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Learn French Free With Stories Home Page 
I've ordered some flashing lights, so hold on to your pants...  (baguettes not included)
Sadly my Son (this website developer) has taken his own life in France. We are repatriating him to England. He devoted his life to this website in trying to help people learn. He loved his website being used and this gave him such happiness. He was an incredible person with such lovely qualities. He struggled to fit in with the hustle and bustle of mainstream life but gave so much to others. We hope you have found peace. Love from Dad and Mom and family xxxxxx
NEWS FLASH: I'm working really hard updating my Top 100 French Language Songs Ever list. Each entry now has a YouTube clip, a little description and a sample of the lyrics with translations under each line (or will have once I've finished.) This will make it a good language learning tool. Please take a look and let me know what you think using the comments box at the bottom of the pages. 
Technically, I'm not a charity, though I have dedicated thousands of unpaid hours to making this site. If you donate money, I will most likely use it to keep my internet connection open (a cost that is getting increasingly difficult to justify), thus allowing me to stupidly dedicate still more hours towards making this site as useful as it can be, whilst keeping it free to use. 
MENU OF FREE PARALLEL TEXTS. SPOTIFY AND DEEZER PLAYLISTS OF THE BEST FRENCH LANGUAGE SONGS FOR LEARNING FRENCH. REVIEW OF FRENCH ONLY MUSIC RADIO STATIONS. HOW AND WHY TO USE FRENCH LANGUAGE SONGS TO LEARN FRENCH. COX CITY: FRENCH-SPANISH-ENGLISH SHORT STORY PARALLEL TEXT. BOULE DE SUIF: FRENCH-ENGLISH PARALLEL TEXT. UN SCANDALE EN BOHEME: FRENCH ENGLISH PARALLEL TEXT WITH GRAMMAR ANNOTATIONS. HINTS AND TIPS FOR LEARNING FRENCH AS A SELF STUDY TOPIC. A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF FRENCH VERB TENSES AND MOODS. 
The blah blah
​
Put simply, this site is my attempt to bridge the gap between online French starter courses and full knowledge of the French language (for free of course.) How do I do this? By making line by line colour matched parallel texts, mostly based on classic short stories (see Menu of Free Parallel Texts) AND making actual lessons based on the lyrics translations of popular and culturally significant French language songs. (see Menu of Free Lyric Translation French Lessons) 
Quite a few of my parallel texts have useful paragraph by paragraph annotations. These annotations either give simple translation definitions of individual words OR more deeper grammar explanations with a strong emphasis on the use of French verbs. If the grammar footnotes get too heavy then don't worry, just ignore them; Grammar helps enormously, however it is best to wait until you are naturally curious about a specific rule before looking too deep into it. It is only when you start to wonder why the word ce [this/that] changes to cet or cette in other sentences that you are ready to understand the grammar rule behind this change. 
One more thing, I have put lots of links and useful infomation for those learning French on this Home page and I have written a number of articles on the matter that you may find useful. you will find a list of these on the first of the two menu pages I've just mentioned above. Good luck! (oh, don't forget to share the site on social media as it helps my google ranking: the more the site's used, the more I'll do) 

Some of my best work yet?
Free French Lesson based on 
Alors On Danse by Stromea
The only way I could help you more to speak French would be to sit you on my knee, shove my hand up your bum and discreetly speak French out of the corner of my mouth having earlier on asked you to simultaneously open and close your own mouth. In short, this lesson I've just done is the first thing you should visit on my site. Also, in it you'll witness how I trash almost every other translation of this song that exists. Enjoy!
Go to lesson.


FREE ONLINE PARALLEL TEXT... WITH EXTRAS
French-English
Arthur Conan Doyle's
Un Scandale en Bohème 
[A Scandal in Bohemia]
A Sherlock Holmes Adventure...

This parallel text is a real beauty on a number of levels. First, being a Sherlock Holmes short story it reads like a television programme, with a good balance between dialogue and narrative (which helps language learning) and an easy to follow storyline (which makes it accessible to language learners.)  In addition, the Sherlock Holmes adventures don't suffer from dated use of language the way a lot of the other public domain short stories do. 
But this is no ordinary adventure for Holmes and Watson. No indeed, for it is in this one that he comes head to head with 'that woman', the only woman ever to beat Sherlock at his own game. The portrayel of this mutual outwitting has lead to A scandal in bohemia attaining bronze medal position in a list of the Best Sherlock Holmes Short Stories of All Time (as voted in the most comprehensive survey ever conducted on the matter.)
So, it's a great short story, very suitible for language learning. Anything else? Well... yes! I have adapted the original version so that it follows more closely the translation. Why? Because translations can be liberal leading to difficulties when using them in parallel texts. But by bringing the two closer together, the resulting bilingual story becomes significantly more useful. Did I stop there...? Of course not! Just to help you that little bit more, I colour matched the individual sentences and clauses making referring from the French text to the English text extremely instinctive... and then I threw in a line under line version at the bottom of each page for good measure. "Phew!"


Top 100 Chansons Francaises (french songs)
...according to a brit

I formally present to you my audio list of the top 100 French songs (chansons françaises) or all time. This is different to other lists because it is specifically done with the anglophone music taste in mind. Don't worry, it still represents a general French cultural identity (more so in my mind, but then again, I may just be biased) but the important thing about this list of french songs is that I made it with learning the French language and culture in mind. 
Songs 1-50 have individually playable YouTube videos (usually of a live performances) directly on the pages. I say pages because I had to split it up a bit to avoid load speeds dropping. 
In any case, all the songs in the list are also linked to youtube videos in case there were problems with loading, and I took the pains to make sure that the majority of these links go to music videos which either have the lyrics in the video itself (as subtitles or as a 'lyrics video') or below in the comments section. Where available I have also linked to duel french - english subtitles.
UPDATE: I made online/onpage spotify and deezer playlists of this list so you can listen to my choices whilst you read. 

The Top Ten Most Interesting 
French Language Music Artists 
Since 2000 

French language music has always had a bit of a reputation for being naff among English speaking peoples. To rebuke those accusations I therefore present some shockingly good modern era music artists (Frenchies who still sing in French, who'd have thought..). The list is accompanied with individually playable YouTube videos so you can quickly sample and decide for yourselves. I have also written a ditty on each artist, not that anyone reads now-a-days. 


    Let me know what you think of my site. 
    The advertising revenue doesn't even pay for the internet connection so I'm clearly not doing this for the money. I'd really appreciate if you could let me know if the site is helping you as it's taking up quite a lot of my free time and a little encouragement would help. Even a simple 'thank you' would be much appreciated. 


NEW SHORT STORY PARALLEL TEXT 
French-English-Spanish
Ambrose Bierce's 
Un Incident Au Pont D'Owl Creek
(An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge)

I am really starting to love these American authors. This well known classic American short story, much like the other one I did by Jack London, is concise yet poignant. The story starts off with an American civil war execution taking place on a bridge and follows the ups and downs of the hangee (is that the word for someone who is about to be hanged - oh nevermind) as he tries to escape. And like all good short stories should have in my book, a twist at the end is included, free of charge.
NOTE: It's simple direct language and the fact that the translations follow very closely the original make this an excellent parallel text    


The Best French Radio Stations
(for learning French)

If you are looking for talk stations which are good for learning French than try these.
France Info Public owned info station
RTL Quite political at times. Good Interviews. Occasional music (11.1% audience share) NOTE: most listened to station in France
France Inter public owned. Sometimes a bit too arty farty. More than occasional music (8.5% audience share)
Europe 1​ Witty, humourous, political, fast paced talk, occasional music (8.2% audience share)

​If you are looking for a mix of music and low brow talk (cooking, relationships ...etc) try
France Bleu Infact, France Bleu is a public owned group of many regional and local stations that often share content. The particular station linked to is the flagship Parisian station (107.1). WARNING: The music tends to be naff dated English language music mixed with very naff and dated French language music. However, the talk in this station tends to be more accessible than with the high brow talk stations above...
For the rest of the article click here


Spotify's 
LYRICS Mode 
Can Help You Learn French

NOTE: not sure if this function works on tablets or mobiles since I have neither.
Not many people know this, but if you go to the bottom right of your Spotify screen and press the LYRICS button, then it will display the lyrics of almost any song you are currently playing in a karaoke style fashion (minus the bouncy ball.) Now, this is a fantastic language learning tool. What you do is find a French music playlist that you like (see my personal ones below below) and put it into LYRICS mode, switching to full lyrics. Then, open wordreference (or another online bilingual dictionary) in another tab on your browser. Now go back to Spotify and press play. When you come across a word you don't know, pause the music and lyrics using your space bar, switch tabs, and enter the word into the dictionary. This action will become quick and natural letting you pleasantly while your time away, listening to good music AND learn at the same time. 

NOTE: If you're not normally a fan of French music then I suggest you try my own playlists below that cut out the cheesy naff stuff the French seem to love but which causes random ear induced cognitive damage amongst the rest of the human race 

My French Language Music Playlists

NOTE: Why not make your own playlist for learning french by picking your favorite tracks out of any of these playlists. Listen to it whilst doing other things on your computer, and then work on the lyrics using LYRICS mode when you've become familiar with them.
NOTE: the last playlist contains all the songs from which I've based all my free French language song lessons. Listen to the playlist then do the lessons. That might help. 

See also my Spotify Playlist of Spanish Language Songs.


NEW SHORT STORY PARALLEL TEXT 
French-English-Spanish
Guillaume Apollinaire's
Le Matelot D'Amsterdam
[El Marinero De Amsterdam]  OR [The Sailor from Amsterdam]

Chilling little story just a bit longer than Cox City below and perhaps more recognized in the literary world. Again, the simple language used is this thriller's main advantage. I have to admit, it's one of my favourites. The original was written in French and I found the Spanish version in googleland but I had to translate to get the English version. Around 1,500 words long so it's not going to take you long to read it. Enjoy!
UPDATE: This bilingual short story now has some of the most comprehensive annotations of all my parallel texts. Result = great for beginners. 

How to Watch 
Live French 'Free to View' 
TV Channels Online 
from Abroad

Wow, this one took me a while to write but it's a good one. In the 21st Century, language, culture and television are very closely associated. If you can't be there then the next best thing is to see what those that are are watching. Your ability to understand oral French will undergo a paradigm shift within just a few hundred hours of french tv watching. Yes, I know that sounds like Chinese water torture but there are a few gems to look out for so let me be your guide young padawan...


NEW SHORT STORY PARALLEL TEXT 
French-English-Spanish
Guillaume Apollinaire's 
Cox City

Only got half an hour to spare. Do you fall asleep reading parallel texts. Then this baby is for you. A very short bilingual horror story in the form of a Spanish/ English/ French parallel text which uses fairly simple language, will not take forever to read and will (guaranteed) keep you glued to the screen. I spent all evening translating into English and frankly, it's given me the creeps. When I find time I will match sentences with colours like I'm doing with Boule de Suif below and I'm even thinking of making this one the entry level parallel text for beginners by adding lots of grammar annotations. We'll see.


NEW FREE ONLINE PARALLEL TEXT
French+English+Translation of Translation
Bram Stoker's 
L'invité de Dracula
[Dracula's Guest] 

This short story is said to have been the original opening for the actual Dracula novel, but that the publishers had had it cut out. If this is the case they made a mistake in doing so as the said short story reads real well (say that when your drunk!), portraying with skill the dark gothic atmosphere we have come to so closely associate with the Count himself. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, as I like my stories straight forward, without authors doing the pen and ink version of 'doughnuts and wheelies' for the sake of them. It just happens that this kind of 'straight-forward writing' is tailor made for language learning. Unfortunately, the French translation, although being as 'readable' as the English original, is kind of... different. Every other sentence was structurally... different, even if the gist remained the same. But don't let this put you off, the French translation is a great story, and the English original will still aid. Lines, as always, are colour matched. 


Anyone for a Bit of Voltaire? 

I found this youtube video: French-English Bilingual Voltaire Quotes, and as quality free bilingual French English text videos go, it's the squirrel's nuts. 


I'm Writing My First Ever Short Story: Hangman

Well, this a turn for the books: WHAT! No parallel text. Bizarre. In fact, I wanted a short story for those studying English that wasn't one of those 'free of author's rights' classics that I usually do, which, great as they are, can sometimes be quite dated as regards use and style of language etc. The problem was, most modern short stories are protected, and those that are not... well... are often not so good.
So, I had an epiphany, which, once treated by a qualified doctor, left me the time free to encounter a eureka moment. The doctor came once again, surprised by the frequent occurrence of such rare maladies in one of his patients. It was only when he was leaving for the second time, scratching his head, that I had an interesting idea: write one yourself fool!
So I set out to write a simple interesting story: except the simple turned into not so simple rather quickly. Then I tried to simplify what I'd done: and found it impossible. Feeling fully fed up at this point I made a cup of tea and came back, resigned to delete the work in progress in a cathartic fit, when I read it for the last time, as a farewell p*** off, if you like. In doing so, in the proper frame of mind this time, it dawned on me that actually, it's not that bad.
So I thought to myself, you've got a site, just publish it. Which is what I'm doing right now. Of course, as it stands, it has very little to do with language learning, other than the obvious fact that it is written in a language. And yet, it is only in publishing it now that I have decided to keep a column to the right for annotations for English language learners, despite the complexity of the language involved. Who knows, one day I may battle the beast inside and simplify it, putting the simplified version this side as well.
In any case. I've still yet to finish the story itself (I've got the structure and the kicker at the end planned out in my head. It just remains a question of how much I want to fill it out. Still, enjoy what's done and let me know what you think of it. 
(Criticisms welcome as long as they don't criticize.) 


NEW PARALLEL TEXT
French-English-Spanish
Guy De Maupassant's
Boule De Suif
[Dumpling]

...is now available as a traditional horizontally aligned parallel text. Sentences are being matched within paragraphs using different colours so as to make referencing from one text to the other all that more easier. Great short story that remains a classic. You really feel for the main character (dumpling), a prostitute whose high moral ground puts the rest of her company to shame. Nice mix between dialogue and narration. Some old fashioned words used and, as always in these free of author's rights French texts, the passé simple is the dominant tense employed, but otherwise, a good story for language learning.


Readlang Browser Extension: a new tool in language learning?

I've tested out the Readlang google chrome browser extension and it seems to work really well in conjunction with the parallel texts on my site.  It leaves a little green square with an R in the top right hand of your web browser. Once pressed you can click on any word in online texts which is written in your target language and it quickly translates the word into your language of origin on the page itself. However, what I find most interesting is the option of opening a mini version of Wordreference (already my favourite online bilingual dictionary) in a pop up by pressing on the open dictionary button in the green banner that appears at the top of your web page when Readlang is enabled. The pop up stays open and so when you click on a word and don't find the one word translation solution suitable for the context then you can look to your pop up dic (ha! d'ya get it) which will already have the bilingual definition of the word displayed. This, my friends, could be the very revolution in internet language learning that we have been waiting for. It could also be the end of my website but hey, sod it, that's progress for you!


NEW PARALLEL TEXT 
French-English-Spanish
Robert Louis Stevenson's
L'Étrange Cas du Dr Jekyll et de Mr Hyde
[Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde]  
Chapters 1-3 available for the moment
UPDATE: Part Two (chapters 4-7) now available

Most of my short story parallel texts range from 1,000 to 15,000 words long. This one however, is longer (around 26,000 or so) and is thus technically a novella. The lengh means that it's taking me a while to colour match the lines so I'm offering up the first three chapters here as work in progress. It is worth the investment in time as for once, the French version follows very closely the original: this makes it an excellent parallel text between the two languages. That and the fact that you can't get more classic then Jekyll and Hyde; AND that this gothic fantasy novella has a straight forward story line;  AND that it's free and online. 
Seriously, I should really make you pay for this!


Learn French
with my 
free lyrics translation lessons 
based on popular and culturally significant 
French language songs 

I'm starting a 'learn french with french songs' thing, though still on this site. I take a classic or modern french song and put the English translation underneath, line by line. For some of them I will put in the phonetics for the french lyrics, line under line, more or less using the international phonetic alphabet. And then I put in word for word translations. And finally, I hope to put in grammar notes under each line, concentrating on explaining the ins and outs of French verb conjugation. Feel spoilt? It's because you are!  See the ones I'm working on below

FREE FRENCH LESSON
BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
Edith Piaf
Je Ne Regrette Rien (1960)
Probably the only French song that the average Joe knows. Well, at least it's a good one. Emotionally charged and yet short and simple song, and hence good for beginners. No extremely metaphorical lyrics, just nice and direct, which helps.


FREE FRENCH LESSON
BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin  
Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus (1969)
Very very naughty. The controversial French lyrical genius begat a controversial sexy French song. You all know this one so there's not much more for me to add...  except, if you thought it was a tad risqué beforehand, just wait until you understand the 'ins and outs' (ha ha!/ lol) of the lyrics.


FREE FRENCH LESSON
BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
Indila 
Dernière Danse (2014)
This was on the free to view music channels every morning for the whole of spring 2014.  A hit that came out of nowhere which now has 73 million YouTube hits. Vevo wouldn't let me use the official video so I used an excellent remix in place. (burn-Vevo-burn)


FREE FRENCH LESSON
BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
Zaz
Je Veux (2010)
This was the song that led to Zaz becoming Frances top selling artist abroad in 2010 (or was it another year?) The album from which it came (called Zaz as it happens) ranked high in the charts all over Europe (except, of course, the UK). Simple but potent lyrics whose meaning hit home with me. Plenty of slang phrases within so if you need to work on that then this is your song.


FREE FRENCH LESSON
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
Stromae
Papaoutai (2013)
Recent hit all over europe and the world (152 million YouTube Hits) by the now established king of electro-urban-geek music. This song is not the easiest of ones but has a very strong lyrical narrative,  if not message (as do all his songs). Note that I've put in the phonetics for this lesson using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).


FREE FRENCH LESSON
INTERMEDIATE-ADVANCED LEVEL
Malicorne
Le Luneux
From the album Almanach, this traditional French folk song reconstructed by the experimental headonism of Malicorne in the late seventies will make you shiver with delight. I'm not sure whether the melody came from another song, but who cares when it's this good. Some oldie style wording but my notes will help you understand it. 
(1977?) 

FREE FRENCH LESSON
INTERMEDIATE-ADVANCED LEVEL
Olivia Ruiz
La Femme Chocolat (2006)
Unique voice, unique style of music, unique lyrics and unique looks help this artist stand far out from the often samey nouvelle scene crowd. This particular song demonstrates well her quirkiness with lyrics that are just damnright trippy. 
Level: at least intermediate.


Why and how to use Les Chansons Françaises for learning French
I have written an article (Hey, that makes me sound like a journalist - who said my chronique punctuation/ grammar/ spelling would hold me bakc life in!?) on using French songs for the purpose of learning French, with a review of some 100% French music only radio stations I listen to and some of the francophone music artists of the past and present that I feel are: (a) good, (b) represent francophone countries, and (c) whose music will help learn french in an interesting way. Click the link in the title to have a look.

Fancy a Challenge?
I have created a MULTIPLE LANGUAGE PARALLEL TEXT. The four languages that have been aligned (paragraph by paragraph in four side by side columns) are: English, French, Spanish and German. . The novel being used is THE RED HEADED LEAGUE (a Sherlock Holmes short story contained in A.C.Doyle's The adventures of Sherlock Holmes. 

Fancy a Bigger Challange?
Victor Hugo's NOTRE DAME DE PARIS and Gustave Flaubert's MADAME BOVARY now available as sentence under sentence French-English bilingual texts  (or nearly as still working on alinging the texts and doing a bit of editing)

Look what I found!
Yep I found a 2nd world war arsenal stock-pile. Anti-tank rounds, bullets and other stuff. It was a couple of years back but I recently came across the photo and got all nostalgic. I also thought that some  might be curious as to what I look like aswell.  
Signed Simpetweb: creating unequal web page columns and clashing couleur schemes since since 1824
 Picture
Hi, welcome to my site. This is YOUR AVATAR. As you progress in French your avatar will do, well... erm... not a lot! Still, the rest of my site's actually quite good so please use to heart's content.
UPDATE: I've aligned so many classic short stories as parallel texts that I've caught the bug and written one myself (it's posted at booksie). Please go read it and leave a comment or even give it a like if you like. (I'm a poet and I didn't... erm... damn! What rhymes with poet again?)

Useful Links for Free Bilingual Texts
FRENCH - ENGLISH

I've found a new source of free parallel texts: MY OWN! This link will take you to my menu page of the parallel texts I've created. You will see that they are not of the vanilla variety as for the most part they come either with grammar annotations or colour matched lines  (helps referring between languages.) There are not so many but it's the quality that counts, not the quantity.

I just got owned. But like the good stiff-lipped Brit that I am, I shall do nothing but bow down to a superior effort muttering, without even the slightest of bitterness lacing my words, "Good game." 
I sincerely urge you to try the link to Mr Farkas's site that I'm giving you above, without which you'll never find this diamond of a site buried under the 12 feet of muck that I like to call Googleland. The link will take you to his menu page of online free bilingual books, almost all of which have English as one of the languages. By scrolling down you'll find a large selection of interesting French-English parallel texts under the FRENCH sub-heading. Use the links below for examples that I would recommend to those that are new to parallel texts as some of them can be hard going, even as novels in your own language, let alone as a parallel text. If you like a challenge though, try Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris. It's a good example of a bilingual novel that you think would be easy-going enough because you recognise the title and know the story from the later adaptations... and then you actually start reading it and realise: HOLY CRAP, old boy Hugo could have done with and team of editors or two just to hack away at the dead weight. (SIMPETWEB: self confessed philistine, at your service)
Before you proceed to Farka's menu page let me tell you of two things which make his site the Mecca of parallel texts.
THING number one (crude but does the job!)
He has a great system (and I believe he wrote the programming himself) for adding and taking away languages in his multiple language texts. (btw, you will have to take off the languages that you don't want in the links given below: just press the appropriate on screen buttons when you get there.) I've tried this function on his texts and it works a treat. 
THING number two
Quantity: Just in number of words aligned this guy wins it. This is because he aligns full blown public domain novels and has done quite a few.
Another THING (cruder still!)
Apparently, not only can you read his well aligned free parallel texts in your browser (i.e. on-line), you can also (by following the instructions on his page) download and read them on your e-book (kindle/kobo etc). I myself tried following the instructions and completely failed so I cannot confirm if this function works.  
Easy-going French-English parallel texts at FarkasTranslations.
NOTE: I'm finding the text size very small in the the browser versions. I've tried using the trick below to make the text bigger but it doesn't seem to work. Shame.

Let's talk straight, this is another site containing public domain literature in the form of well aligned free online parallel texts. The link above will take you to the menu page but to go straight to the French/English texts use the links below. 
What's the difference? Well, this site contains far fewer French-English examples, though there are ones here that arn't available at FarkasTranslations, which justifies the visit within itself. I also find that the text is easier to read in this at Miguel's site due to a slightly bigger font and a non-white background. 
NOTE: Though text size at Miguel's site is larger than Farkas's, it is still a tad on the small side. However, with the former's site, you can do something about it (if you are using google chrome that is) INSTRUCTIONS: go to the box in the top right corner of your browser (the one with the three horizontal lines in it) and click on it to trigger the drop down menu. About half way down this menu is a plus and minus sign either side of a base figure of 100%. Now, click on the plus sign until this figure hits 125% and this will increase the text size for this site to a comfortable reading level (on normal laptops). 
NOTE: There is probably a similar device with other web browsers. 
NOTE: This also works for my site!
Albert Camus:
René Descartes: 
Marcel Proust:
Voltlaire:

Want to print off some pre-made parallel texts in word/ excel/ html format. This is the one for you. NOTE: for this one you have to download files found after scrolling three quarters of the way down the linked page and then unzip them. I can't guarantee that they are free of nasties but I have done it for the Spanish French and German files and so far my laptop hasn't exploded. NOTE: There are lots of aligned texts in each file: however, quite a number of them contravene copyright laws. I shall leave the moral/legal decision to you as to whether you read them. I personally didn't know they contained such texts before unzipping them. Which ones are a bit dodgy? Well, the age of the original text is a good guide. If in doubt, search for the original text on the internet. If it seems freely available then it has probably gone past the author's rights date in the US, which seems to be becoming the watershed mark for internet texts. WARNING: just because the original text is free of rights, that doesn't necessarily mean the same for the translation which could have been done much later.

THIS COULD BE ONE OF THE BEST LANGUAGE LEARNING TOOLS ON THE WEB. (But not yet!) (and it's freeeee!) 
This site is fairly new: It puts free classic literature on line in their original language. Nothing new in that? Well, it then allows users to make annotations (grammar notes, translations, interesting comments.. etc) It does this in such a way that all one needs to do is scroll through the text; words highlighted correspond to annotations automatically appearing to the right. At the moment this aids only very accomplished language learners but if they add a parallel text in the target language then the whole thing could become VERY USEFUL to all stages of learning.

This is another new site for bilingual texts and is very interesting indeed. As far as I can tell it is free, so that's a good start. So what does it do? It puts literature online in such a way that one can choose a pair of languages from a fairly wide group and see the chosen text appear as a parallel text in the opted languages. It then relies on user imput to align the paragraphs. 
First thing to know; being new there are not many bilingual texts with actual aligned paragraphs. I did not really take the time to look but with the first three stories that I looked at none of the paragraphs were alligned.
Second thing to know: Once signed in and in editor mode, alligning the paragraphs is simple, quick and intuitive. I gave it a try with the English French version of  A.C.Doyle's the Blue Carbuncle and it probably took me 3 to four minutes to roughly align a third of the story - less time than it would take to read the said third in just one language as I was simply looking for keywords and proof reading where in doubt. Essentially you pick and drop the paragraphs and you dont have to do each one: just one every three or four where texts start to separate. Of course, this made me cry as I makes my parallel texts using copy and paste which takes twenty times more time.
Third thing to know: you don't need to be that fluent to align a text and if you are stuck you can copy and paste a word into an online dual language dictionary kept open in another tab. Why do this: you will learn much quicker by aligning a parallel text than simply reading a well aligned parallel text. 
As far as dual language dictionaries are concerned I like to use wordreference and linguee as they are fast and reliable. 
Last Comment: If ever Tailored Texts and Weblitera join forces than I can't see the point in carrying on with what I'm doing at the moment.

Just recently (yeah, like I wrote this ages ago) discovered this site and wow, what a collection of bilingual texts it has. (Poems and very short stories mostly it seems) This link should take you directly to the menu for these texts. It does spanish/english, french/english and french/spanish. The collections seems to be free and formed of classic literature which has gone past the date of applicable authors rights. I'm certainly going to take a look myself! Also, seems to have audio for the texts as well. Hoorah!
UPDATE: the paragraphs are all well aligned but avoid poetry which is too abstract and concentrate on the very short stories which contain a simple narrative.
Personal request: Pleeeese separate the audio into paragraphs and put the said fragments under each corresponding paragraph. At least like that you can read one paragraph and then listen to the audio for it while it is fresh in the mind. Otherwise you end up reading the entire story/poem and then you play the audio, almost getting to the end of the introduction of said audio: and then you fall asleep!!!
2nd UPDATE: Yeahhh! Alba learning has actually started separating the audio's a bit. Excellent news.
3nd UPDATE: The Spanish audios are excellent but watch out for the very strong Spanish accent in the French audios.

I found another free parallel text website which is in many ways similar to Weblitera in that it does its texts chapter by chapter (which helps when you are studying them, believe me)  but has the simplicity of the menu system of Farkastranslations (weblitera's is awful.) There are only 4 stories on there so far but they are good ones (including the Metamorphosis and the Hound of the Baskervilles) and I imagine there will be more on the way. Occasionally there is (kind of) audio available, but there is no way to change the text size and style like with Weblitera. In summary: one to watch.
Great site if you want to learn many languages for free using bilingual stories. It uses about eight specifically written very basic short stories which get put side by side with the same stories written in many different languages. Being intentionally basic, don't expect a thrilling adventure but that's not the point really.

NOTE: this link will take you specifically to Stromae's Tous Les Meme music video on Readlang. For others, press the R in the top left hand corner, then press library in the menu bar, then public texts in the second menu bar, and tick songs in the the third bar. All that remains is to scroll down and choose a song. Simple as.
The more I look into Readlang the more I like it. What I want to show you is my favorite bit of it: the music videos with the karaoke words scrolling underneath. What's great about that? Well, if you click on any word it will tell you it's meaning (well, most of the time) and this gave me reason enough (tenuous though it may be) to stick it in my linked list of free parallel texts.
The thing is, it works really well. You don't have to stop the music video if you come across a word that you don't know as pop songs tend to have enough natural pauses and repetition to give you the time to click on the said word and read the translation without losing your place too much. But even if you do, to help you out, there is a dual function to this system which I find flippin fantastic: By changing from the translation to the play function (tabs to the topish left in the kareoke player bit) you can make the video start on the word you press on. This is... well.. like I said: flippin fantastic for language learners.  
Critique: There is one draw back: It is only accurate about 80% of the time in the limited phrase translation mode, and only about 50% in the unlimited single word mode. 
You see, if every word had it's exact equivalent in another language than bilingual dictionaries would be very slim things indeed. In fact, this is far from the case, giving rise to all sorts of Venn Diagram situations. (the ones with the overlapping circles you fool - NOTE: I belong to the 'always insult your reader' school of thought: just because it's more fun) 
To get to the point, Readlang struggles where words have multiple meanings. It is forced to choose just one and there are times that the choice made is unsuitable for the context. Readlang also struggles with some of the more complicated verb conjugations as well as reflexive verbs. It also can have difficulty with expressions but the click and drag phrase translation thing (i.e to translate more than one word together as a whole) helps ease that.
Last note: don't let these small complaints stop you from using this powerful free tool. It really is the bees knees.

The Stromae test:
Errors Readlang makes in Tous Les Meme
  1. Rendez vous: Readlang = Appointment, Stromae = be there! (though does correct this when the rest of the sentence is added
  2. Bete: RL = beast, ST = stupid
  3. Plus: RL = more ST = anymore
  4. l'merite: RL = the merit, ST = merit it
  5. C'est qu'une crise: RL = it's a crisis, ST = it's only a hissy-fit (for a want of a better word)
  6. Diras: RL = say, ST = will say
  7. Meme: RL = same, ST = even
  8. It got gnangnan which surprised me but blocked on ragnagnas (mensturation period again - it's the sound some women make when they are feeling tetchy)
Well, I got to that point (about a fifth into the song) when my free phrase translations ran out leaving me with single word translations only, and it would be unfair to judge them on single word translations alone, besides, I haven't the space to list all the errors that that would create. And yet I'm impressed with this system, I sincerely am. It did some stuff that I thought non human minds would never be able to do.

By the way, the above button does not work. Why? Because this paragraph will be where I put all the links to YouTube bilingual text videos and since there will be more than one link, the single button system goes all inflexible on me (there being only one button). I will be going through a whole lot of the videos available on YouTube and selecting what I think to be the best, putting them below as dark red links, thus saving you the time and effort of searching.  
NOTE: The first link is just fantastic. You must give it a go! 

KDO LEARNING
MISCELLANEOUS
Hands up, I haven't looked at this site much since I've only just found it. Until I investigate it a bit more I will just tell you about my first impressions. 
The part of the site that interested me was where the French pop songs were converted into line under line parallel texts and ranked by difficulty (34 in all). This simple idea is rather good and well set out, the colour coded text works wonders and the video at the top means you don't have to go searching on YouTube. The choice of music is not always to my taste but check out the site's bilingual texts for Stromae, Olivia Ruiz, and Calogero who are all excellent music artists. 
However, for the love of the gods, do not try out the song A Nos Actes Manqués; I will take no legal responsibility for any resulting cognitive dysfunctions you may suffer as the result of pressing this link!
UPDATE: I'm having trouble getting a fair few of the videos working due to DRM rules in my part of the world.

Ok, I lied, it's not exactly free but for what they give, their prices are very reasonable. So, what do they sell? Electronic books of classical literature (AKA free from author's rights) in the original language readable on pc, ipad, kindle... etc. Not excited yet? Patience dear friends. The 'kicker' is that if you get stuck in the target language you can pass your pointer (or finger) over the problematic sentence and you will see, popping up as if by magic, the translation in English. (an official translation to boot) How does this help? Well, if your problem with bilingual texts is that you end up just reading the side in your own language than this site is for you as your native language translations only appear in little segments after the willful physical interaction by you. YOUR EYES WONT BE WANDERING ALL BY THEMSELVES AS IF POSSESSED!
Try out the free examples to see what I mean. Prices range from 2 - 10 euros.

THIS IS WHAT I WROTE BEFORE I NEW THAT E-READERS COULD DO EXACTLY WHAT I WAS DESCRIBING:
It would be great if someone could invent a kindle with a good quality french-english dictionary installed (or whichever the languages you need) in such a way that you could read a book on it in the target language and, if you get stuck on a word, you can simply tap on it to get a pop up of the full dictionary definition/translation (or verb conjugation.) The person who invents that will make millions! (I so want my cut if you get the idea from reading this.)  
THIS IS WHAT I THOUGHT TO MYSELF WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT THEY ACTUALLY HAD THIS FUNCTIONALITY:
Ar*e! I look like a tit now.
But let's get back on track: with ebook readers you can make use of all the free French literature available at sites like Project Guttenburg and Feedbooks (the latter is much easier to navigate). Although technically they are not bilingual stories, the dictionary functionality that I described above makes them a good alternative. I've now got a Kobo but from what I hear the Kindle is a better alternative because you can add the bilingual dictionary you want (the bilingual dictionaries on kobo are very basic and unfortunately obligatory: you can't change them for better ones. With kindle, you can buy and install the bilingual dictionary you want!
NOTE: for a good explanation of how it all works watch this video
Last of all I will add Readlang to this catagory, a free google chrome extension letting you do pretty much the same as what I've described above with ebook readers, but with online literature (or any internet writings for that matter) See my ditto on the matter for a link and more details (top left of the page if you skipped over it) (btw: how dare you skip stuff on my web page. Go! just go! Don't even turn around!)

For those who are interested in learning spanish then I recommend my other site that I have just started. It's new so there is not a lot of content yet but wait and see... UPDATE: haven't done much on this site for a while as I've been concentrating on making the 4 language parallel texts which kinda cover all bases if you like. You'll find them on my french site.

Even though I created this site to help francophones learn English it can be very useful for you. Why? Because the bilingual stories used are just that: bilingual. The only problem is that you might need to know a bit of french just to navigate the menu system. In time, I will convert the parallel texts so that they can be brought over to this site.

Ok, I'm doing a bit of research on this one so I'll get back to you on it. In the meantime the button above will not work

​Comments Left by Visitors to the Sites:
​Learn Spanish... Learn French... Apprendre l'Anlgais...
Thankyou for your comments! 
JR, Canada
I found your site to be a rose among thorns. Plenty of subjects, well-written, and it really helps with my French practice. Merci beaucoup.
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Alto, Venezuala
​Good morning,His work is very important for all people who are learning English " like me,jajajaja" .here in Venezuela access to quality education is a problem if you do not have the financial means. for that, work like yours, help people like me to learn and grow ... thank you very much
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​​Cath, Australia
Just found your website and bookmarked it on my bookmarks bar. Yep that's right. Not just in the folder of a hundred other bookmarks that I probably won't get back to, but up front and centre because I want to spend some serious time there. Thank you for your hard work!
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Jemé, USA
I'm a French teacher and I use music quite a lot in my classes. I took my students to see Stromae in our city. It was amazing. Thank you so much for the very detailed explanation of words, lyrics, and cultural context. It's really like no other I've seen and obviously you put a lot of work and heart into it. Thank you so much! Great choices in songs too! Merci mille fois!
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Raquel, USA
Thank you. This is exactly the help I need and so few (are you the only one?) website/blogs provide this service for people like me who are somewhere between beginner and Intermediate - in reading and comprehension. It allows me to read a novel and hone in on those key areas where I need the most help.
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Ioana,
​(location undefined, though it would be quite funny if it was Iowa)
This is so good! I am trying to improve mainly my French but also my Spanish, so I read it im French and when I don't understand it I switch to Spanish. You're doing an amazing job, thank you!
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Jaime, Brazil
Excellent Work Jean. I was looking for a way to brush up my French and I have found a great way now with your site. Thanks a million for your very detailed and precise exposition of the workings of the French language in your stories. Keep up the great work. Jaime Alberto
​RESPONSE: I'd love to take credit for Quatrieme Etage but it's not mine (though the translation and annotations are) which is why couldn't continue with it; I don't own the rights. You should read some of Jean Hougron's other short stories. They're rather good. Anyways, thank you (sincerely) for your compliments on the site (and all the others I've received.) I had no idea someone from Brazil would be using it to learn French when I started it. You live, you learn; and with any luck, you never stop learning.

Shubham, India
This is something I have been searching for for a while. It would be good if you have a weekly mailing list. I don't know if there is. But anyway, keep up the work. This will help me a lot
RESPONSE: Hey, thanks for the encouragement. Not sure what you mean by weekly mailing list. If you mean a system by which I inform users of new content then I don't really have one. These sites were only meant to be something to occupy my time whilst recovering from a hernia operation. Up until now I had very little idea who was really using the sites. It's only with the comments boxes that I've come to understand there are REAL people at the other end.
I tend to put new content on the Parallel text menu page or the Lyrics transaltion/French lesson menu page . Recently I've been adding annotations to the stories already in place or doing new song lessons. Here are some of my recent ones: 
B. Pelletier Le Temps Des Cathédrales
Mylène Farmer Désenchantée
Desireless Voyage, Voyage
And after overdosing on kitschiness, I needed something serious to bite my my teeth into: 
Jacques Brel Ces Gens-Là​

Evelyne, Deutschland
​Thank you so much! Without other Words! I'm French and I'm learning English with your Site. I love your own "translation". A great help for learning and memorising!! Herlichen Dank für die gelungene Arbeit. Résultat magnifique d'un travail certainement inimaginable! Votre traduction est une grande aide pour l'apprentissage du vocabulaire! Merci tout simplement et de tout coeur!
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Diamond, Dallas, TX
This is fantastic! I love the side-by-side, but also the fact that you go into detail to explain why and how the phrases are translated the way they are. I work with a lot of bilingual kids, and it is awesome to be able to have the French alongside so they can also assimilate what they already know due to the Latin base of both French and Spanish.
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Joyce, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Thanks you so very much-this is most helpful. I learned French at school a long time ago.I now go to French conversational class so this is brilliant. I especially like the coloured sentences so you can flick to and fro.
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John, Claremont
I find this to be an excellent resource for language exchange for persons who want to learn each other's language
​RESPONSE: You know, at first this comment confused me. I couldn't see how people could exchange their knowledge of languages with each other using my sites: their is no membership, no registration, no way for users to contact each other. Hell, even I have no idea who was using them until I added the comments boxes. Then I realised that the annotations below the paragraphs do look like they came from user contributions. I am almost ashamed to admit that all these annotations are my sole work (what am I doing with my life!) The differences in style are due to the fact that I add to them bit by bit whenever I get the chance, and I am not known for my consistency. Then all of this got me thinking, wouldn't it be great if users could add annotations themselves! Of course, I have no idea how to make this possible by direct means, but if anyone does have the strange urge to write some annotations, then pick a paragraph, write as much as you can that you would think would help anyone learning it, then post it in any of the comments boxes on the sites (state the PARA number and page) and I will copy and paste it and give you the credit on that actual PARA. (something tells me that this may just be wishfull thinking, but hey, it's worth the punt.)
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Don, London and US
I don't know what to think exactly yet. I can say though that I am on my way to being very impressed!
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Pete, Leeds, England
Damn... this stuff is really excellent! Well done for all the hard work and for taking a lot of the slog out of studying French texts for many French students out there. Merci!!
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Danilo, Brazil
Your website is EXTREMELY helpful. Each person has its owns methods of learning and for me this is the perfect one. Combining fun things like music with in-depth explanation. I need to understand the logic behind a sentence in order to fixate it into my mind. Also the nice tunes of Stromae don`t hurt! Your website makes all of this come together with a touch of funny, which is perfect. You remind a little bit from the guy of this website for learning german: yourdailygerman.wordpress.com/ You both are fantastic!
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Angie, UK
Came across this site by accident ( looking for english explanation of verb tenses) love it! It makes things much clearer .... Thank you
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James, West Coast USA
A simple and genuine thank you for your work, its' tones, angles and reflections. Thought, attention, care - drops in an ocean. And what is an ocean made of?
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Annette, USA 
(Re: Lyrics translation lesson based on Le Temps Des Cathedrale)
I bought a Josh Groban CD, Stages, and it included this beautiful song, so I googled to find the English translation. I find your site really interesting and will visit it again. Thanks!
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Florence, Scotland
Thoroughly enjoying the course. Clearly set out with helpful notes. Good confidence builder.
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Hugh, Ireland/ France
Learning French and I find this format very helpful as you give a meaningful english translation of the songs as opposed to a direct translation which makes no sense in english
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Khem, Toronto, Canada
Thank you! This site is an absolute treasure. You placed so much effort and care into details. It's astonishing! Listening skill is very important. Your site very useful for that. I learned to understand in real time the lyrics and meaning to songs. Progress is faster than just youtube video and translation because your line by line translatiin and explanation is very detailed and easy to understand. You are a true teacher! I thank you again for sharing your knowledge. Cheers! Khem
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Ani, NYC
Thank you so much for this and the stromae songs you've helped with! merci! <3 please try doing quand c'est?
RESPONSE: Thankyou for your thankyou, I shall keep your request in mind, though I've already promised myself that if I do another Stromae song, it'll be Tous Les Meme.
smilebigdude, usa
I wish there was an audio section. I want to learn the pronunciation and intonation.
RESPONSE: Where I can find the audio books to accompany the stories, I try to add them. Unfortunately, there are not many Francophones sticking audiobooks on Youtube (or atleast not of the stories or translations that are on this site). I have thought about making recordings myself but I'm struggling for the time as it is.