14.2M
Downloads
2312
Episodes
Dans One Thing In A French Day, je vous raconte quelque chose qui m’est arrivé dans la journée : une balade à Paris, une discussion en famille, une rencontre.
Twice a week since 2006, I’ve been sharing a small piece of my day in France, in French. Not the postcard version of Paris, but real life, seen by a Frenchwoman who lives here. I’m not passing through; I’ve always lived in the Paris area.
This podcast is for anyone who wants to gain ease in French and enjoy the feeling of living in France like a French person. Improving your listening comprehension improves so much else along the way: your French, your fluency, your vocabulary, your syntax, your curiosity.
From the beginning, I’ve written day by day. I choose my topics from what happened to me a few days earlier, sometimes that very day. It’s not always comfortable, and it’s a little risky, but that’s what makes it an adventure. It also gives the podcast its logbook feel: it follows my life, the seasons, my travels, my encounters. Nothing is invented.
You might think that writing episodes before recording them takes them away from natural spoken French. In fact, the writing is the podcast’s main asset for learners. I take great care with my sentences: short and long, simple and complex, with all kinds of tenses, plus snippets of dialogue when I report a conversation. Spontaneous speech is fascinating, but its syntax is very different. To express an opinion or tell a story well, you need to know how a sentence is built. These aren’t textbook sentences, though, and their contexts aren’t limited. You hear well-written French again and again, you notice how words are used in context, and those sentence patterns become instinctive.
For several years, I’ve also shared interviews with people who live or work in France and whom I want to meet. I prepare my questions around their work or their approach, and I meet them in person, at their workplace or in a café. Hearing other voices trains your ear to new rhythms and new ways of saying things. And because listening often to one voice already does much of the work, adapting to others becomes easier.
I’m not a French teacher, and the podcast letters that come with each transcript aren’t lessons. French is the language I live, think and write in, and I like showing you what is natural or useful for a learner. In the letters you’ll find useful phrases taken from the episode, along with playful exercises inspired by writers, poetry, researchers’ books, music, the history of indexes, encounters… They’re a lively complement to more formal lessons when you’re learning on your own.
Written, recorded and produced by me, Laetitia, near Paris, France.
Subscribe to the letters to support this independent, homemade podcast : www.onethinginafrenchday.com
Contact: frenchday@gmail.com
About this podcast: One Thing In A French Day is a French podcast for intermediate and advanced learners (B1–C1) who want to learn French with authentic, spoken French. Each episode is a true story about French daily life and life in Paris, with a full transcript. A good fit for French listening practice, real French vocabulary and Paris stories told by a native speaker.
Episodes
15 minutes ago
15 minutes ago
4 min
Cet épisode est le récit d’un déjeuner à la maison, cette semaine, avec mes trois filles qui suivent de près l’actualité des manifestations lycéennes.
La consigne d’écriture qui accompagne cet épisode (offre d’automne sur www.onethinginafrenchday.com) permet de s’entraîner à écrire des phrases dont on pourrait perdre le contrôle à l’oral parce qu’elles sont longues et contiennent des négations. Là, nous nous posons cinq minutes pour écrire.
This episode is the story of a lunch at home this week with my three daughters, who are closely following the news about the high school student protests.
The writing prompt that goes with this episode (part of the autumn offer on www.onethinginafrenchday.com) lets you practise writing the kind of sentences you might lose control of when speaking, because they're long and full of negations. Here, we take five minutes to sit down and write.
About this episode: a true story of French daily life, told in authentic spoken French. Over a family lunch near Paris, my teenage daughters decode French Gen Z slang and the “refs” of the French high school protests, a school principal answers with an aura battle and a poem, and Descartes gets a teenage remix. A good fit for learners who want to learn French and discover real French youth culture and life in Paris.
What does “réf” mean in French slang?
What is an aura battle?
What does “aura” mean in Gen Z slang?
Why are French high school students protesting?
What is a “blocus” in a French high school?
French principal viral aura battle
What does “Je pense donc je suis” mean?
Why do French students study Descartes in high school?
How do French teenagers talk?
Difference between “je voudrais” and “je veux” in French
#LearnFrench #FrenchSlang #LifeInParis
3 days ago
3 days ago
3 min
Un dîner entre filles avec Pauline et Marilyne et très vite la conversation glisse vers le blocus du lycée de Lisa.
If you want listening practice (compréhension orale) with real, spoken French, this episode is for you.
Level: B1–B2. Everyday words (cadeau, dîner, gousses d'ail, gingembre) sit next to the vocabulary of current events (blocus, manifestation, moyens), so you can follow the story with the first and stretch your ear with the second. Listen once for the story, then again for the way we react to each other.
Pour les abonnés, la lettre de cet épisode contient des questions avant l'écoute, des repères pour comprendre le contexte, un petit exercice d'écriture avec corrigé et un point de langue à rendre automatique.
Mots-clés / Keywords : French listening practice, compréhension orale, spoken French, real French conversation, learn French through stories, Paris stories, daily life in France, French high school, blocus lycée, mouvement lycéen, French politics conversation, dîner entre amis, Japanese shop Paris, rue Notre-Dame de Nazareth, B1 B2 French, French podcast for learners
Questions people ask:
What is a "blocus" in a French high school?
Why do French students blockade their lycées?
How do French friends talk about politics over dinner?
How can I practise understanding fast, natural French?
Where to buy Japanese kitchenware in Paris?
What is a ceramic ginger and garlic grater used for?
What are the best French podcasts for listening practice?
How do you talk about a protest in French?
Is the French subjunctive used in everyday speech?
What is the French school system like for parents?
Oct 8, 2026
Oct 8, 2026
5 min
Au café, on discute. C'est exactement ce qu'Anne-Laure et moi avons fait. En salle, pas en terrasse, car nous avions un peu froid ce matin-là. Et pour différentes raisons.
A Friday-morning chat in a café turns into an episode about the books that follow us into our dreams. I explain why reading Philippe Bordas, author of Les Parrhésiens, before bed leaves my brain buzzing, and how a friend's joke ("write him a letter!") made me dig out an old list of unforgettable people I have met, from a first job in the oil-transport business to a housing survey in the Paris suburbs.
The everyday frame (a café, a cup of tea, a bad night's sleep) is easy to follow for B2 listeners. As the story unfolds, the French gets richer: the colorful slang of a contemporary novelist who also invents words, and of one very colorful colleague, the kind of language you hear in Paris but rarely meet in a textbook. A good stretch for B2 to C1 listeners who want to hear French with real texture.
This autumn, the podcast letters are all about writing. With every episode, subscribers receive a letter with a writing workshop built on a real passage from the story. This week, two lines turn into a whole scene: text messages, a café conversation and, if you feel like it, a retelling. You will also find cultural markers to go further and a few things worth noticing. A simple, effective way to improve your written French, and by extension your confidence in French.
Philippe Bordas · Les Parrhésiens · argot parisien · Paris populaire · Montparnasse · littérature française · écriture · spoken french · learn french · french stories · authentic french · real french
- Who is Philippe Bordas?
- What is Les Parrhésiens by Philippe Bordas about?
- What is Parisian slang (argot parisien)?
- French novels written in Parisian slang
- How to read contemporary French literature as a learner
- How to understand French slang expressions
- How to write a text message in French to arrange a meeting
- What is a blocus in a French high school?
- How to describe a conversation in a café in French
- French podcast for advanced learners
Oct 5, 2026
Oct 5, 2026
5 min
Je l’avais entendue à la radio, donc j’étais très contente de pouvoir me faire dédicacer son dernier livre (qui est un succès) : Riches ensemble ! Felicia et moi avons assisté à une rencontre avec l’économiste Anne-Laure Delatte, à Citéco, la cité de l’économie à Paris. Et ça nous a beaucoup plu !
A Saturday afternoon in a former bank vault in Paris, for a book signing and conversation with economist Anne-Laure Delatte, a CNRS researcher whose new book Riches ensemble tackles France's public debt and what to do about it. I tell the story as I told it to my father on the phone: the grand neo-Renaissance mansion turned Banque de France branch turned museum, the heavy vault door, the questions from the audience, and an economist who stays optimistic despite the numbers.
The storytelling is clear and conversational, and the economic vocabulary (debt, public spending, pensions, budget) is explained by context, so it suits B2 listeners who want to follow current French affairs. For C1 listeners, the real reward is hearing how a visit is described and recounted in natural past tenses, with long sentences that stay easy to follow.
This autumn, the podcast letters are all about writing. With every episode, subscribers receive a letter with a short writing workshop built on a real passage from the episode, cultural markers to go further, and a few touches of useful French. A simple, effective way to improve your written French, and by extension your confidence in French.
Anne-Laure Delatte · Riches ensemble · dette publique · Cité de l'économie · Banque de France · économie française · spoken french · learn french· french stories · authentic french · real french · paris culture
Who is Anne-Laure Delatte?
What is the book Riches ensemble about?
What is the Cité de l'économie in Paris?
Where is the Musée de l'économie located?
Why does France have a high public debt?
What does "Starve the beast" mean in economics?
How to describe a place in French
How to write descriptive sentences in French
French podcast about current affairs for learners
Things to do in the 17th arrondissement of Paris
Oct 1, 2026
Oct 1, 2026
4 min
Cet automne, l'audio et l'écriture s'enrichissent mutuellement. Après un été consacré à la compréhension, la prochaine étape est l'écriture parce que quand on écrit bien, on parle mieux. One Thing In A French Day devient un atelier d'écriture pour trois mois.
This podcast is made for French learners who want to improve their French through real Parisian life — carefully crafted French, with real grammatical sentences, even when the tone feels natural and spontaneous.
The level of this episode is B1-B2, as it mixes everyday conversational French with more precise vocabulary around language learning itself.
This episode also answers the following questions:
What is the One Thing In A French Day autumn offer for 2026?
Why does writing in French help you speak better?
What is the difference between understanding French and truly mastering it?
What are "les lettres du podcast" and what do subscribers receive?
How do you build good habits in French without grammar exercises?
What did the summer French learners' survey reveal?
Who is Dylan, and what advice did he give about learning French?
What does a French "atelier d'écriture" look like for language learners?
french stories, paris stories, french daily life, authentic french, real french, life in paris, spoken french, learn french, apprendre le français, écriture en français, atelier d'écriture, offre automne, lettres du podcast, One Thing In A French Day
Sep 28, 2026
Sep 28, 2026
4 min
Alors, la question était : avions-nous fait le recensement de Lisa? (Etions-nous des parents parfaits? ) Ce document est très important pour une raison particulière qui concerne Lisa cette année.
A very real evening of French administrative stress — finding a missing document, navigating a government website, remembering (or not) what was already done last year — followed by an unexpectedly funny philosophical twist courtesy of Descartes. This episode is a real insight into how French teenagers navigate the bureaucracy of turning 16: mandatory registration, national defense day, and university entrance exams.
The vocabulary stays largely accessible, but the episode is a great opportunity to notice rarer verb tenses in action — the imperfect subjunctive, the plus-que-parfait, the present subjunctive — used naturally rather than drilled. For B2–C1 listeners, spotting why a particular tense appears where it does is a genuinely useful step toward using it instinctively later on.
(
recensement · JDC · baccalauréat · Descartes · philosophie · administration française · spoken french · learn french · french stories · authentic french · real french · french teenagers
What is "le recensement" in France at 16?
What is the JDC (Journée défense et citoyenneté)?
Who was René Descartes?
What does "je pense donc je suis" mean?
How does the French baccalauréat exam work?
What accommodations exist for dyslexic students in France?
French podcast about family life and teenagers
When to use the imperfect subjunctive in French
What is "en temps et en heure" in French?
French podcast for natural spoken conversation
Sep 24, 2026
Sep 24, 2026
9 min
Faut-il être "scolaire" pour progresser en français, ou existe-t-il d'autres chemins tout aussi efficaces ?
Deuxième partie de notre entretien avec Dylan, professeur américain à l'université française. Dylan partage ses conseils les plus précieux ( patience, imitation, curiosité) et une belle réflexion sur le langage et notre humanité.
Part two of a real conversation with Dylan, an American professor teaching at a French university, on how to genuinely improve your French. His advice is refreshingly unscholastic: imitate what you hear, repeat it, rewrite it, and above all be patient — real progress takes time, not perfect grammar drills. The conversation also drifts into something deeper: what it means, as humans, to be able to learn another person's language.
This episode offers genuinely useful, actionable advice for B1–C1 learners on how to structure their own practice, alongside more abstract, philosophical reflections (with a nod to philosopher Souleymane Bachir Diagne) that reward close listening at the C1 level. A great episode for anyone who's ever wondered whether they're "doing it right. »
Chapitres :
00:00 Introduction : la suite de l'entretien avec Dylan
01:27 Comment passer de B1/B2 à C1
01:46 S’approprier la langue : imiter, répéter, réécrire
02:53 Faire confiance à son cerveau ("personne n'est nul en langues")
03:02 Le langage, ce qui nous rend humains
04:43 Continuer, ne pas se décourager
05:01 Les différents intérêts à parler français des auditeurs
05:36 Repérer sans avoir besoin d'utiliser : passé simple et subjonctif
07:00 Apprendre dans les domaines qui nous passionnent
08:37 Conclusion et remerciements
Dylan · conseils d'apprentissage · niveau C1 · apprentissage des langues · Souleymane Bachir Diagne · spoken french · learn french · french stories· authentic french · real french · language learning tips
How to go from B2 to C1 in French?
Best tips to improve French fluency
Do you need to be scholastic to learn French well?
How to use imitation to learn a language
What is the passé simple used for in French?
When to use the subjunctive in French
French podcast with language learning advice
How long does it take to reach C1 in French?
Who is Souleymane Bachir Diagne?
Best way to build French vocabulary naturally
Sep 21, 2026
Sep 21, 2026
11 min
Comment le français peut-il devenir une passion ?
Aujourd'hui, c'est Dylan qui est au micro : il est un professeur américain de Felicia à l’université, et c’est aussi un francophone qui parle très bien français. Quelle est son histoire avec le français? C’est ce que nous allons découvrir dans cette première partie d’interview.
A real conversation with Dylan, an American professor teaching at a French university, about how he fell into — then fell for — the French language almost by accident. This first of two episodes traces his journey from a random high school class choice to his very first hours in Paris, plus a genuinely thoughtful comparison between the American and French university systems, from seminar-style discussions to the physical distances of Parisian student life.
The conversational, reflective register here sits comfortably in B2–C1 territory — Dylan expresses complex, nuanced ideas (multilingualism, cultural identity, the privilege of mobility) with real clarity, making this an excellent model for learners working on expressing abstract thoughts naturally in French. It's also a great listen for anyone curious about studying or teaching in France.
professeur américain · Nanterre · Ménilmontant · système universitaire français · spoken french · learn french · french stories · authentic french · real french · expat in france · bilinguisme
Why do Americans learn French?
What is it like to study at a French university as an American?
Differences between French and American university systems
What is a "seminar" vs "cours magistral" in France?
Best neighborhoods to discover in Paris beyond the center
French podcast interview with a language teacher
What is it like to be a language assistant in France?
French podcast for advanced learners
How to become fluent in French as an adult
What is student life like in Paris?
Sep 17, 2026
Sep 17, 2026
3 min
C'est la rentrée de Felicia à la fac ! C'est important d'être avec ses amis en cours, elle s'est donné du mal pour être avec un de ses bons camarades. A-t-elle réussi?
Real French university vocabulary and real French university bureaucracy, told through my daughter Felicia's very relatable ordeal: closed doors, unanswered emails, and a university staff member who changes his mind twice in the same sentence. This episode captures something universally familiar — the anxious back-and-forth of waiting on an administrative decision — while teaching some genuinely useful, specific vocabulary around French higher education.
This episode is especially useful for anyone who might study or work with French institutions — TD, CM, inscription pédagogique, and régime dérogatoire are all real, commonly used terms explained in context. Beyond the vocabulary, B2–C1 listeners will enjoy the natural narrative tension and reported speech throughout, plus a clever, unusually thorough grammar exercise built directly from the episode's own text.
D’autres épisodes à écouter aujourd’hui :
Et Felicia, que fait-elle maintenant ?
https://onethinginafrenchday.podbean.com/e/et-felicia-que-fait-elle-maintenant%e2%80%89/
La nouvelle vie de Felicia à la fac https://onethinginafrenchday.podbean.com/e/la-nouvelle-vie-de-felicia-a-la-fac/
2273 — La rentrée des filles : université, lycée et collège
https://onethinginafrenchday.podbean.com/e/2273-%e2%80%94-la-rentree-des-filles%c2%a0-universite-lycee-et-college-%e2%80%94-mercredi-13-septembre-2023/
université française · TD · CM · régime dérogatoire · inscription pédagogique · vie étudiante · spoken french · learn french · french stories · french daily life · authentic french · real french
1 What are TD and CM in French universities?
2 What is régime dérogatoire in French higher education?
3 What is inscription pédagogique?
4 How does the French university system work?
5 French vocabulary for university and student life
6 Direct object pronouns in French (COD) explained
7 French podcast about student life
8 How to deal with French administrative bureaucracy
9 French podcast for intermediate to advanced learners
10 Common challenges for university students in France
Sep 14, 2026
Sep 14, 2026
4 min
Chaque année, je lis avec le même plaisir le journal de vendanges d'Hervé Bizeul, le vigneron du Clos des fées, dans le Roussillon. Cette année, sa manière de regarder ses vignes m'a rendue plus attentive à ce qui m’entoure : quelques surprises m’attendaient.
This episode is entirely in French because it's designed for learners who want real spoken French, not textbook dialogues.
Level: B1–B2. The everyday narration stays accessible at B1, while specific vocabulary tied to the harvest and botany pushes toward B2 : useful if you want vocabulary beyond the strictly conversational.
D'autres épisodes à écouter aujourd'hui :
Un mystère sur la coulée verte : https://onethinginafrenchday.podbean.com/e/1951-%e2%80%94-lundi-8-fevrier-2021-%e2%80%94-mystere-sur-la-coulee-verte/
Une balade philosophique sur la coulée verte : https://onethinginafrenchday.podbean.com/e/1966-%e2%80%94-la-coulee-verte-se-prolonge-avec-philosophie/
Le blog d'Hervé Bizeul, déjà en 2019 : https://onethinginafrenchday.podbean.com/e/1709-%e2%80%94-mardi-1er-octobre-2019-%e2%80%94-les-vendanges-d-herve-bizeul/
spoken french, learn french, french stories, paris stories, french daily life, authentic french, real french, life in paris, vendanges, Hervé Bizeul, Clos des fées, Roussillon wine harvest, urban nature, coulée verte, noisettes, hydrangea
Who is Hervé Bizeul?
What is Clos des fées winery?
Where is the Roussillon wine region in France?
What happens during "les vendanges" in France?
What is "la coulée verte" in Paris?
Why do hydrangeas turn brown in a heatwave?
When is hazelnut season in France?
What does "involucre" mean in French botany?
How to notice nature in an urban environment?
What is a French grape harvest journal?