Hospitality Abroad – Learning French
As one of the Romance languages, French is widely spoken throughout five continents where 29 countries have it as their official language. The French language, which is spoken by nearly 200 million people, is the second most frequently taught language in the world. Moreover, aside from English, French is the next most common language of government and commerce. In particular, the French language plays a strong role in tourism wherein guests and employees at hotels and restaurants can communicate easily in French as well as in English. Based on these data, learning French obviously has merits for professionals who want to work in the hospitality industry abroad.
French: The Most Practical Foreign Language
This is a short article by Richard Shryock of Virginia Tech about the qualities of the French language and the practicality of learning it for business, travel and academic advancement.
This is a very descriptive article from the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Kenyon College.
On the Importance of Knowing French
This page contains extensive information on the French language as well as information about France, its contributions to the arts, science and politics, and its influence on Europe and its historical presence in the United States.
Steps Towards Building a Career With Your French
This is a short list of activities that students of French can do to improve their fluency and grasp of the language.
This page lists authoritative sources for those seeking jobs and internships in Francophone countries.
Le Diplôme de Français Professionnel (DFP) du Tourisme et de l’Hôtellerie
The Diploma of Professional French for Tourism and Hotel is widely recognized internationally as a certificate of French as a language of business and professionalism.
Activities in International Tourism and Hospitality Industry
This page has links to PDF reports on tourism activities and general information about the hospitality industry in France. The reports contain tourist and leisure information, such as French cuisine and wines, tourist activities, French holidays, regional festivals, and places to stay at and explore.
This is the official website of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States.
Making French Real with the Quartier Français
This page presents an extensive collection of links grouped into categories of anything related to France and the French language.
Online Magazine on French Culture
Aside from learning the language, professionals seeking a job in the hospitality industry should study French culture and some regional developments in France.
Le VTI-Bruges Visite Paris Exercises
This is an index of interactive exercises that help visitors familiarize themselves with famous landmarks and places in France. The text is all in French.
This page features a list of French culinary terms under different categories, such as measurements, cooking methods, kitchen utensils, food and beverage types, restaurant service, and other relevant categories. The site also includes links to French recipes.
French Provencal Food and Cooking
This sub-section of the website for the Provence Region describes the unique characteristics of cooking in Southeastern France. It has links to seafood and herbs used in Provencal cuisine, the Michelin Guide and Nissarde Cuisine, and Life in Provence.
Fifteen Must Know Phrases For Tourists
This is an online glossary of French terms often used in the tourism and travel industry. You would need a browser plugin that translates the text on any page to English. This is very helpful for those who study French and plan to work abroad in the hospitality industry.
French-To-Go Pocket Guide To Everyday Useful Phrases (PDF)
This downloadable document is foldable to fit the pocket. The listed phrases include essential phrases for asking directions, booking a hotel room, and ordering from a restaurant menu.
Glossaries and Vocabularies of the French Language
This is a thematic library of lexicons at Quebec’s French Language Portal.
French to English/English to French Dictionary
A free English to French and French to English dictionary. Also search for French synonyms, quotes, and more.
Français Interactif Community Website
This is the interactive community website for students of French at the University of Texas in Austin. There are links to PDF and MP3 downloads of every lesson as well as iTunes podcasts of each chapter.
Grammar Exercises: Beginner at A Vos Plumes! French Writing Center
This index features grammar and vocabulary exercises for those just beginning to learn the French language.
French For Beginners by Olivier Malet
This page from the Hongkong University website contains links to 28 chapters of French fundamentals, such as grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. The lessons include links to audio samples.
French Pronunciation: Why Bother?
This page guides beginners to French pronunciation by comparing vowel, consonant, and nasal sounds to their English counterpart. This page is part of an Australian Francophile’s personal site filled with funny French tutorials, such as “How to Abuse a Phrasebook” or “Insulting French Phrases.”
This is a list of common idiomatic expressions in French. Most of the idioms are regional or argot because the list is dependent on contributors, such as native speakers and fluent Francophiles.
This is a list of adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions used for linking verbs and nouns. The page also provides a list of 40 general suffixes used to indicate that a noun is either masculine or feminine.
This page has 197 tongue twisters with rough translations at the bottom.
This site has links to pages for different levels of fluency in French, including MP3s, flashcards and exercises that cover topics in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Lessons in informal French and slang words are offered along with the formal French phonetics.
Internet Polyglot English to French Lessons
This site offers free lessons on any language, including French. In this section, students identify the French translation of words and phrases given. Audio is provided and there’s a selection of games for testing and feedback.
Free French Lessons for Beginners
This page presents basic French phrases, greetings, and sentences for travelers to communicate with the French-speaking people.
LanguageGuide.org’s Introduction to French Grammar
This page serves as an introduction to French Grammar for beginners to the language. It includes lessons in parts of speech and common French phrases.
Tapis Volant 1 for Beginners in French
This site has animation, sound and games for easy learning of the French language.
The Open Learning Initiative Free Courses in French
This site offers two free courses in Introductory French, labeled French I and French II. Each course consists of five modules with three lessons each and takes approximately 15 weeks to finish.
Directory of Elementary Language Activities
This simple site contains various learning activities that students can do to improve their French writing, reading, speaking, and listening skills.
This is an interactive site for those who want to learn French on their own. The lessons are divided into books, which contain games and quizzes.
Connecting with the French-Speaking World
This site introduces students to French culture, food and language through exercises and online activities.
This website has links that beginners will find useful and links to simple French texts that students can practice reading out loud.
Bon Départ: Beginner’s French Audio and Transcript (iTunes)
The Open University (www.open.edu/itunes/) created this free Apple iTunes page where students of the French language can download podcasts of individual lessons.
Phonétique Exercises (Audio)
The page lists links to quick exercises in phonetic sounds in the French language. Students learn to distinguish the different sounds and identify the specific words said out loud.
French Pronunciation Exercises (MP3)
These exercises in MP3 format were created by Françoise Navarro for students who want to practice basic French pronunciation.
Fast French for Working Knowledge (MP3)
This section has links to MP3 files of each lesson’s discussion performed and recorded by Dr James Tomek of Delta State University.
Voilà! An Introduction to French (MP3)
This section of the website features links to 16 audio lessons, which are divided into tracks. It needs a Quicktime player browser plugin.
French in Action Video Instructional Series (Videos)
This page features a series of 52 half-hour videos that aim to increase fluency in French through active listening to and by imitation of native speakers.
Ma France – French Video Course for Post-Beginners (Video Clips and Transcripts)
This page has video clips and their transcripts. Post-beginners and Intermediate learners to French refine their speaking skills when they listen to and imitate correct French pronunciation from native speakers.
French Etc. Contemporary Podcasts and Tutorials (iTunes)
This site lists iTunes podcasts for beginning and advanced lessons in French as well as French songs and the French Etc. podcast show. Membership is required, and it’s either free or paid.
This page lists links to exercises and quizzes that assess a student’s knowledge of French grammar and usage in business, law and technology.
The page lists links to exercises under each chapter covering a different part of speech.
Polish your French reading skills with this all-Français site providing lessons on grammar construction, agreement rules, spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation.
A simple, easy-to-use website with clear discussions on grammar rules, verbs, adjectives and conjugations.
Difference Between English and French
Information on some of the differences between the French and English languages, including alphabet, grammar, and phonology differences.
A site where you can learn French online for free. Learn French grammar, verbs, phrases, and more.
This website offers information on French phonetics, including exercises to help one learn French phonetics. There is also alphabet information.
This page boasts of nearly 580 links to online guides to French grammar. The links are classified by parts of speech.