InstaFrench: How to Learn French with Instagram Every Single Day
The addictive pull of social media is growing stronger.
You can’t stop scrolling through your Facebook Newsfeed.
The latest Instagram stories.
Your friends’ oh-so-entertaining (or oh-so-pointless) Snapstories.
Meanwhile, you’ve got a paper to finish, a deadline coming up at work, an interview you need to prepare for, an exam that you really should be studying for—and you haven’t studied French yet today.
We’ve all been there.
Social media is pretty amazing. It connects us with family friends around the world, and in so doing, it makes our massive world just a little bit smaller.
It’s also so. darn. distracting.
What if I told you that you can actually use social media in a valuable, productive way?
It’s true!
There’s a real way to study French on Instagram.
There are tons of Instagram accounts devoted specifically to increasing your productivity, furthering your education in any number of subjects and, yes, even language learning! Beyond that, there are plenty of native French speakers using Instagram personally and professionally.
With just a pinch of creativity and a smattering of initiative, you can tailor your Instagram to your French study routine.
Get inspired, be creative and start turning the act of endlessly scrolling through your Instagram feed into a—slightly—more productive, educational activity.
Before we get into the specifics, though, let’s chat a bit more about why learning French via Instagram is actually a pretty excellent idea.
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Why Should You Learn French Via Instagram?
You Already Waste Time on Instagram.
Since you’re here, I’ll assume that you’re a fellow Instagram fan. You’re already using it.
So, you might as well put it to good use! Think about the many minutes—or hours… no judgment here, promise!—you spend just scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.
Now imagine this: You’re scrolling through Instagram, clicking the little ♥ on your bestie’s pics, getting style tips from your fave bloggers, keeping up with the Kardashians—when suddenly, you scroll past a post with a colored background and some bold text that says “Le chat (the cat)” in large letters.
Or a quote that says “Une femme est comme un sachet de thé. Tu ne peux pas dire à quel point elle est forte jusqu’à ce que tu la mettes dans l’eau chaude.” (A woman is like a teabag. You cannot tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.)
Or a beautiful Monet painting with a French-language description of the history of the work in the caption.
These are exactly the kinds of miniature French lessons you can expose yourself to by following a handful of French Instagram accounts.
You’ll Get Easily-digestible Mini French Lessons
Unlike that massive 500-page textbook sitting unopened on your desk, Instagram gives you easy-to-digest French lessons.
The minimalist, photo-focused Instagram post format makes for simple, manageable little French lessons.
It’s great for anyone who gets overwhelmed easily.
The way the app is designed, each post gets its own two seconds of stardom. Very little text appears—anything lengthy gets cut off after a certain word count, and you’ll need to click to read more if you so choose. There’s no overwhelming page full of information staring you in the face. Just miniature lessons in a simple, sleek format.
Seeing le chat (the cat) in a pretty Instagram post with a huge, adorable cat picture somehow makes the word a lot easier to memorize than seeing it in a big, fat list of vocabulary in a textbook.
For these reasons and more, Instagram offers you the perfect way to seamlessly incorporate a little bit of French into your daily life. No more procrastinating that study session. You’re on Instagram and—boom!—you’ve just unwittingly scrolled right into a quick, easy French lesson.
Your Favorite French Sites Probably Have an Instagram Account
We all have our favorite people, places and things.
And those people, places and things probably have Instagram accounts.
So, follow them and get them in your feed!
Beyond your existing favorites, it’s super easy to discover new French organizations, newspapers, musicians and the like on Instagram as well. Try searching for hashtags like #frenchvocabulary, #learningfrench and #frenchlanguage for starters. Then, get creative and search for even more relevant hashtags in French:
#francais
#déjeuner
#mafamille
#fairelafête
#citationdujour
#travailler
#dimanchematin
Do this, and you’ll uncover a plethora of inspirational and fun-to-follow French-language Instagram accounts.
You Can Share French Inspiration with Your Friends!
Instagram is a social platform, after all. It’s all about sharing.
So, share your favorite French quotes or news stories with your friends. Spread the love and make your followers’ Instagram feeds a little more French.
Language learning is way more fun with friends. And hey, sharing is caring!
Not only that, but once you’ve started sharing posts in French, you’ll have an easy way to look back on French lessons you’ve learned. You’ll be able to scroll through your own Instagram account any time to revisit the French quotes, stories, memes and videos you’ve shared.
Okay, so now that you’re totally convinced that Instagram can be a powerful tool for learning French, here’s a list of 11 awesome French Instagram accounts that can help you hit the ground running.
Enjoy, follow and share with a friend!
11 French Instagram Accounts to Follow ASAP
For Daily French Lessons
@frenchwords
This Instagram account brings you daily French words, phrases, idioms and quotes in a sleek, easy-to-digest-as-you’re-scrolling-through-your-feed format.
The account will teach you everything to do with French vocabulary, from the very useful Ça Suffit (that’s enough) to the very French Merde (sh*t).
@learnfrencheasily
Learn French Easily is another language learning page, similar in concept to French Words.
It just comes with the added bonus that some of the illustrations that accompany their little vocab Instas are simply adorable—and therefore easier to memorize too. Cute things just stick in our brains.
You’ll learn everything from practical phrases like puis-je voir le menu ? (can I see the menu?) to French translations that you’d just never guess, like “grapefruit” in French, which is pamplemousse.
By following both this and the French Words account, you’ll get two times your daily recommended dose of French vocab!
@talkinfrench
The focus of this Instagram account is to teach you how to speak in French.
Talk in French uses Instagram’s video feature to bring you not only French vocabulary lessons, but pronunciation lessons as well!
You’ll learn how to tell someone that you didn’t eat anything today and you’re starving (“Je n’ai rien mangé de la journée. Je crève de faim!”) with a native flair, thanks to their perfectly clear pronunciation guide.
For Catching Up with the News
@lemondefr
Yes, that’s right—the news can be found on Instagram, as odd as that may sound. Most major news organizations have their own Instagram accounts. Now you can get a little taste of the news with a focus on imagery and, if you choose the right news outlets, a focus on all things French.
For starters, you can follow the official Instagram account of the famous French newspaper Le Monde, which covers all manner of national and international events.
@lefigarofr
You can also follow the Instagram account of Le Figaro for even more news and high-quality images of the world at large.
All the images are captioned thoroughly, and often at length, in French, so be sure to read through them when they appear in your feed.
For an extra boost in reading comprehension practice, only look up French words when you absolutely must. This lets your brain try to figure out the meanings of new words—great practice for any language learner.
@tv5monde
Following more news channels leads to more perspectives on what’s going on in the world. Follow a handful, including the TV5MONDE hub for French-language television programming.
This Instagram account goes a bit beyond the news and features everything that’s going on in the world of French TV.
For Beautiful French Inspiration
@genie_français
Instagram users love motivational and inspirational posts. And that’s exactly what you’ll get here.
Who doesn’t want to get pumped up for life with lovely French phrases like, faire de sa vie un rêve et de ses rêves une réalité (make your life a dream, and your dreams a reality).
As an added bonus for learners, there are English translations for all of the French phrases in the captions! It’s like they know exactly what we want.
@buzzfeedfrance
It’s BuzzFeed, so this Instagram feed is exactly what you’d expect.
Hilarious, relatable comics and images, like this one, all in French, direct from BuzzFeed France.
@museelouvre
Dreaming of the Louvre?
Then you’ll adore this account loaded with beautiful images and fascinating tidbits of knowledge straight out of the Louvre.
Captions are in both French and English, in case you need a little help understanding what’s being said. You’ll now have the opportunity to learn about painters like Alexis Grimou, who fancied a drink every now and again and so painted himself on numerous occasions.
This is a nice way to peek into the French language and its artistic culture.
@anousparis
Follow A NOUS Paris for stunning photos taken around the City of Light.
You’ll get to see everything Parisian you’ve been dreaming of, from colorful murals to sidewalk cafés.mfr
@françaisauxUSA
If you’ve ever wondered how a French person visiting or living in the United States experiences the country, this is the account for you to follow.
It’s really quite entertaining to read about American culture in the French language—and to see all the little cultural tidbits that we may take for granted.
By following this account, you’ll get to read more in French and see how the account owner experiences the Lincoln Memorial, the 4th of July and Route 66. Fun, right?
Feeling inspired?
Take that inspiration straight to Instagram now!
Start following, favoriting, liking and scrolling.
Not only will you be actively learning more French every day, it’ll make you feel a little better about yourself next time you realize you’ve just spent a solid hour scrolling through your Instagram feed.
Hey, you were studying!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And one more thing...
If you like learning French on your own time and from the comfort of your smart device, then I'd be remiss to not tell you about FluentU.
FluentU has a wide variety of great content, like interviews, documentary excerpts and web series, as you can see here:
FluentU brings native French videos with reach. With interactive captions, you can tap on any word to see an image, definition and useful examples.
For example, if you tap on the word "crois," you'll see this:
Practice and reinforce all the vocabulary you've learned in a given video with learn mode. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning, and play the mini-games found in our dynamic flashcards, like "fill in the blank."
All throughout, FluentU tracks the vocabulary that you’re learning and uses this information to give you a totally personalized experience. It gives you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned.
Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play stores.
