Le Nouvel Observateur, a weekly French news magazine, published on Oct. 14, 2013 that TV5Monde, an all-French language TV channel, found that they have one million viewers in America of whom 54% are non-French speaking francophiles. Patrice Courtaban, its US boss, said the channel is “la première chaîne non anglophone et non hispanique aux Etats-Unis.” The article even mentioned a New York TImes article praising the quality of some new French series like “Un village français,” “Engrenages,” and “les Revenants.” Unfortunately, these are not shown on American channels because they don’t have commercials or allow space for them.
For $10 a month, however, American students of French can get the channel and 24-hours of French shows with it: films, series, news, game shows, children’s shows, and geographical, scientific and historical shows. I recommend it to all my students.
Not only will you find several fascinating shows a day, but you can leave it on in the background to feel and soak up the French intonation.
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