Coffee Break French is now available as a complete course of eighty lessons, introducing listeners to the French language from scratch, and building to an understanding of the language which will get you by in any situation and allow you to converse with native speakers on a range of subjects. We’re very pleased to introduce an easy way to access all the lessons with our new Step by Step Guide to Coffee Break French. Each ’step’ lists ten lessons and includes information on the language and grammar covered in each of the lessons.
We hope you find the new Step by Step Guide useful. You can use the links below to access the lessons quickly.
- Lessons 1-10
- Lessons 11-20
- Lessons 21-30
- Lessons 31-40
- Lessons 41-50
- Lessons 51-60
- Lessons 61-70
- Lessons 71-80
We’ve arrived at the final episode in our series of Coffee Break French. In lesson 80, we reach the end of the meal in which our friends Christina, David, Sophie and Jean-Jaques have been getting to know each other. As usual we cover a range of topics and constructions in this conversation and everything is explained in the lesson.
This lesson marks the end of the Coffee Break French course and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our faithful listeners who have been working through the lessons week by week. We very much hope that you’ve enjoyed using Coffee Break French. This, of course, is not the end of the French materials from Radio Lingua. We’re already planning new content and in the meantime we’d like to draw your attention to our Walk, Talk and Learn French video series in which Pierre-Benoît, whom listeners will know from the Coffee Break French series, talks about grammar on the streets of Paris.
To find out about our future plans for more French content, please make sure you’re subscribed to our Newsletter. You can do this from the box in the sidebar and we’ll send you updates every couple of months. We’ll also announce any new materials here on the Radio Lingua website, and on our Twitter feed – @radiolingua.
Finally, from Mark, Anna, Pierre-Benoît, “David”, “Christina”, “Sophie” and “Jean-Jacques”, and the whole team behind Coffee Break French we would like to wish you much success in your continued learning of French. Bonne continuation!
Members’ Materials | Purchase Season Pass | iTunes | RSS
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
After an enjoyable meal our two couples are about to enjoy a coffee and un petit digeo. The conversation continues between David, Christina, Sophie and Jean-Jacques in this penultimate episode of the series. Expressions covered include ça te dirait de faire quelque chose, aussitôt que, and further examples of the future and conditional tenses.
Members’ Materials | Purchase Season Pass | iTunes | RSS
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
In our long-awaited 78th episode of the course, we continue our radio play featuring David and Christina who are having dinner with their new friends Sophie and Jean-Jacques. This lesson introduces the pluperfect tense and also looks at a few examples of avoir expressions, including avoir l’habitude, avoir besoin de quelque chose and avoir de la chance.
Members’ Materials | Purchase Season Pass | iTunes | RSS
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
We would like to update all our listeners on our production schedule. We’ve been exceptionally busy over the past few weeks with Radio Lingua Schools work and our on-going publication of Coffee Break Spanish and Coffee Break French has suffered. We have three more episodes of Coffee Break French to record and release before the series comes to an end, and Coffee Break Spanish will continue until episode eighty. We also have a number of outstanding helpdesk issues which we’re working through as quickly as we possibly can.
Apologies to all our listeners in the meantime and we’ll do our best to get back on track in the next few days. We’re recording the remaining Coffee Break French episodes at the weekend and will make episode 78 available soon afterwards.
In lesson 77 our radio play continues and Sophie, Jean-Jacques, David and Christina are talking about what they will be doing in the coming days. We’ll therefore be taking a look at the future tense.
Members’ Materials | Purchase Season Pass | iTunes | RSS
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
In this lesson of Coffee Break French, our radio play continues. Sometimes it’s difficult to know when to use tu and when to use vous when speaking to people in French. In this lesson, Jean-Jacques suggests that he and David should tutoyer each other – ie. use the tu form. This lesson includes some useful tips on dealing with tu and vous. We also take a close look at the conditional tense.
Members’ Materials | Purchase Season Pass | iTunes | RSS
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
Our radio play continues in lesson 75 as David and Christina get to know Jean-Jacques and Sophie a bit more. They talk about their children and pets, and about the food they’re going to order. The conversation includes some examples of the conditional tense, the comparative, and the use of the word en.
Members’ Materials | Purchase Season Pass | iTunes | RSS
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
In episode 74 of Coffee Break French David and Christina decide to join Jean-Jacques and Sophie for dinner in the latest instalment of our ‘radio play’. Topics covered include a review of ‘beaucoup de’ and a very brief introduction to the subjunctive mood.
Members’ Materials | Purchase Season Pass | iTunes | RSS
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
In episode 73 of Coffee Break French our conversation between David, Christina and Jean-Jacques continues, and they are joined by Jean-Jacques’ wife, Sophie. Topics covered include the use of ça vous dirait de + infinitive to suggest an activity. We also take a look at negatives in the form of ne … pas and ne … jamais.
Members’ Materials | Purchase Season Pass | iTunes | RSS
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
In episode 72 of Coffee Break French we’ll hear the next instalment of the conversation between David, Christina and Jean-Jacques.
Members’ Materials | Purchase Season Pass | iTunes | RSS
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
One of the main things learners seem to be finding difficult is the idea of making conversation with people. It’s easy enough to order a coffee, or book into a hotel, and saying the words and phrases you’ve learned at the appropriate time is great, but sometimes it’s not enough. What happens when you ask a question and you receive 30 seconds of solid French in return? In the final ten lessons of Coffee Break French we’ve created something which we think will help you develop your range of language, and allow you to get more used to picking out the key words and phrases as you listen. We’re delighted to introduce this first episode in a series of ten shows which introduce a ‘radio play’, featuring Scottish couple “David” and “Christina”, who are on holiday in Villefranche, who meet up with Jean-Jacques and his wife Sophie. Each lesson will feature excerpts from the long conversation in which David and Christina get to know their new friends.
In this first episode, David and Christina get lost on the way to the Lion D’Or, a restaurant in Villefranche. They bump into Jean-Jacques who happens to be heading the same way and they end up going to the restaurant together. They chat on the way to the restaurant.
Members’ Materials | Purchase Season Pass | iTunes | RSS
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
Bring in the New Year with Coffee Break French as Mark explains what’s going to be happening in Paris this evening. It’s a few weeks since we reached episode 70 and we’re finalising the materials for lessons 71-80 at the moment, but in the meantime here’s a special episode in which Mark talks about how le compte à rebours vers 2010 (the countdown to 2010) is being celebrated at the Eiffel Tower this evening. You can watch the spectacle lumineux on this website.
Members’ Materials | Purchase Season Pass | iTunes | RSS
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
2009 has been a fantastic year for Radio Lingua and we’d like to thank all our listeners for your support and enthusiasm over the past twelve months. To celebrate the end of 2009 and a new year of language-learning just around the corner, we’re delighted to announce our Holidays sale and give you some exciting advance notice of our plans for 2010. Read on!
No festive period is complete without a sale, and we’re offering you 25% off all our courses right through until 31 December, midnight GMT. If you’ve been thinking about taking your language-learning more seriously next year, perhaps now is the time to jump on board and purchase one of our Season Passes. We’re delighted to be able to offer free language-learning materials to hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world, but you can take your learning to a new level with our premium materials which include lesson guides, extra listening materials and exericses for each of our courses.
To receive your 25% discount, simply use the coupon code holidays09 (lower case) at checkout when you’re buying one of our courses. If you’ve not purchased an item from us before, you can view our full range of products here, or visit the appropriate store front for Coffee Break French, Coffee Break Spanish, Show Time Spanish, One Minute Languages, or School Run French. When you complete the form, make sure you enter holidays09 in the coupon code area at the bottom of the signup page.
Please note that the 25% reduction will be applied at checkout. EU customers should be aware that the prices quoted on our signup pages do not include VAT. If you use the coupon code then the 25% discount will be applied and then 17.5% VAT will be added to the total cost. It’s worth also pointing out that as of 1st January 2010, the VAT charges will have to increase to 17.5% in line with the Inland Revenue arrangements in the UK.
Please remember to use the coupon code as you’re purchasing: no refunds will be given on any materials purchased at full price if the coupon codes have not been used.
Would you like to purchase a gift membership? If so, please contact us at support@radiolingua.com and we’ll get things set up for you. Let us know what product you wish to buy and the email address of the recipient. We’ll process your payment and send the gift membership invitation in time for Christmas. Please note that the deadline for any Christmas gifts is 17 December.
New for 2010: the Radio Lingua Club. We’ve been listening to comments from our existing premium customers and one of the most common requests is for more help and advice for learning languages. We’ve decided therefore to create a ‘club’ around this. Membership to the club will last 12 months and during this time members will receive the following benefits:
- Weekly podcasts in a brand new “how to learn a language” series featuring tips, tricks and advice on learning language. We’ll also be including interviews with language learners from all walks of life who will share their learning tips. The course will feature tips for beginners and for experienced learners and we’re sure that everyone will be able to benefit from this course, regardless of the language they are learning.
- Reduced prices on all our content. Members will have access to a special discount rate for any purchases made within the membership period. At certain times we’ll also offer special discounts on certain products.
- Refer-a-friend refunds. Members of the Radio Lingua club will be able to introduce a friend to Radio Lingua courses at a discounted rate, and receive an affiliate payment. So if you’re a Coffee Break Spanish Season Pass holder and you introduce your friend to the show and they purchase the show, you’ll receive a special payment from us to say thanks.
The Radio Lingua Club will involve a monthly payment of just £4.00 GBP. Alternatively you can purchase a twelve-month subscription for £36. The club will launch on January 1st 2010 with our first weekly language-learning tips podcast. We’re offering a special early-bird purchase offer where you can get 25% off the twelve-month subscription: for just £27 you will get access to a full year’s worth of podcasts, you’ll access the reduced prices throughout 2010, and you will be able to use the refer-a-friend refund too.
To take advantage of this special early-bird offer which will only be available until 31st December, please click here, or log into your Control Panel and add Club Membership (Early-bird) to your account. Please note that the monthly subscription option will only be available after January 1st 2010.
If 2009 has been a big year for Radio Lingua, we’re really excited about what’s coming in 2010! Our Coffee Break French listeners will be aware that we’re moving into lessons 71-80 of Coffee Break French, and we’re often asked about “what happens when Coffee Break French finishes?” Well, we’re busy planning new content for intermediate learners at the moment, and we’re sure that everyone will enjoy what will come after our existing course content.
This year we introduced our first experimental video show – Walk, Talk and Learn French. We were overwhelmed at the response to Walk, Talk and Learn, but as a small company we’ve been limited in terms of the time required to produce more shows. Fans of the show will be delighted to know that we’ve filmed a second series and are working on the content at the moment, ready for launch early in 2010.
We’re a couple of days away from releasing the last ever episode of Show Time Spanish, which has developed into one of our most popular shows. As we’ve explained to listeners, Show Time took an enormous amount of work to produce each episode and we feel that we can’t continue the show in its current format. However, we are sure that Show Time Spanish listeners won’t be disappointed with what we have planned for release in the new year. We’re working on new content which will continue to feature native-speaker conversations and in-depth study of the language. We can’t say too much now, but we’ll be making some announcements early in the New Year.
If you’re interested in languages other than French and Spanish then we’re very pleased to announce that 2010 will bring more content for Italian and German learners and that we’ll continue to increase our range of One Minute Languages.
Last, but by no means least, since September we’ve been working in conjunction with schools in the UK through Radio Lingua Schools, and we’ve been involved in several projects involving languages and creative technologies. In 2010 we’re going to be looking more at the resources side of Radio Lingua Schools and have started work on a major new course for children, due to be launched in August 2010.
Of course, as we’ve said many times, we’re still a small company and we’re doing our best to continue to produce high quality, engaging materials. We hope that 2010 will bring further opportunities for new projects, collaboration and new ideas!
Of course we have lots of ideas as to our new developments, but we’re really interested to hear about your ideas. To this end, we’re asking for 10 minutes of your time and we hope that you’ll be willing to share some of your thoughts about language-learning and your next steps as a learner.
We’ve devised a survey and would be very grateful if you would tell us a little about your language-learning and your experience using Radio Lingua materials. You can give as much or as little detail as you wish, but obviously it’s extremely useful to us if you can provide as much information as possible. There are different sections of the survey, depending on which language(s) you learn with Radio Lingua, and on whether you listen to the free content or use our premium materials. You’ll be guided through the survey and we’ll try to explain why we’re asking what we’re asking.
If you complete the survey you’ll be invited to enter a prize draw – there’s an iPod Touch up for grabs along with five platinum season passes to a language course of your choice!
To start taking the survey now, click here.
All that remains for us to do is to wish each and every one of our listeners and friends a very happy holiday season and a peaceful and prosperous 2010.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
Podcast (cbs-podcast): Download
Podcast (sts-podcast): Download
It’s that time of year again, and we’d like to say thank you to all our listeners! We’re offering a 35% reduction on all our Season Passes over this weekend. Until Monday 30th November you can buy any one of our courses, including Coffee Break Spanish, Coffee Break French or Show Time Spanish at a hugely reduced cost. Please use coupon code bf09 (lower case ‘b’ and ‘f’, then zero – nine) on the signup form.
If you’ve previously purchased a membership or product from us, log into your Control Panel and add the relevant product from the drop down menu. Enter bf09 in the “coupon code” box.
If you’ve not purchased an item from us before, you can view our full range of products here, or visit the appropriate store front for Coffee Break French, Coffee Break Spanish, Show Time Spanish, One Minute Languages, or School Run French. When you complete the form, make sure you enter bf09 in the coupon code area at the bottom of the signup page.
Please note that the 35% reduction will be applied at checkout.
EU customers should be aware that the prices quoted on our signup pages do not include VAT. If you use the coupon code bf09 then the 35% discount will be applied and then 17.5% VAT will be added to the total cost.
Please note that no refunds will be given on any materials purchased at full price during this time if the coupon codes have not been used.
Flickr Photos