One of the advantages of being proficient in French is the ability to consume media from sources originating in Francophone countries. U.S. news tends to anchor itself in shock and outrage, whipping the population of news junkies into two vehemently opposed camps. French news undoubtedly suffers from some of this same sensationalism. After all, shock and outrage sell. When it comes to international news, however, French journalists deliver a wonderfully rich assortment of stories, and as far as U.S. news is concerned, their reporting feels markedly more objective.
I’ve long been a subscriber to Le Monde, in part to support the research for this blog. Thanks to their archives, I’ve been able to hunt down numerous stories that were written at the time the events I’m covering unfolded. Good examples include posts on Marthe Gautier, the female scientist who discovered trisomy 21, a chromosomal anomaly that causes Down Syndrome, in the 1950s; or, Jacques Despuech, the civil servant whistleblower who exposed a financial scam that bilked French taxpayers out of billions of their hard-earned francs when Indochina was still a French colony.
Like most news organizations, Le Monde comes with a host of digital features, like breaking news notifications, email newsletters, and smartphone apps that let you access their content wherever you have Internet access. The news notifications are free and an excellent way to boost your French reading comprehension. When my kids took French in high school, their teacher encouraged enabling such notifications over the summer months to keep their French skills alive. It worked.
La Matinale
I’ve used all of these services from time to time to keep up with current events, but only recently discovered a practical and highly efficient method for consuming some of Le Monde’s best reporting, an app called La Matinale. Portions of this service are free, but you need a paid subscription to explore the stories in depth or to hear them read to you—my favorite feature. Here’s how La Matinale works.
Every morning, you are presented with roughly 20 stories to choose from on a wide range of topics. For each article, you see an image, a brief headline, and a subject line or description. At the bottom of the screen, you can choose to save the story or discard it. Here are some examples:
Blindsight, an Illuminating Oxymoron, about people who are left with substantial blind spots after an accident, yet can find objects in this invisible zone as if they were looking at them.
The Balkans in Three Family Recipes, instructions for a mouth-watering meal of cabbage salad, sautéed shrimp over rice, and crème caramel.
Trump’s Tariff Barriers are Shoehorning International Commerce into a New Era, After winning his arm wrestling contest with the EU, which accepted tariffs of 15% without reprisals, the American president is in a strong position to further his protectionist agenda.
Léon Marchand Crowned World Champion in the 200 m Individual Medley, A day after breaking his distance record, the Frenchman won the final in the World Championships in Singapore yesterday, his 6th world title at age 23.
The Potato’s Ancestor… the Tomato, Researchers have discovered the first appearance of tubers in the forebear of the potato, nine million years ago, a cross-breeding with a wild tomato.
Not a Piece of Meat, Women Only Party, for Evenings of Greater Freedom.
“Why embark upon this galley?” Rafik’s first days in France, arriving from Algeria at age 12. One episode of a 30-part series featuring the lives of migrants now living in France.
Tell Me a Story
Once you’ve curated your list for the day, you can either read or listen to the stories that you’ve selected. I love the audio feature. For one thing, the synthesized voices that read the news are extremely realistic and based on the melodious speech of professional actors. There’s no slang, mumbling, or slurred or omitted syllables. The speech is clean and clear—a key benefit for non-native listeners. Secondly, the app scrolls from one article to the next. So, if my garden needs attention, I just pop in some earbuds, select the first story and away I go, weeding, watering, gathering news, and practicing my listening skills at the same time.
Among my selections for Tuesday, August 5, 2025.
Even if you don’t have a subscription to Le Monde, the La Matinale app is still a great resource for bolstering your French language skills. All of the screenshots used in this post could have been gathered with a free subscription.
So if you’re looking for new ways to improve your French fluency, strengthen your cultural understanding of France, or stay on top of international news, check out La Matinale. It’s become my favorite source for French audio, news, and information.
Par Ailleurs
You may have noticed my output slowing down in recent weeks. Summer is always a busy time and I’ve switched to producing one post every two weeks. In September, I’m heading to France for a couple months. There, my productivity may slow even further. I’m hoping to maintain a reasonable pace but sometimes, the best laid plans go awry.
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Nice resources! Enjoy your trip to France.
En attendant, je te rappelle que notre groupe francophone de l’été lit Une Rose seule, de Muriel Barbery, sur Discord.
Je crois que tu m’as dit que tu n’avais pas le tmeps, mais maintenant je ne suis plus sûre si c’est toi qui m’as dit ça, alors je te rappelle cet événement.
Le livre n’a que 176 pages, alors, tu as encore le temps pour le lire
J’ai pas le temps avant mon départ mais peut-être que j’achèterai une copie en France. Merci Emma.
I have a friend who speaks 10 or 12 languages, including Russian and Mandarin Chinese. He lives in Paris. Needless to say, he speaks French!
Lucky him on numerous counts!
It’s nice to know that not everywhere has fallen prey to this accursed polarization into two mutually intolerant camps. A lot of the news sources based in the US maintain such a tone of hysterical name-calling toward the “other side” that they’re just too irritating to read. Shock and outrage don’t sell to me. I prefer to avoid things that give me unpleasant feelings, the same way I wouldn’t eat something I knew would make me throw up. Speaking of which, I suppose even in France one cannot escape the loathsome influence of Elon Musk.
This does sound like a good system for keeping one’s language knowledge up.
Sometimes the French terminology just sounds better. I like the thought of a “savage tomato”.
I agree Infidel, we rarely get unbiased reporting these days. My preferred U.S. news source is the PBS Newshour. But, whether that can stay true to what were once universally embraced journalistic standards remains to be seen.
I suspect there are heated camps in France as well but the fact they have a multi-party system forces compromise in order to gain a majority. Also, I think French people are better able to have an argument with a friend or family member without it provoking the end of their relationship.
Ha! Yes, savage puts a nice exclamation point on wild.