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French Television If you're serious about learning to listen to French - get French Television. We used to say 'get French radio'. But radio isn't as interesting, and it is harder to follow because of the lack of visual clues, and the fact that you're listening on long wave, against a background of interference. So - if you live in a part of the world where it's possible - get French television.
The following applies to Europe. I understand that in the States you can get Canadian French TV on cable. In Europe, much French TV is available by satellite. The French free to air public television channels are France 2, France 3 and France 5. Also available are Arte - a cultural channel shared with German TV, and LCP - La chaîne parlementaire. You can receive these channels in Europe and the southern part of Britain by pointing a satellite dish at the satellite Atlantic Bird 3, and using a general purpose receiver (ie, not a Sky box) There are also many channels that can be received with a subscription card. Frankly, my advice is not to bother. The standard of French public TV is, if anything, higher than that of the British BBC, while the quality of programs on the subscription channels is the same as the majority of channels on Sky - that is to say, American material dubbed into French. If you want to add to the basic 5 channels listed above, you can get about another 25 channels by buying a prepaid Bis+ card. The extra channels are rather like the British Freeview system. In fact they are form the French version of Freeview - TNT - Télévision numérique terrestre But for the serious student of French, the public channels are a must. If you want any more information, drop me an email. A PS to the above. On Atlantic Bird 3 you will find, in addition to those listed above, some other free to air channels. These vary from time to time, but you can usually find TMC (Télévision Monte Carlo), Fox Life, and KTO (Catho, is the usual abbreviation of Catholique. It's the channel dedicated to Catholicism in France) TMC and Fox Life broadcast almost nothing but American films and series, and TMC is one of the most popular channels in France. You like films, you find French films too hard - well there's your answer |
