Thursday, January 16th
2025 French Lesson Reviews
LingQ
- Authentic text
- Ability to upload your own content
- Content at different learning levels
- Vocabulary lists that you create
If you've ever taken language lessons for a significant period of time, but can't read news articles or understand what's on TV, try LingQ. It was created by Steve Kaufmann whose motto with LingQ is, "Learn Languages from Content You Love.”
Focus on authentic language
The focus is authentic French language input combined with comprehensible input, which is material you can comprehend without understanding each and every word. If you think about it, it's how we understand complicated reading material or informational videos in our own language: we might not comprehend each word, but we get what they're saying. The idea is to immerse yourself in authentic language, and it will sink in. Don't worry, there's also a vocabulary list and exercises to help you along.
Authentic material
Authentic material is something written or spoken whose intended audience is a native speaker. Examples are news videos or articles, blogs, podcasts, stories, anything a French speaker might read or hear on a daily basis. And all or most of the text and audio with LingQ are done by native French speakers.
If they talk too fast, slow it down
Yes, you can slow down the audio so you can understand better. Wouldn't that be great to do in real life? Well, you can practice by first slowing down LingQ's audio and gradually speeding up when you are more comfortable. The goal is to get immersed in French you're comfortable listening to and gearing up toward normal speech speed.
The content is categorized
The content on LingQ is placed in one of six learning levels, from beginner to advanced. They're also in topic categories, such as travel, politics, lifestyle, entertainment, news, and more. Each lesson has a percentage that indicates what percentage of the words are unknown. Decide if you're ready for a challenge or you want to feel confident without a lot of work.
Costs
LinQ offers a variety of subscription plans for their paid programs. All subscriptions are automatically renewing.
- LingQ Premium
- One month for $12.99
- 6 months for $71.94 ($11.99 per month)
- 12 months for $107.88 ($8.99 per month)
- 24 months for $191.76 ($7.99 per month)
- LingQ Premium Plus
- One month for $39.99
- 6 months for $233.94 ($38.99 per month)
- 12 months for $431.88 ($35.99 per month)
- 24 months for $839.76 ($34.99 per month)
Add your own content
If you have French text, audio, or video that you'd like to work on, just upload it. If you can find it, whether podcasts, articles, emails, e-books, YouTube videos, and more, you should be able to upload it and learn from it. This way your content and your interests become part of your own French learning.
Vocabulary words in context
Rather than starting a unit of study and immediately jumping into vocabulary flashcards to memorize, you'll get vocabulary in context. You'll see the reading, for example, and when you don't know a word, click on it, and it appears on your list to practice. Once you know it, mark it as "known,” and you're done studying it.
Related grammar
There's a grammar tab for each unit where you can learn or review the suggested grammar. This is grammar in context and might be the reverse of what you're used to. Normally, in traditional methods, the focus is grammar and vocabulary, and then readings and audio are chosen to support them. The opposite is true with LingQ. Choose a reading you like, and grammar and vocabulary will happen naturally. Take a moment to learn or review grammar, but remember, it's not the focus, nor should it be.
They welcome advanced French learners
With many online language classes, you might find that they go up to higher intermediate levels and don't reach true advanced levels. Not true with LingQ. There is a lot of content to choose from at an advanced level. Add to it that you can upload your own to keep interested.
Free, Premium, or Premium Plus?
There are 3 levels of program you can choose with LingQ:
- Free. Access thousands of hours of audio with transcripts, save 20 words and phrases, and have flashcard quizzes on those words.
- Premium. Access thousands of audio with transcripts, save words and phrases, create lessons from imported content, access audio playlists, take flashcard quizzes, have an unlimited number of saved words, unlimited imports, access full-sentence translations, track your learning statistics, complete French-learning challenges and access material offline.
- Premium Plus. You'll get all the Premium features plus 3,000 LingQ points for live tutoring, writing correction, and premium lessons.
Love authentic materials, but want more structure
LingQ has the unique concept of jumping in with authentic material to actually learn the language rather than supplement your grammar/vocabulary lesson. The focus is unique and we applaud it, and it might be better for intermediate or advanced learners since they already have a French base and want to explore on their own. If you're beginning or you want more structure and direction with your lessons, we'd suggest one of our other highly recommended online language courses - especially since we also find LingQ a bit pricey.
More French Lesson Reviews
The 14 Best French Lessons
Who Offers the Best French Lessons?
When we think of someone speaking French, we think soothing and seductive, as it's simply dreamy to hear. We think of the romance of Paris with the Eiffel Tower, of Southern France with the rolling lavender fields, of the Alps with the snow-capped mountains, of the coast with the warm sandy beaches. And of course there's the decadent French food and wine.
Learning French allows you to more fully enjoy French culture. When you learn French, it opens the door to learning phrases that the French speakers use in conversation, manners and mannerisms, how the French live and interact in everyday situations, and perhaps gaining an appreciation and insight into their art and history. There are so many doors to be unlocked once you take the first step.
French Lesson FAQ
Continued from above...
Naturally, when we think French we think of France. Yet French is actually a global language and the official language of 29 countries, so you can practice your French language skills in more than one place. French is also a heritage language in all or part of Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, and even the US - like Louisiana.
Picking up the French language may be easier than you might think. Some of us are intimidated by the unusual sounds and the silent letters, but did you know that there are many words that look like English? We'll bet you know these French words: table, responsable, ambiance, brilliance. There are about 1,700 words in French that look like the English word, so there's a good start.
When choosing among the several options for online French lessons, here are some things to consider:
- Free trial. Look to see if there's a chance to try out the lessons before you buy them to see if this is how you want to learn and to see if you'll stay motivated. Most options include at least a free trial, and some have free access to a limited amount of lessons so you might be able to get all of what you want for free.
- How they teach. Today there is such a variety of teaching methods in the various online French lesson companies. You can learn individual words with flashcards first and then build to speaking or reading. Some teach by where you hear conversational phrases and build on those. Some build their lessons around grammar and vocabulary while others don't teach grammar specifically - you'll innately catch on the more you practice. Some cut to the chase like textbooks and some use AR and VR to keep you hooked and motivated.
- How much French you may already know. If you're a beginner, the French lesson world is your oyster - there's so much for you to choose from. If you are at the advanced level and want to polish your skills, most online programs don't teach to your level; though there are a few that could work for you.
- Your budget. There are some programs where you should be able to get quite a bit of practice for free. Others have a reasonable cost. Some have options for you to have a one-on-one instructor, and those will cost a bit more.
- One-time purchase or monthly subscription. There's the good, old fashioned way of purchasing a course, and that's where you keep the lessons, learning at your own pace, guilt-free if you need to take a long break. The subscription method is where you pay per month or year to use the product and it automatically renews at the end of that subscription time. You'll be motivated to not take a long hiatus from lessons if you know that your subscription auto renews whether you use it or not.
- Satisfaction guarantee. Most have a period of time where you can try out the courses to know if you really like them and want to continue. If you're not happy within that time, simply ask for a full refund
Top Consumer Reviews has researched and ranked the most popular French courses available today, to make it easy for you to choose how you'll want to learn French. Whether you're thinking of learning French for the first time or brushing up on what you may have taken in high school, now is a great time to learn French online as there are such a variety of French lesson programs out there. We're sure you'll find at least one that you'd like to try.
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