- READING IN FRENCH -
Reading skills are best acquired through actual practice reading. A rich English vocabulary, if you are an
English speaker, and an ability to use cognates (beware of false cognates), are a help. In addition, a
willingness to be an active reader by forming and reforming your horizons of expectations can be a plus.
To do this you must be willing to engage in speculation about what you intend to read. In order that your
speculation not be totally uninformed, you might try a checklist of what you think you know about a topic
before reading. Sometimes, reading for general informatrion in your native
language will help you get started.
Since we are likely to have an awareness of news events, I am preparing a lesson on
how to read a French-language newspaper . We currently have a large selection of these on a French Newspaper page,
but we also offer a wide choice of French Magazines. Chosing
an article from one in your area of interest will likely encourage a horizen of expectations. If, on the
otherhand, you crave something in a literary vein, you can chose from a growing collection of over 600 French literary works. . You may wish to organize your observations about a given work in a traditional Literary Explication, or if you are
young at heart, you may want to start with some French-language children's literature. While it is
almost always best to allow context to answer most of your questions and not to stop too many times to look
things up, we have not left you without some vocabulary and dictionary
support. You are also linked in to our grammar page.
Of course, you can always use the internet to help you find a good book in a francophone bookstore, or perhaps you would like to view the actual catalog entries
for real French-language books in francophone
libraries . Here, you can make a game of using a word you know, representing a topic which interests
you, to bring up bibliographical entries with a subject search, then guess what the titles indicate and read
any further bibliographical data for confirmation or correction of your impression.
Here are a few more tricks for using the internet to boost your French reading skills. A number of
Canadian WWW sites are bilingual (English & French). Perhaps you could find some pages which are both
in English and French by going to the Central
Index of Canadian WWW Servers . Another way to find bilingual resources is to try a search for
"version anglaise"at Googke Search. This gives you
access to a number of French-language or English-language pages whose alternate language versions are
easily and automatically obtainable.
At a certain point, you may want to test your wits by seeing if you can find something to laugh at in a French-language version of
Murphy's Laws, selected from the archives of a French humor list, or you may tax your abilities to explain the telegraphic wisdom of some French Proverbs. My last suggestion is on the bold side, because it involves your kitchen, and perhaps those who depend on your cooking. Try finding a
French recipe in "10000 recettes de cuisine" . Read it, and then follow it to its delicious end. Of course you can always estimate your strengths in reading by using the Interagency Language Roundtable Scale or that of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
Keep your sense of humor. Remember, even in French, reading is FUNdamental, so don't give up
practicing.
Beginning French Reading Exercises
Bonjour de France - Textes d'apprentissage
French Reading Comprehension
GCSE French - Reading Activities: Foundation
TennesseeBob Peckham
Director, The Globe-Gate Project
University of Tennessee-Martin
Return to TBob's Famous French Links
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