Below is a list of tools I have found especially helpful in improving my French language skills. I hope that you'll find them as useful and entertaining as I have!
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Websites:
Tex's French Grammar is an adorable site for learning grammar are verb conjugations. There are lots of interactive features such as a verb tutor, exercises and quizzes. Plus the cute (and printable) cartoons help me to remember what I've learned!
French.about.com is wonderful for verb conjugations, grammar help, vocabulary and quizzes. It has cleared up a lot of confusion for me. They also have a word-of-the-day feature and video tip clips.
Quizlet is a great free way to create flashcard sets for studying grammar and vocabulary, and keeping up with my french textbook. Better yet, most chapter vocabulary lists have already been turned into flashcards by other users, meaning I just have to search the title to study away! As with the above, the account is free, and your flashcard sets can be saved for future review.
This was the interactive website for my first and second year French textbook. It has learning exercises and quizzes based on each chapter, and has been a worthwhile tool for vocabulary retention.
Apps:
"Babbel" is by far my favorite app. It's like free Rosetta Stone for your phone! It offers tons of vocabulary (in lots of languages), plus spelling and pronunciation (by native speakers) all learnable offline once you download the free packages. I've learned a ton of functional vocab that I can not only recall and pronounce properly, but spell! I Love love love this app...
"French Flashcards" is a free app jam-packed with useful vocabulary flashcards with pictures and sounds/pronunciations. You can use it to simply study, play memory and matching games and to take quizzes on what you've learned. Watch out for minor errors, though.
I used to think "Busuu" was the best learning game app out there, but after discovering how limited it was compared to the web version, I have mostly been using the site instead. However, it does contain over 3,000 words and phrases and is a fun and free way to study up on the go.
"French Verb Conjugator" is a useful app when you can't remember a verb or its conjugations. It holds nearly 700 verbs in 8 tenses (present, perfect, imperfect, future, conditional, past historic, present subjuctive and pluperfect) and is listed alphabetically and searchable in both French and English. It's been a real lifesaver for writing and yes, it's also free.
"Learn French Phrasebook" is free and AD-FREE! It requires no web connection and includes 800 or so words and phrases spoken by native French speakers. Though I don't use it a ton now, I do plan to bring it with me to France since I can use it while offline. It's almost too good to be free!
Though "Google Translate" isn't good for translating large works (i.e. whole essays ;) ) it's a quick way to get the basic gist of what's being said or needs to be said. I use it for single words or sentences, especially for things that don't require an exact translation. When it works, the camera function is pretty nifty, too.
Books:
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DISCLAIMER: I have NOT been compensated by any of these companies. The statements above are my own opinions!
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