IsabelP Last updated: December 20, 2022

10 Brilliant Ways to Learn Flawless, Professional French for Business

Business French is a different ballgame.

Set aside all the French slang you’ve worked hard at picking up. That won’t necessarily give you an edge in the business world.

Au contraire (on the contrary), the French business environment is a very formal one, so that’s why learning business French can give you a competitive edge.

Here are 10 tips to help you easily increase your business French vocabulary and have you confidently discussing business matters in French in no time.

10 Ways to Learn Business French Like a True Pro

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

10 Ways to Learn Business French Like a True Pro

1. Read La Tribune online

La Tribune is a French daily covering financial and economic news, including stock market news and reports. All of its articles are also available on its online edition.

Choose one business article a day to read on the La Tribune website. Try to find one which relates to the line of business you’re interested in, otherwise any business article will do.

While you’re reading, jot down 10 words you’re not familiar with. Look up their meanings in a French online dictionary and write them down by hand in a notebook. Writing things down manually will help you to commit them to memory better.

Before choosing the next day’s article to read, review the 10 words you learned the previous day.

2. Watch a business report online on France24.com

From Monday to Friday, France24.com features a daily video report on French and international economic and business news called “Le journal de l’économie.”

While watching the report online, don’t worry about understanding every single word, but do listen carefully and make note of the words that come up most often. Write them down and look them up in the dictionary to check if you got the spelling right.

Write down the meanings in your notebook, adding them to the other words you’ve learned in tip #1 above. Again, review the new vocabulary words before watching the next day’s video report.

3. Give yourself a target of learning five words a day

Review the words you’ve learned in tips #1 and 2 above, and underline the five words you think you’ll have the hardest time remembering.

Write out each word by hand in your notebook, followed by its meaning—ten times each.

Repetition is key when it comes to remembering new vocabulary, so the act of writing it down repetitively will help you commit it to memory easily.

If you learn five new words a day, five days a week, you’ll be learning 25 new words a week, or a minimum of 100 words a month!

4. Watch French business videos

It’s a good idea to start consuming some video content that is filled with the language that you’re aiming to use. It’ll help you get a feel for it, and not overthink too much when speaking— something that could cause you problems in a formal business setting.

You can have a look at YouTube and check out what business-related content is available. Remember to filter your options and focus on the videos that are relevant to you, whether in topic or difficulty. You’re bound to find a number of tutorial-format clips that can instruct you on formal French vocabulary.

You can also use FluentU, a website and app that houses a library of authentic French videos enhanced for learners. These videos are organized by level and topic and include a “business” category. Here, you’ll find videos about work culture, logo design, videos showing what it’s like to work in certain industries, tips on doing interviews and writing cover letters in French and many more.

Each clip comes with interactive subtitles to help you learn word meanings and their proper usage in context. You can then review them with multimedia flashcards and personalized quizzes.

5. Read a business article on Wikipedia in English and French

Choose a precise business topic you’re particularly interested in and look it up on Wikipedia. It could be about business intelligence, the global financial system, or the balance of trade… you choose. Read the description in English carefully, then click on “French” in the “languages” column on the lower left side of the page and read the French page about the same topic.

Again, don’t worry if you don’t understand every word in the article; the aim of this exercise is to try to guess the English equivalent of any new terminology you come across in French.

You can also do this exercise the other way around, reading the French version first. Keep a mental note of any terms you’re not sure about, and then looking for their equivalents in the English version afterwards.

6. Read out loud every day

Reading an article out loud every day not only helps you get your tongue around difficult pronunciations, but it also jogs your memory.

Aim to read a short article out loud every day. You can choose one of the articles on the La Tribune website mentioned above in tip #1, or read the Wikipedia article you selected in the previous tip.

If you come across a certain word whose exact pronunciation you’re not sure about, use an online resource like Forvo to hear the correct way of pronouncing the word in question.

7. Write your CV in French

Writing your CV or résumé in French is an excellent exercise in French learning, and a great way to identify the vocabulary you need to describe your qualifications and skill sets. You’ll also have your French CV ready if you happen to need it in the future.

Europass is the European Union standard CV format. Have a look at their sample CVs in French so that you can follow the same format and become familiarized with the terminology commonly used in a French CV. Their online editor is a handy tool with easy-to-follow instructions to create your own CV online.

8. Read a business book in French that you’ve already read in English

Choose a business book you’ve already read in English and find out if it has a French translation. Need some ideas? Here are a few popular business books which have been translated into French:

“Screw Business as Usual” by Richard Branson (“Le business sera humaniste ou ne sera pas”)
“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill (“Réfléchissez et devenez riche“)
“Competing for the Future” by Gary Hamel (“La conquête du futur”)
“Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson (“Qui a piqué mon fromage ?”)
“The Fifth Discipline” by Peter Senge (“La cinquième discipline”)

Since you have already read the book in English and are familiar with the topic, don’t be concerned about any French vocabulary you may not know. Put your dictionary away and just try to understand the meaning of any difficult words in context instead of looking them up.

9. Write a paragraph in French about your line of business

Imagine you’re meeting an important business contact and have to describe what you do or talk about the line of business you’re in. Write down in French the key points of what you’d like to say in a paragraph, and try to incorporate some of the words you’ve learned doing the other exercises in the previous tips above.

If you’re not currently in a specific line of business, write about your dream business sect. You can also write this in a question and answer format, as if you were having a face-to-face discussion with a potential business partner.

10. Follow French business leaders and influencers on Twitter

Find the Twitter pages of French business leaders and influencers you would be interested in following. Read their most recent posts and decipher any terminology you don’t already know. Here are a few Twitter pages you may want to check out:

Philippe Béchade, co-founder of CercleFinance.com and editor of La Bourse au Quotidien.
Alexandre Mandil, an MBA graduate and consultant in economic intelligence.
Jean-Claude Balès, a digital entrepreneur and CEO of a farming marketplace group.
Alain Rousset, president of the region of Aquitaine and a member of parliament.
Stéphane Fort, vice-president of corporate communications at Dassault Aviation.

Follow these 10 handy tips and you’ll quickly and easily increase your business French vocabulary, as well as your confidence.

By speaking business French, you’ll definitely have a more competitive edge with the potential to increase your professional opportunities and build up important business relationships with French-speakers.