Learn French. Feel good!

Each month at The French Room we focus on one word and explore how far we can use it across different situations and to express different meanings without changing the base phrase. This month (April 2026) our word is UN COUP. Incredibly it's the most frequently used noun in the French language.  This short podcast gives you a feel for how you can use it. If you want to know more about how to...

Nikki is an international 3-day event event judge specialising in dressage. Her job takes her to France and usually she only needs to communicate in English. But this time Nikki gets invited onto a live broadcast in French and is asked to comment on why British riders are so successful in this arena. She carries it off with amazing aplomb! She is an inspiration to anyone who doubts their ability t...

Listening to an extract from a French Radio station RFI

This interview was with Nicky Dunn the owner of Pi Society in Exeter in 2022. Ellie talks about overcoming fear and pulling on her strengths rather than trying to make obvious weaknesses into strengths. It's a candid and personal discussion but one that resonates with many people, as we are all facing our fears all the time!

Justine is our French cookery "animatrice". Justine and I met 5 years ago when she came to England to improve her English. I was her English teacher. Since then Justine has had regular involvement with The French Room running our "cook alongs". A bunch of us were even treated to a guided tour of Nantes last year.

Nadja shares the highs and lows of using her French language skills since she moved to France a year ago. This a candid analysis of the rollercoaster ride of learning a foreign language.

David est un grand passionné du vélo et a arpenté les routes à travers la France. Son dernier tour il a fait 1200kms en 8 jours! Il a des conseils pour qu'on puisse faire pareil!

Steve has been a musician for over 50 years. He played the London scene in a band back in the 60s. He has composed music played by one of the most iconic guitarists of our era and has taught guitar to children for decades. We talk about the similarities between learning and instrument and learning a language particularly from the point of view of the importance of rhythm in both cases. Unfortunate...

I met Thibault in 2015 when The French Room was just starting out. We did a cheese and wine evening together. He then came back to The French Room a few years later to do a hugely popular wine tasting evening.  His company, Wine Story, has the strapline "We love wine, we love food, we love books, we love life". In this podcast, we talk about Thibault's love of books and wine with th...

I chat to Gemma about how it is to live and work in France. Gemma and her young family moved to the Pyrenees 2 years ago. She has some great tips on overcoming the fear of speaking in French and shares an intriguing story of gate crashing a French wedding! Gemma and her husband have been learning French in group classes at The French Room for 6 months.

The French Room podcast is an opportunity to chat about our connections with France. There are over 100 people learning with The French Room and they have so many interesting stories to tell about their French experiences. In this episode, I talk to Lisa who lived and worked in Lyon for a year.