Finesse your French: how to engage with contemporary France part 6

Now that you’ve reached this point in your French learning journey, it’s a time to celebrate! Why? Because now your French is advanced enough to let you engage with contemporary France in a meaningful way.

By now, you’re a high-level intermediate French language learner who’s discovered how to make French grammar easy. So, it’s the perfect time to take advantage of your improved comprehension skills by working to engage with contemporary France.

Sound hard?

Not to worry – at MyFrenchLife™ we’re all familiar with this exciting process. We’ll show you how to engage with all kinds of French media, and how to use these media to actively understand the French-speaking world.

Contemporary France – vocabulary

The first key to being savvy about French current affairs is to cover the vocabulary – especially when listening. It’s important to be familiar with specific terms that will tend to crop up over and over again.

So, this means a good deal of memorisation. Learn French political phrases in lists like this one, as well as French news terms.

If you’re cringing at the mention of memorising vocabulary, you’re in luck! Nailing these types of words needn’t be a struggle…

• First, since most of them are fairly advanced, they tend to have easy cognates in English
• Second, the spaced repetition method has been shown to make learning vocabulary much easier. It’s essentially a hack that helps your brain save newly-learned facts in its long-term memory.

But, in order to translate these facts into real-world learning, you’ll need to engage with French media directly.

How to boost your French media savvy

When trying to put your French language comprehension skills to practical use, nothing beats immersing yourself in authentic French media! No, it’s not as scary as it sounds – there are many options. We understand that diving straight into Le Monde or listening to the nightly news broadcast in French may seem too intimidating.

So, why not try this alternative?

News in Slow French offers weekly news updates at a reduced speed to make comprehension easier. From there, it’s quite simple to build up to French news broadcasts that are subtitled in English – and from there, to subtitles in French only.

Meanwhile, TV5Monde offers current events programming for French learners based on your level. Additionally, RFI offers news in easy French to help you feel more confident about listening to the French news itself.

But it doesn’t all have to be news.

Subtitled playlists of current French songs, French blog sites, and online resource centres can boost your listening and reading comprehension just as well.

Passive learning – maintain your French skills on the go

But no matter how committed you are, keeping up with your language learning regimen can get hard.

Who has time to spend many hours a day actively learning French?

Passive learning offers one good solution to this dilemma. As two recent studies have pointed out, listening to material in your target language solidifies knowledge already gained and helps prime you to absorb more.

So, take advantage.

Listen to French podcasts or songs at home or on your commute, and add current French content to your social media!

Time to reap the French rewards

The best thing about this type of engaged learning is how fun it can be! Now, you can expand your French learning journey beyond resources specifically designed for learners. It’s time to supplement this type of experience with the real world.

Congratulations!

Now get out there and discover la France actuelle as you move further towards full French fluency!

What have you discovered through engaging with contemporary France? What has interested or surprised you the most? Share your discoveries in the comments section below!

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Currently at a different level of French learning?

Click through to discover more articles in our ‘Finesse your French’ series:

You CAN learn French this time: a breakthrough method – introduction

How to overcome your French learning frustration – part 1

Moving beyond French conversation basics – part 2

French language and culture – part 3

The intermediate French learning plateau and how to overcome it – part 4

How to make French grammar easy – part 5

How to engage with contemporary France – part 6 – this article

How to push towards French fluency – part 7

How to have advanced French fun – part 8

How to maintain and build your advanced French skills – part 9