Using Kindle Unlimited To Learn French

When you think of kindle or Amazon in general the last thing you probably think about is learning French. However, this is a great tool for learning French, at any level.

Really the service is just giving you access to books, they just happen to be digital and extremely affordable which makes them a great asset to have in your French learning tool box and I will go through how exactly you can leverage this system to your advantage and improve your French language skills.

What Is Kindle Unlimited?

Kindle Unlimited is Amazons digital book subscription service. It works in the same way as Amazon prime, you pay a monthly fee and get access to the service, which is of course, books.

Just think about the way you can watch unlimited videos on Netflix or Prime …kindle unlimited is the same as that, but with digital books and even some audio books. You don’t own them; you just have access to them while you pay for the subscription.

I will be honest; there is a little confusion as I believe you can get access to some digital books via Prime, so I’m not sure if that will be phased out and the books will be exclusively on Kindle unlimited, but basically if you already have Prime, you should check and see what books you can get access through that first.        

(You can read more about – Can You Learn A Language Just By Reading?)

Why Is Kindle Unlimited Good For Learning French?

Once you sign up for the service you have access to thousands of books, and they are not all in English. There are many languages available, including French.

This means that for a small monthly fee you have access to countless French books. The beauty of this is that range of books is incredible. You are going to have the books that are designed for French natives and then all sorts of books targeting a language learner.

This means no matter what level you are at, even a complete beginner you are going to find a book that will help you. There will be text books, graded readers, kids books and of course every genre you could imagine all written in French.

You are not going to have access to this many French books anywhere else without actually going to France. I went to my local library to find some French books, they had two …two copies of a French dictionary, which is pretty disappointing.

Kindle Unlimited solves this problem and you don’t even need to leave your house.

How Do You Find French Books On Kindle Unlimited?

Okay, I will admit, this is the less than ideal part of this whole system, you just sort of have to jump in and see what you find.

You almost need to know what to look for, which I’m sure if you dig around elsewhere online you will be able to find some recommendations for French books (maybe I should make that list?)

Otherwise you just need to search things like “learn French”, “French graded reader” “apprends le français” and you should get some results for books that will help you learn French.

The good thing is that you have unlimited access to all the books. You can just try them all until you find one you like. There isn’t the same pressure as buying one.

If you are looking for books that are for natives, you can search for whatever topic you are looking for in French or again get recommendation of books elsewhere online, or from your French friends.

But again, you have unlimited access to any book you want so if you don’t really like the book, or think it’s too difficult for you, you can just move on to the next one.

Why Is Reading More In French Important

The best way to improve your French is to expose yourself to more of the language. The more you do this, the more comfortable you will get with things. Reading is a really easy way to do this and Kindle Unlimited facilitates this.

When you read you will find that you see a lot of the same words over and over again. These are of course all the small commonly used words, but they are still important.

Just look at this article, how many times have I said “the” or “and” if you are a native speaker you probably don’t even realise this as you are already so comfortable with the language, but as a learner seeing these words over and over is extremely helpful and why reading is so powerful.

You are also going to be exposed to plenty of new words when you read so you are also going to be increasing your vocabulary as well as solidifying the ones you already have in your memory.

(You can read more about – How To Improve Your French Reading Skills)

Do You Need A Kindle Device?

One of the first things you are going to ask is if you need a kindle device to use the service. Luckily you do not.

Of course you can access the service on a kindle, and I am sure it’s great, but it’s not the only option. You can get the kindle app on your phone and you can also get a web browser version too, so really everyone should have access to the service across a number of devices without having to own an actual kindle.

Is There Any Downsides To Learning French With Kindle Unlimited?

For me the only down side is that it is all digital. I think this is fine, you can still read anything and everything, but you have to admit that having a physical book is just so much nicer to read.

However, being able to get access to so much content means I can easily overlook the digital aspect of it all.

Apart from that there are not really any downsides. I guess you can argue that the books are only as good as they are, but you can say this about physical books. The good thing with kindle unlimited is that if you don’t like the book, you can just try another at no extra cost.

You are also on your own as such, trying to work out what to read, but again that is no different than if you walked into a book shop and where stood in front of the shelves trying to decide what to buy.

Overall there really aren’t any many downsides to using Kindle Unlimited to read more French material and the best part is, if you feel it’s not working for you, you can just cancel your subscription.

(In fact you can usually get a free trail, so you can test it out and see if you like it before even having to commit to the small monthly free.)

Can You Not Just Buy The Books?

There is absolutely nothing stopping you form buying the books. Most books available on Kindle unlimited will be available through Amazon as both digital and physical copies. 

The problem with this is that the books are going to be more expensive. The price of one book is probably going to be equal to the monthly cost of the Kindle Unlimited subscription.

I would far rather have access to any book I wanted to for a month, rather than buying only one. In the long run I am going to be able to read many more books through the subscription service than I would from buying them.

There is also nothing stopping you from reading a book on Kindle Unlimited and then buying it later if you think it is worth owning.

Conclusion

Kindle unlimited is the perfect platform to exploit for you French language learning goals. You can very easily get access to a lot of French material and you can really ramp up your exposure to the language through reading and audio books.

Using the service is a small cost that I think is a very worthwhile investment. There are very few other places where you can pay so little, yet get so much access to so many French books and French textbooks all in one place. 

(You can read more about – Advice For Anyone Learning The French Language)