I would say the mini stories are maybe too much for a total beginner, but if you have a very basic grasp, you should be fine. I wouldn’t sign up to LingQ on day one, but after a few weeks you should be able to benefit from it.

(You should also check out Steve the founder of LingQ Youtube, he talks about a lot of language learning stuff)

DuoLingo

Duolingo has a little feature that you should be taking full advantage of for French comprehensible input, which is the Stories section.

They have a number of short little stories that you sort of listen to and read and answer a few questions about.

They are extremely basic and they are perfect for a beginner. I remember doing them and thinking I was fluent. The level of comprehension was pretty high and it really helped me in the early stages for sure!

*update – Duo has since updated the French section and now all the stories and lessons are mixed into the main big tree, and have spread them out in between the lessons as the arrows point out below.

Don’t worry, you can still go to “practice” and then you will see “Practice stories” where you can find just these and you can work your way through them without having to do the other lessons.

Reading

Reading is a great form of input, but it can be hard to find. The internet is mostly full of advanced French.

The best thing to do is search for short stories aimed at kids and see what you can find. However, this is not easy.

The best way to find good short stories for learners is to focus on Graded Readers, which are books specially made for the purpose of learning and allow you to find a book that is at your skill level. Of course this means you need to buy the books, which can quickly get expensive.

The best way round this is to use Amazon Kindle Unlimited to get access as many books as you want (you can read more about – Using Kindle Unlimited To Learn French) 

If you want a good example of a French graded reader, try Short stories in French by Olly Richards. He also has a youtube channel you should check out, he talks a lot about language learning too.

Comprehensible Input for French Beginners on Youtube

For me, the best place to find comprehendible input is YouTube and I will go through some of favourite channels that will help you out. 

Français Immersion

This channel is run by Thomas, who is French and his whole concept is to give the beginner French learner comprehensible input. He speaks slowly, clearly and simply, all in French and is basically a great guy!

Usually his videos are played twice in the same video, the first time without subtitles, so you can try and understand what he is saying, then the second time with subtitles so see how that helps you.

This is a great way of doing things and his channel helped me a lot. Merci Thomas!

Link to the – Français Immersion Youtube Channel

French Comprehensible Input

I think the name of this channel pretty much says it all.  This channel is ran by a Swiss guy called Lucas, who seems like a great guy.

He has a number of playlists that are broken down by skill level, such as A1, A2, B1 etc. This can allow you to watch videos at your level and try and comprehend what is going on.

He also speaks only in French, but slow and clearly. He also does a lot of pointing and holding things up to help you grasp what he is saying, he is very helpful.

Link to the – French Comprehensible Input Channel

Easy French

Easy French is one of my favourite French Youtube channels. It’s good for learning general French culture, but also epic for immersion.

The channel is ran by 3 ladies who like to go out to the streets of Paris and interview people. They ask people pretty basic questions, but this what you need as a learner.

They ask questions on topics you have probably been studying, such as “what do you have for breakfast?” which means you can hear plenty of real life French people talk about this and start hearing all the words you learned around breakfast in a very real context, which is the perfect definition of immersion.

I used to watch a lot of these videos on repeat, I owe these 3 ladies a lot, they really helped me increase my French game! You could argue they are more suited for an intermediate learner, and that is maybe true, but if you just keep watching their videos you will take in a lot so don’t be shy if you are a total beginner.

Link to the – Easy French Channel

Extra

Extra is not a channel, but a TV show made for beginner French learners. It’s sort of like a weird French version of ‘Friends’, but that doesn’t matter.

The beauty of this show is that it was made with you in mind, which means while it can still seem kind of full on French, it is still quite basic and something you should be able to grasp as a beginner.  

Thankfully someone has uploaded them and put them into this playlist for you to enjoy

Link to the – Extra youtube playlist

Peppa Pig

I’m sure we all know Peppa Pig, the kids TV show. It is available in French and the official French channel has plenty of episodes.

It is aimed for pretty young kids so it’s not too complex. It can be a bit slow and little boring, but it can be used to study French and it should be pretty comprehensible, so it can have a purpose in your studies.  

Link to the – Peppa Pig Channel

Bonne Nuits Les Petits

If you want the real French kids TV experience you need to be watching Bonne Nuit Les Petits.

There is a whole generation of French people who will instantly recognise the Patrons music he plays on his recorder, which honesty is amazing. This is a show most French kids watched so it’s only natural you do too.

While this show is aimed at kids, they can speak pretty fast, so it’s not the easiest show to follow along with and may actually be better suited for intermediate learners.

The show has an official channel that has lots of episodes to keep you busy before bed.

Link to the – Bonne Nuits Les Petits Channel

French In Action

French in action is a TV series from the 1980’s designed for beginners and is an immersion course.

It is 52 episodes long and follows the life of a young lady and it is actually amazing. The whole thing is in French and it starts off pretty slow, repeating the same words a lot and showing you something at the same time so you can work out what is going on. It does ramp up in difficulty quite quickly and the last episodes are prertty intense. However, this is a great series.

There is a playlist of all the episodes on youtube and you can just work your way through them. It wuill take a while but i really enjoyed it. Of course its a little outdated, but the language used is still prefect for a learner.

link to The – French In Action Playlist

Comprehensible Input For French Intermediates On Youtube

Once you become an intermediate, it’s a little easier to find more material and I will go through some of my favourites here.

C’est Pas Sorcier

If you grew up in France in the 90s you watched this show. It translates to “it’s not rocket science” and basically the show is all about science stuff and aimed kids around 10 year old.

Its classic kids Tv stuff, but is still interesting enough to keep you engaged and is really going to open you to all sorts of new topics and vocab.

It’s certainly worth watching so you can feel like you grew up in France.

Link to the – C’est Pas Sorcier Channel

Inner French

This channel is hosted by Hugo and he makes videos where he talks about a lot of different things, including learning French and things about France.

His whole channel is in French and is aimed more at the immediate learner. He does speak very clearly though and he is very interesting. Once you can start to understand things to this level, he is very much worth watching.

Link to the – Inner French Channel

French Mornings With Elisa

This channel is hosted by Elisa, a French woman who wants to help you learn French. She talks a lot about learning French and gives you little tricks and tips along the way.

She only speaks in French, but she does so in a very slow and clear way which is very helpful and she is a great resource for anyone who is at the intermediate level.

Link to the – French Mornings With Elisa Channel

Piece Of French

This channel is hosted by Elsa, who is also a French woman who wants to help you with French. Her channel talks a lot about learning French, all in French, which makes it another great intermediate resource.

She also speaks nice and slowly and clearly, which is exactly what we need as learners.

Link to the – Piece Of French Channel

France 24

If you want to watch rolling 24 hour news you can search “France 24 en direct” and watch the French news live on youtube.

This is literally fully on French news, for natives, but it can still be good to use. A lot of the international stories will be the same as the news in English, so if you have a rough idea of what is going on in the news you can pop this channel on and see how the French are covering the same topic.

Conclusion

There is a lot of information in this post and plenty of material that you can now focus on. You should be very busy for a long time and if you manage to watch everything I’ve talked about here, your French is going to be to a pretty high level.

I would suggest after watching everything I’ve talked about here, you would be ready for full native content and can pretty much immerse in anything that is French.

Just keep at it, you will get there!   

(You can read more about – What Is The Most Important Aspect Of Learning French?)