French and Francophone Studies at Sarah Lawrence College

Links

Links open in a new window.

Basic French Web Sites

Note: this is a very selective list. These are the sites I use regularly so they are tried and tested.  

Comprehensive site of links

http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/deanhum/langlit/french/

Tennessee Bob’s French Links

The most comprehensive single site in English for French language and culture links–the first place to look: http://www.utm.edu/departments/french/french.html

Other general websites

http://www.uni.edu/becker/french31.html

French Culture in New York

Alliance française NYC

The Premier French Cultural Center of New York City, located at 60th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues: http://www.fiaf.org/

New York University, Maison française

Lectures and exhibitions by leading scholars and artists, films and café conversation
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/french/Mbase.html

Columbia University, Maison française

Lectures and exhibitions by leading scholars and artists, films and café conversation 
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/french/maison/

http://www.heartsandminds.org/speak/links/frlinks.htm

 

Maps

Superb interactive map of France

Produced by the départements themselves.
http://www.a511.com/

Interactive Weather Site

http://www.meteofrance.com/FR/index.jsp

Map of Francophone countries

http://atlas.gc.ca/site/francais/maps/reference/international/francophonie
http://babelnet.sbg.ac.at/canalreve/monde/intro.htm

Decolonization

http://www.atlas-historique.net/1945-1989/cartes/AfriqueDecolonisation.html

Reference

1. Dictionaries

ATILF French Dictionary (French only):

The best online French-French dictionary is the ATILF (Analyse et Traitement Informatique de la Langue Française). It is comparable in scope and format to the multi-volume French dictionaries you can find in the library (Robert, Larousse, Littré). Like them, it includes extensive definitions, etymologies and examples of usage but much more convenient of course. 
http://atilf.atilf.fr/dendien/scripts/tlfiv4/showps.exe?p=combi.htm;java=no;

Wordreference: concise (French-English)

You can also install a more basic French dictionary directly on your computer by going to this siteand following the directions. Once installed it allows you to get a definition for any word you are reading from an online text by simply highlighting it then right clicking once. (Note: this is a basic dictionary, it is not much help for anything beyond the most common words and expressions but it does give a solid range of idioms)

http://www.wordreference.com/

A good French to English dictionary

http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/dictionary/

Dictionnaire International des Termes Littéraires

http://www.ditl.info/index.php

2. Encyclopedias

Encyclopédie du Canada

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=HomePage&Params=F1

Encyclopédie de Diderot

http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-50533

Wikipedia

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Bienvenue

Encarta en français

http://fr.encarta.msn.com/artcenter_0/Encyclopedia_Articles.html#tcsel

l'Encyclopædia Universalis

http://www.universalis.fr/index.htm (to access articles click any link–you'll  come to two panels a green and a pink one–go to the pink, it says Vous souhaitez, à titre individuel, vous abonner au service en ligne de l'Encyclopædia Universalis sur le site,  click on the link http://www.universalis.fr)

Science

Site of the main French scientific research institute with many educational features

http://www.cnrs.fr/

French language

http://www.languefrancaise.net/welcome/index.php?accueil=1
http://www.languesdefrance.com/
http://www.lexilogos.com/index.htm
http://www.verbix.com/languages/french.shtml (conjugation of French verbs, clear and accessible)
http://www.leconjugueur.com/frindex.php - conjugation of French verbs
http://globegate.utm.edu/french/globegate_mirror/gramm.html - French grammar links
http://www.sdv.fr/orthonet/index.html - spelling and conjugation with numerous games

 

French Texts Online

A huge number of classic French texts are available on the web i.e. all of Flaubert, Balzac, Hugo etc. They are not critical editions, however. They lack introductions, notes or variants. Best used therefore for reading and citations for essays.

French sites devoted to Literature

http://www.site-magister.com/classicis.htm (Classicism)
http://www.fabula.org/

French Culture

http://www.culture.fr/
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/

Museums

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/DF_museums.shtml - general links to all the major French museums
http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home_flash.jsp?bmLocale=en - Louvre–incredible new site just unveiled by the Louvre

Media

Publishers

Amazon.fr
http://www.bief.org/ - links to all the major French publishers

Magazines and Newspapers

http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/france.htm - virtually every French journalistic publication you will ever need; most are free and fully accessible
http://www.lire.fr/default.asp - free literature review

Film

http://www.allocine.fr/ (trailers in French)

TV

News that can be watched in streaming format at least three times a day

International French Channel

http://tv5.org/TV5Site/programmes/accueil_continent.php -

Networks

http://www.france2.fr/
http://www.france3.fr/
http://www.france5.fr/

Francophone

http://www.rfo.fr/index2.php

French version of C-Span broadcast from The French National Assembly

http://www.assemblee-nat.fr/

Radio

http://www.radiofrance.fr/chaines/france-culture/sommaire/

 

Food Vocabulary

http://www.utas.edu.au/french/language/ventenpoupe/chapitre_04/chap04voc.htm
http://www.languageguide.org/francais/
http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/vlr/011gastrono.htm

 

Notes

  • If you have trouble entering accented words try writing them out using the special character fonts in a document first and then copying them onto the web site; I have customized my keyboard using Control/Shift/Alt keys plus the letters to write out accents (i.e. Control E = é, Control F = è etc) without having to go into the symbols files–there are probably even better ways–this one works for me.
  • Help with configuring your keyboard for typing in French (Windows XP): http://pages.slc.edu/~support/word-processing/xpkeyboard.php

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