Learn French on YouTube: 16 Channels Fit for a Debutante (2023)

“And now presenting… you!”

Welcome to your French Debutante Ball.

You and the other French learners stand in a line on stage. It’s time to introduce yourselves to the world—in fluent French, I might add.

“I’ve taken a French course,” one says. “I have a private French tutor,” says another.

When the microphone comes to you, you flash a smile and prepare to reveal your secret French learning method.

“I learned French… on YouTube!” you exclaim.

There are gasps all around.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” you hear from the audience.

And you were smart to learn French on YouTube, for many reasons. For one thing, these free video lessons fit into almost any schedule—you can find bite-sized lessons and full-on courses.

Many also give you the opportunity to hear native French speech and improve your own accent and pronunciation. Better yet, YouTube videos can be adjusted for speed, which is very helpful for homing in on those tricky French sounds. Some channels even offer worksheets or exercises to make sure you’re actively learning.

You may not feel like a glamorous French-speaking debutante quite yet, but the French learning YouTube channels and playlists in this article will get you there. Prepare to learn French with YouTube and embark on the next phase in your linguistic life!

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Check out the top 16 YouTube channels for learning French for beginners and beyond, and attend your debutante ball in style!

Language Lessons Paco: Conversational French Playlist

This playlist from the YouTube channel Language Lessons Paco offers five French conversation lessons where you’ll hear naturally-spoken French for beginners.Each lesson is around 10 minutes in length.

This is the perfect length to practice for your first conversations in French.

Each lesson in the playlist is centered around a skit or a dialogue between native French speakers. First, the skit plays out in a natural speed, then the dialogue is broken down line-by-line. This allows you to hear the speech in slow, clear French and gives you an opportunity to repeat after the speaker.

There are also comprehension activities to practice what you’ve learned from the dialogue.

Kendra’s Language School

Kendra’s Language School is a YouTube channel that teaches beginner lessons in many languages such as English, German and French.For the French language, there are dozens of videos, and many of them are over an hour in length.

While that may seem intimidating to beginner learners, an hour-long video doesn’t mean you have to watch the whole video in one sitting. Break it up into manageable chunks and review what you’ve learned often.

Each video from Kendra’s Language School focuses on a specific topic. For example, there’s a particularly useful video featuring1,000 French phraseswith common expressions and vocabulary that can be used in everyday life.

Next, you can focus on a specific topic that’s directly applicable to your goals in French. Whether you want to focus on French for traveling and vacations, French for Spanish speakersor pronunciation of tricky French sounds, Kendra’s Language School has a video for you.

Easy Languages: Easy French and Super Easy French Playlists

“Easy French” and “Super Easy French” are two series of YouTube videos produced by the wildly successful Easy Languages channel. The channel is led by an enthusiastic group of language learners and teachers who want to make language learning easy and accessible for everyone around the world.

The first playlist, “Easy French,” uses real conversations with native French speakers to teach the language.

Each video focuses on a topic such as food, travel or French culture and then asks random native speakers from a given location to answer some questions related to the topic. The best part is that there are built-in transcriptions and translations so the subtitles are always accurate and clear.

Be careful, though: the spoken French in the videos may be fast and have slang or informal language that’s often not taught to beginner French learners.

“Super Easy French” is a video playlist that’s less spontaneous and perhaps more suitable for early-beginner French learners.

These videos focus on a topic and give example sentences and vocabulary related to that sentence in slow, clear French. As usual, there are built-in subtitles for transcriptions and English translations.

FluentU

Tired of YouTube’s inaccurate, auto-generated captions and translations? Say goodbye! FluentU videos come with professionally transcribed subtitles and translations in French and English. Better yet, you can actually click on any word in these subtitles for an instant definition, memorable picture, grammar info and useful examples.

This way, you can immerse yourself in real French—while ensuring that you actively learn from it.

Every video also comes with flashcards and fun quizzes to help you retain everything you’ve learned. The Spaced Repetition algorithm will make sure that you review vocabulary at just the right moment to keep it in your long-term memory.

The videos are conveniently organized by level (Beginner 1, Beginner 2, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, Advanced 1, Advanced 2) and genre, so it’s easy to find the ones that work for you. Plus, FluentU will keep track of what you’ve learned and suggest new videos based on that info.

Just like with the YouTube app, you can take FluentU anywhere on your iOS or Android device.

But wait, there’s more.

From the same team as the FluentU program comes the FluentU French YouTube channel! With this resource, you’ll be able to keep up to date with all the latest French content as well as enjoy educational breakdowns and insider tips from dedicated French speakers.

In the video below, you can get started with some beginner insights and fun grammar lessons from the film “C’est Tout Pour Moi.” If you’re after the perfect accompaniment to your FluentU account, then subscribe to the FluentU YouTube channel for heaps of great French learning and entertainment videos.

And the following video will teach you how to transform French media into powerful language lessons:

If you’re after the perfect accompaniment to your FluentU account, then subscribe to the FluentU French YouTube channel for heaps of great French learning and entertainment videos.

Français Immersion(French Immersion)

They say one of the best ways to learn a new language is to be completely immersed in it. Well, as its name implies, the Français ImmersionYouTube channel uses immersion to teach French. This means that their videos are completely in French, but don’t stress—each video has English subtitles and images to help with learning.

In addition to its immersion approach, Français Immersion uses humor to teach grammar and typical conversational situations. Video topics include shopping, formality, basic verbs and pronunciation, and the videos are between five and 10 minutes long. That’s the perfect length to be immersed completely in French without being overwhelmed.

Better yet, there are almost 70 French immersion videos that are part of the “Learn French for Beginners” playlist.

French Games

French Games takes a more straightforward approach to teaching French. (Don’t be fooled by the name—the videos don’t actually have anything to do with games, but come from the same team behind the French Games website.)

The videos include hauls of common French vocabulary and sentences. They’re short, often under five minutes, but some also run up to 15 minutes in length.

In addition to being bite-sized and great for manageable learning, the videos from French Games are numerous.Each video focuses on a different beginner topic such as clothes, food, parts of the body and home.

In each video, sample sentences are given with French speech, first at a native speed and then at a slower speed. An English translation is given on screen, and there’san opportunity for the learner to repeat the sentence as well.

Learn French with Alicia

French with Alicia is based on an app of the same name. In addition to downloading the app, you can use the YouTube channel tolearn beginner French.

Video lessons with Learn French with Alicia are between seven and 15 minutes. They each focus on a particular topic, including shopping, the home and travel. For those looking for a structured video course, the “French Lessons A1” playlist is perfect for complete beginners.

There are also playlists for listening comprehensions and those tricky French verb conjugations, as well as listening courses for beginner to intermediate learners.

Learn French with Frencheezi

Learn French with Frencheezi (pronounced “French Easy”) is a YouTube channel run by Cindy, a native French speaker and French teacher from France.The videos on this YouTube channel are between five and 10 minutes long, making them perfect for anyone who wants short doses of French or who struggles to find time for long study sessions.

Playlists on the channel include “French Basics” (travel, basic phrases and common vocabulary), “French Grammar” and “French Phrases.” Each video also includes a few comprehension questions to reinforce what’s been covered in the video itself.

Additionally, Learn French with Frencheeziincludes videos to help with French pronunciation, and once learners advance beyond the beginner level, there are also French vlogs and listening comprehensions.

Learn French By Suchita

This French learning channel is run by Suchita, an experienced French language teacher. She offers some especially useful video playlists for beginners covering French basics and grammar.

These present common vocabulary and grammar in a classroom-esque setting, and Suchita gives learners the chance to complete exercises on their own during the lessons.

In addition to straightforward French video lessons, there are also videos for learning and practicing French pronunciation and vocabulary for all kinds of words—just explore the Videos tab on her YouTube channel.Suchita also records vlog-style videos of herself exploring France. These include vocabulary from the context of where she’s traveling.

Finally,Suchita also does videos for DELF test preparation, so if you plan on certifying your level of French with that official exam, these videos would be a great addition to your French learning routine.

Eko Languages

Eko Languages is a pretty big YouTube channel that teaches multiple languages. Their videos tend to be on the long side, often between one hour and three hours long. Again, this is a great thing—rather than being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of French you can learn, break it up into manageable chunks and toil away. You’ll be amazed at how fast you progress and how much you learn.

Videos from Eko Languages focus on blasts of vocabulary to do with a specific topic, situation or level of French. For example, the daily conversation video teaches just that: the phrases you need to get through an everyday French conversation.

There are even “Learn French as You Sleep” videos, where you can supposedly absorb French words and phrases while sleeping and listening. If you prefer to stay awake, I’m sure these videos would be a great addition to your learning regimen as well!

The Language Channel: Conversational French Playlist

Hosted by The Language Channel, “Learn French Conversation” is a playlist that teaches beginners the basics of French conversation for them to use immediately in their own French language forays.

While there are many languages taught on The Language Channel, there are two videos for basic French.Each are over two hours long and feature basic conversations. The sentences in each conversation are done in English first and then in French. This is great for one-to-one translation, especially of sentences that don’t make sense when translated literally between the languages.

Additionally, the videos allow for you to repeat a sentence after it’s given in French.

These conversations touch on topics such as shopping, school, travel and food, so this playlist is perfect for your beginner French fix!

Mawuood Academy: French Lessons Playlist

The videos in this playlist are short, often between two and five minutes. They give useful blasts of the French language for beginners looking for bite-sized learning in a busy lifestyle.

Mawuood Academy has 32 videos that cover basic French vocabulary and simple and complex sentence building. Vocabulary topics include the alphabet, animals, days of the week and months of the year. The teacher Marine gives an explanation of the topic or the grammar point and then examplesentences are repeated slowly for additional practice and comprehension.

The videos also give you time to repeat the sentences after the teacher.

Language City

While many of Language City’s videos focus on advanced slang and informal French, there are also dozens of videos for learning French for beginners.

Videos from Language City are presented in English with native pronunciations of spoken French. Each video is short, often under five minutes. They go beyond a basic haul of stock vocabulary and phrases—there’s a concentration on pronunciation and French spelling rules, idiomatic expressions and common verbs.

Once you’ve graduated from beginner French lessons, more advanced videos include listening comprehensions and videos focused on French culture.

Apprendre le français québécois(Learn Québecois French)

While Québécois deviates from Standard French in noticeable ways, it’s not so different that speakers of Standard French can’t understandQuébécois, and vice versa.

However, if you’re planning to visit, live in or study in Quebec, I highly suggest using this YouTube channel to learn some of the particularities.Apprendre le français québécoishas a dozen video lessons focused on learning the French dialect from Quebec, Canada.

Apprendre le français québécoisis run byJackie, a native speaker of Québécois French. The videos are completely in French but have subtitles in English.Topics generally include differences between Standard French and Québécois French and how these differences play out in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

Additionally, she recordsvlogs in slow, clear Québécois French which are great for listening comprehension—and for learning about Québécois culture.

Français en dialogue(French in dialogue)

Français en dialoguehasover 700 dialogue videos in French. This means that there’s a dialogue for virtually every conversation topic you’ll encounter as a beginner, and the speech is in clear, natural French.

The videos themselves are short, but the channel also offers compilations of all their videos that are over two hours long.The French in each video is slow and in a native French accent.

Best of all, many of the videos are completely in French with French transcription, although some include built-in English translations.

Of course, English subtitles are typically available through the auto-translate feature on YouTube, but these may not always be reliable.As such, it’s recommended to have a basis in French before diving into a French-only video.

Tarik Elamari

Like Français en dialogue, the Tarik ElamariYouTube Channel features over 340 dialogues in French.The videos are between one and two minutes long, withbuilt-in French transcriptions(as well as the auto-translate feature from YouTube for English subtitles).

That means you’d benefit from having a basis in French before watching—however, since each dialogue is centered on a specific topic, these can also be a great supplement to your other French learning methods. For example, a dialogue from Tarik Elmari about sports could be a great supplement for a corresponding unit about sports and leisure in a beginner French textbook. Other dialogue topics include health, travel and emotions.

Okay, debutante, have you settled on an eligible YouTube channel to mingle with and start your French life off right? Simply click, get watching and learn French with YouTube!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)