Home > Research > Subject Guides > French Language

Welcome

This guide points you to some of the Library's main resources that will support the French language classes on campus and so focuses on resources to help learn French, as well as resources that are IN French.

You may also be interested in our related subject guides on  Linguistics and French Literature

For a list of French Language classes at Carleton see the undergraduate calendar.

Reference Materials: 

Language Dictionaries (a small selection)

Specialized Language Dictionaries

  • A frequency dictionary of French : core vocabulary for learners
    Floor 2 Reference, PC2691.L66 2009
  • Media French : a vocabulary of contemporary usage
    Floor 2 Reference  PC2460 .R58 2008
  • Lexique de la gestion des ressources humaines = Human resources management glossary
    E-Book
  • The Oxford business French dictionary
    Floor 2 Reference  HF1002.093 2002 and E-Book

Verbs

Encyclopedias

Books

Recommended Books: 

 

Suggested Subject Headings: 
French Language
French Langauge -- Canada
French Language -- Composition and exercises
French Language -- Grammar
French Language -- Pronunciation
French language -- Textbooks for foreign speakers -- English
French language -- Quebec (Province)

Journal Articles

Key Databases for Journal Articles: 
Cairn.info
Érudit
Repère
Additional Databases: 
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
MLA International Bibliography
ERIC
  • The Key databases contain mostly journal articles  written in French, on all subjects.
  • The Additional databases contain other material written in French as well as material about the French language
    • Persée is an archive of older French journal articles material.
    • MLA, Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts & ERIC have articles, mostly written in English,  about French literature, language & linguistics, and the teaching of French

Databases

Key Databases: 
Cairn.info
Érudit
Repère
Additional Databases: 
Persée
Eureka.cc
Factiva
LexisNexis Academic
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
MLA International Bibliography
ERIC
  • The Key databases contain mostly journal articles  written in French, on all subjects.
  • The Additional databases contain other material written in French as well as material about the French language
    • Persée is an archive of older French material
    • Eureka.cc, Factiva, and Lexis-Nexis are sources of newspaper and other news material in French.
    • MLA, Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts & ERIC have material, mostly written in English,  about French literature, language & linguistics, and the teaching of French

Journals

Select Journals: 

Journals which cover French as a language and French studies. Articles may be in English or French

General interest magazines, in French, which may be useful for practicing your reading skills

French newspapers

 

Media

Videos: 

Videos in our Collection (For more details see our Find Videos guide)

  • You can borrow videos from the Library's collection for 3 days at a time (with 2 renewals).
  • You can pre-book a video for a specific date by using the "Book this Title" button in the catalogue
  • You can search for videos that are either in French or have French subtitles by doing a keyword search and choosing to limit to just the video collection. TIP: to browse ALL films in French/with French subtitles use * as your keyword:


     

Other Videos

Where to find foreign films in Ottawa:

Music

Music: 

Listening to French music and following along with lyrics, can be a great way to improve your language skills, especially pronunciation

In Our Collection:

  • Search by keyword in our catalogue for a particular piece of music or artist, or find ALL of ourFrench recordings by doing this:

Song Lyrics

Listening to Music

Websites

Ottawa

General 

Language Learning

  • About Guide: French Language
  • Amélioration du français from the Centre collégial de développement de matériel didactique (CCDMD) material both for students and teachers of French at the CEGEP level
  • Banque d'exercises de français  from the government of Quebec, online exercises to practice French at beginner, intermeidate, advanced levels
  • le Français au micro and C'est la vie (especially the Word of the Day segment) are both radio programs from the SRC/CBC that are informative and entertaining on the topic of language and Quebec culture
  • Livemocha: an online language learning community. Their basic language lessons are free and contain about 30–50 hours of coursework.
  • Visez Juste (University of Ottawa) aims to help improve spoken and written French, has sections on vocabulary, grammar, writing/editing, spelling, speaking.

Writing & Citing

Avoid Plagiarism
Citing Your Sources

Resources to help you write and create bibliographies.

Other Support Services :

  • Soutien écrit from the French department@Carleton University
  • See the RefWorks and Writing Tutorial links under Related Services  listed on the right