Short French news podcasts?

September 16, 2006 4:25 PM

Are there any good, short French news podcasts?

I am aware that there have been a couple of questions about French podcasts already, but I went through those threads and didn't quite find what I was looking for.

Background: I used to speak French very well, and still can if I read the paper in French or talk to a French person regularly for a few weeks. I would like to keep current on a regular basis now, and podcasts seem to be the way to go to get a small 10-20 minute dose of the language every few days. I was looking for the same thing in Italian and was able to find a bunch (FYI, my Italian is much better than my French), but the French options seem a little sparse. I tried RFI and it doesn't seem to play well with iTunes. One other thing: I learned regular Paris French, and I find Quebec French kind of confusing, but if you have something good from Quebec I would definitely take a listen.

posted by lackutrol to media & arts (7 comments total)

Offerings from RadioCanada can be found here. My partner subscribes to Indicatif Présent (so I know stuff from RadioCanada plays fine with iTunes and the iPod) but it is longer than you are looking for - good show though. There are a bunch of other things on offer including the national news which is about the length you are looking for.
posted by Cuke at 4:42 PM on September 16, 2006

Radio-Canada has a 15-minute news podcast. Radio-France has all sorts: very brief news pieces at France-Info, lots of cultural stuff elsewhere.
posted by holgate at 4:49 PM on September 16, 2006

There's also the C'est la vie "French Word of the Week" podcast.
http://www.cbc.ca/cestlavie/

It mostly focuses on idiomatic usage of French words in a Canadian context, but you might find it useful.
posted by ernestworthing at 5:05 PM on September 16, 2006

You can try here also...
posted by rom1 at 3:37 AM on September 18, 2006

Here and there.
posted by XiBe at 11:00 AM on September 18, 2006

I'm surprised you had problems with RFI. Try setting up iTunes to download their Podcasts. I've had a lot of luck with them. I really like the "Français Facile".

Also, if you're lucky enough to have a video iPod, there is a twice-daily video podcast from iTele.

I sync these two up every day and listen/view them while I'm on the elliptical at the gym.

Bonnes études.
posted by robabroad at 9:52 AM on September 21, 2006

Merci a tous. Roba, I marked yours best because you convinced me to try RFI again after my earlier annoying experience with them. This time it worked fine and the "Français Facile" seems to fit my needs for right now. Maybe I'll branch out after my ears get a bit of practice.
posted by lackutrol at 4:17 PM on September 22, 2006