So, You Need to Learn to Read French?
Many sites can teach you to SPEAK French, but perhaps what you need is to be able to READ French. Professor Mad Beppo* has compiled his digital French resources (a course and language files, songs, and texts) to help take you from zero knowledge of the language to reading sophisticated texts with ease.
*A retired professor of French. (The thoughtful person pictured on the right, meanwhile, is Marcel Proust.)
Start Here
French For Reading Knowledge: An Online Course
Teach yourself to read French! Professor Mad Beppo, inspired by the belief that learning French should be both interesting and amusing, taught this course over many years to scores of satisfied students. He now makes it available in its entirety here in digital form.
- Tuition-Free
- Self-Paced
- Requires No Previous Knowledge of French
Still have questions? See the FAQ. Ready to begin? Go to Course.
More French Resources
To use in conjunction with the reading course or on their own
Learn By Singing
A selection of French songs with commentary, language lessons, and complete English translation.
View by Category
Traditional | Charles Trenet | French-Canadian | Chants de Noël | Anthem | Pop | Worship |
Explore the Language
From the elementary to the advanced, the Professor strives to clarify many aspects of the French language. Some of the more difficult topics of French grammar receive extensive treatment in this collection of files and resources.
Questions & Answers
Who is this site for?
In the first place, anyone wishing to gain the ability to read French texts. You may be a graduate student, a professional of some kind, or just someone wanting direct contact with the many wonderful things written in the French language.
In addition, this site is potentially for anyone interested in French language, literature, and culture.
Do I need to know any French to start?
No. You can start from zero. (You will need to put in study time, however.)
How long will it take me to be able to read French?
That will depend primarily on how much time you put into it on a regular basis. I used to teach this course over two semesters, and that was sufficient for most people to get a very good start. Let us say: eight months (32 weeks), at 10 hours focussed study time per week, which gives: 320 hours total.
Do I have to pay anything?
Nothing to me. If you wish to go through the course, you will need to acquire a physical book, purchase of which does not benefit the Professor in any way.
Do I get credit for taking the course?
No, because the site is not set up for submission of coursework and testing. In any case, graduate schools as a rule do not accept assurance of foreign-language reading ability from elsewhere, preferring to give students their own tests for this purpose. However, working through my course diligently will make it extremely likely you will PASS such a test.
What if I have questions or problems?
Just leave a comment on the website or email the Professor, and he will do his best to clear things up.
What else is on this site?
- A blog, infrequently added to.
- Commentaries on some Old (medieval) French texts.
- The Classical Project.
- Online versions of a couple of other courses I used to teach (see on the right).
More Courses
Also on this site, two non-French-language courses. Both deal with fantastic narratives of the Middle Ages.
King Arthur in Europe
Did you know that French Arthurian romances predate English ones by a good two centuries? Fragments of a course devoted to Arthurian literature on the continent. Links, texts, commentaries, and other aids.
JRR Tolkien and Heroic Fantasy
Coming Soon
The virtual replication of a course the Professor used to teach in real time on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, viewed in the context of the literary traditions out of which they sprang.
