5 French Magazines to Improve Your Comprehension

Salut !

Learning French is always easier when you’re doing things you enjoy: watching a movie, listening to a song… Or reading a magazine!

How do you improve your comprehension reading French magazines? What do you read?
That’s what we’ll take a look at today on Comme une Française TV!

Note: You can buy most of them on iPad


Click to watch « 5 French magazines to improve your comprehension »:

Et toi ?

Do you read French magazines?
What topic are you most interested in?

The comment section is the best area to start discussions and ask questions!

A tout de suite dans les commentaires,

Géraldine

Join the conversation!

  • Hello Geraldine! I would love to start by saying that I really really want to improve my French skills, I actually need to because I am going to move to a native French area. I am good at reading, but actually bad at speaking or listening etc.
    I want to continue on reading simple books so I can after that start reading French novels, but first I need to improve my speaking skills.
    Do you suggest me any websites or online sources for that?
    Thank you very much in advance!

  • I recently went to France to see my friend and bought about 10 fashion magazines to read because I was told it would improve my french. I love them and it makes a change from English!

    • Well done Evie!

      If you wish to keep reading this kind of topic, check their websites too. 🙂

  • I like l’Histoire magazine. There are so many interesting articles and there is so much history to draw from in France. I just finished Les Grands Espions du XXe Siecle. Tres interessant. I also have read a few books written by Marc Levy ( french author) and I like them very much. They have very good stories (sans sex et violence) and include a lot of dialogue between the characters. They’re also written in contemporary language without a lot of “Passe simple”!

    • Salut Michael,
      Yes, I love L’Histoire too! It always very well written.
      Marc Levy is indeed a great idea to start reading books in French.
      Congratulations!

  • Regarding regional magazines, what do you suggest for the area between Bergerac and Sarlat? Great videos by the way.

    • Bonjour Chris,

      Je ne saurais pas te conseiller sur ce sujet précis.
      Le mieux serait donc d’aller chez le marchand de journaux…

  • Bonjour! A “novel” idea, which will not be attractive to all: I began reading the “Harry Potter” books in French and found it an enjoyable way to get a daily French lesson. As the series progresses, so does the difficulty of the language, so your French comprehension is challenged with each new book. The vocabulary is not all about witches & magic! I find I can successfully read French books for young teens without constantly referring to the dictionary, while adult books, full of colloquialism, slang, etc. are still very frustrating. However, I do refrain from reading “Harry Potter” in public… too embarrassing!

    • I read them in English to improve my comprehension a few years ago so I completely understand, Pam! 😉

  • Télérama, bien s^ur et c’est vrai: je n’aime pas la télé. Merci pour les autres conseilles; je suis curieuse maintenant.

  • Pour les magazines masculin il y a aussi Men’s health ainsi que leur site en français. Il y a plein de conseils pour que votre homme soit en pleine forme, attentionné, romantique, … A offrir de toute urgence à votre homme 😉

  • Bonjour Géraldine. Il y’a un magazine- audio qui s’appelle: Bien Dire. On lit les articles qui contiennent des mots avancé et au dessus de la page, il y en a de traduction. Le connaissez-vous? C’est tres bien pour apprendre des mots.
    Amicalement, Mary

  • Salut,
    Moi, je vous conseille deux magazines.
    1. Bien-Dire, dans lequel vous, Géraldine, a apparut le moi dernier.
    2. LCFF (Langue et cultures françaises et francophones).
    Chacun des deux a son site internet.

  • Bonsoir Géraldine !
    Moi, je lis “Français présent” – un magazine où l’on trouve des articles à chaque propos, destiné spécialement pour les Polonais vu qu’il y a des traductions des mots les plus difficiles. Dans ma vie, j’ai lu aussi quelques numéros de “Version femina” et d”Okapi” (pas besoin d’expliquer, je pense 🙂 et je les ai beaucoup aimés.

    • Bonjour Madeleine,

      C’est super que la culture française soit également présente en Pologne ! Merci de l’info.

  • Bonjour Geraldine! (pue-etre soir maintenant~!) Jai une pensee~ cestpas bine de ecouter ou livre la media pour apprendre langue francais? Il y a beaucoup faux pas ala language en l’public media? Je voudrais savoir l’propre francasie grammar, ect…Aussi, avez vous une tres bien reccomondation pour un magazine pour l’arte, et antiques? ou le oppourtunite des beux arte ou nouvelle d’Art?Culture… ? merci beaucoup Geraldine! ~Jenny

    • Bonjour Jenny,

      C’est très bien de regarder la télé, les films et écouter la radio, tu as raison !

      En magazines sur l’art, il y a “Connaissance des Arts” et “Beaux arts Magazine”

  • I rushed straight out today and bought Cosmopolitan, GQ, Marmiton and Telerama along with my normal La Montagne. Cantal Avenir and Auvergne en Grand both come free to my door. Only problem for me, living where I do was that I had to wade through all the tractor magazines and Cow Breeding journals before i could find what I was searching for. Je me detente sur le canope en lisant hereux. Merci Geraldine x

  • Je lit Le Monde, Le Huffington Post (en francais), et les romans policiers de Agatha Christie. Merci!

    Hannah

  • I don’t read magazines but I do like to read novels in French that I have read in English.
    Someone in my French Meetup group suggested that I start watching American movies with the French soundtrack without English subtitles. What a challenge! They stated it would improve my french greatly. We’ll see…
    Going to try this with “Dodsworth” or “Gigi” or Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious”.

  • my main interests are ancient history walking and cycling and maybe cooking can u recommend magazines for these?

    • Bonjour John,

      For history lovers, I recommend “L’Histoire” : it’s a great magazine (I used to have a subscription).
      And for walking and cycling : google “magazine de randonnée” and “Magazine de cyclisme” and you’ll find what you’re looking for.

  • The French teacher at our school asked me once (about 4 years ago) to buy Marie France magazine to bring back from my trip and I’ve been buying it ever since, but I will give Cosmopolitan a go. thanks for the tip.

  • Salut Géraldine,
    J´ai une grand collection de films français. La plupart avec sous-titres danois med aussi avec sous-titres anglais ou français!!
    J´aime bien la musique de Thomas Dutronc, surtout “Comme un manouche sans guitare”. Il fait des jeus de mots tres amusantes.
    Je prefére de lire des journaux sur l´internet. Le Parisien, 20 minutes, Nice Matin, Le Progrès etc.

    • Bonjour Peter,

      Oh oui, moi aussi j’aime beaucoup cette chanson ! Si tu aimes les jeux de mots, va voir du côté de Juliette et Aldebert. C’est très bien écrit.

  • Salut Géraldine,

    J’aime bien Cuisine et Vins de France. Je m’y suis abonnée et je reçois un tous les deux mois. Les recettes sont faciles à comprendre, avec beaucoup de variété. Le seul problème est que certains des ingrédients sont difficiles à trouver ici, au Canada.

  • Don’t forget Bien-dire, available from Editions Entrefilet. It has many different types of articles and interviews. They also feature recipes and interesting ideas about places to visit when you are in France. I learned about “Comme une Française” in this magazine!

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