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Le Journal
Beginner - Intermediate
145 Videos

Le Journal highlights local news stories from all across the French-speaking world and beyond—from an ultra-modern hospital in Burkina Faso, to a Mozart concert at the Opéra de Vichy, to protests in Tibet, and much more.

126 Episodes
Videos
Pages: 1 of 1 
─ Videos: 1-69 of 69 Totaling 1 hour 53 minutes

Le Journal - Un petit prince japonais

Difficulty: difficulty - Beginner Beginner

France

Le Journal reports on the birth of first male heir in the Japanese royal family in over forty years. Spoiler alert: His name is Hisahito, and he's doing quite well these days.

Le Journal - Al Jazeera

Difficulty: difficulty - Beginner Beginner

France, Qatar

The largest Arabic TV network, Al Jazeera has been making its own headlines since 2001, for the depth and breadth of its coverage. This report from 2006 details the network’s evolution. Since then, Al Jazeera’s voice in international broadcasting has only become stronger.

Le Journal - Firewood

Difficulty: difficulty - Beginner Beginner

France

The French lumber market sees a long-awaited recovery, after “the storm of the century.” Time to heat up that new log cabin with a crackling fire in the fireplace.

Le Journal - Falling Turbine Blade

Difficulty: difficulty - Beginner Beginner

France

A blade fell off a wind turbine, causing a bit of alarm amongst nearby residents. Perhaps it’s time for an upgrade?

Le Journal - Dilemme des restaurants

Difficulty: difficulty - Beginner Beginner

France

How should a restaurant owner go about finding the right recipe for passing on the increasing cost of basic ingredients to the customer? By math or by witchcraft?

Le Journal - À la retraite en France

Difficulty: difficulty - Beginner Beginner

France

The young and the old are always the most severely affected by crises – a fact illustrated by this demonstration, in which the elderly clamor for emergency measures so they can make ends meet.

Le Journal - La vie sous l'océan Antarctique

Difficulty: difficulty - Beginner Beginner

France

Brr! It’s hard to believe that anything could survive in waters as cold as minus two degrees. But recent research expeditions in the Antarctic Ocean have found life forms, like the icefish, that manage to thrive despite the chilly temperatures.

Le Journal - Le libre-service en pharmacie?

Difficulty: difficulty - Beginner Beginner

France

Those of us who live in the United States are used to being able to buy some medications right off the shelves. But in France, until very recently, you weren’t able to purchase painkillers without first speaking to a pharmacist. Now certain painkillers are available on a self-serve basis, but are pharmacists ready for this change?

Le Journal - L'île de Pâques

Difficulty: difficulty - Beginner Beginner

France

Twenty-eight years ago, Frenchman Michel Garcia fell in love with Easter Island, home of clear blue water and the breathtaking moai. Since then he’s kept busy as a diving instructor and doting father, and he even found time to discover a new species of shellfish!

Le Journal - La Coupe du Monde - Part 2

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

This news report follows up on the squatters in Cachan, who receive good news from the mayor: after six weeks spent in a gymnasium, they're being relocated to a hostel with real accommodations.

Le Journal - Au Liban

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

This news report documents a trek by UNIFIL into Hezbollah territory in Lebanon for a mission of observation.

Le Journal - Villepin

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Take a walk with Dominique de Villepin, during the latter part of his term as France's Prime Minister, through Marseilles in the south of France.

Le Journal - La Coupe du Monde - Part 1

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

During the 2006 World Cup, and despite criticism from several right-wing politicians, footballers Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira invited eighty former squatters from Cachan to see the France-Italy match.

Le Journal - Les relations franco-gabonaises

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Two students from Gabon were expelled from a French University and deported back to their home country for having low grades in school. One was even forced to leave behind his wife and young daughter (a French citizen). The government of Gabon is not pleased and may take measures to retaliate in kind.

Le Journal - Bateau ensouillé - Part 2

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

The beached ship in Sables d’Olonne is still stuck in the sand. In fact, it’s becoming quite the local attraction!

Le Journal - Bateau ensouillé - Part 1

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Residents of the seaside town Sables d’Olonne have a sizable problem on their hands: a beached ship that they can’t seem to get unstuck. Looks like they’ll have to try again tomorrow.

Le Journal - La violence à l'école

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

High school teacher Karen Montet-Toutain was the victim of one of the worst recent cases of school-related violence when she was stabbed by a student in her classroom. She has written a book about her struggles, and hopes for rehabilitation of her attacker.

Le Journal - Sexualité des femmes

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Whether heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, “jouets intimes”-sexual, or sexagenarian, women affirm that sexuality is not just for men.

Le Journal - Viktor Bout

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

The Thai police force caught a very big fish: the world’s most wanted arms dealer, Viktor Bout. The man who inspired the film Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage was repatriated after 12 years to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange.. And it seems he may have been protected by certain intelligence agencies — but which ones?

Le Journal - Le stress au travail

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Just how bad can stress from work get? Though the effects of stress may not always be visible or immediately apparent, some employees have been driven to insomnia, depression, even suicide because of difficulties at work. Some companies have implemented new anti-stress measures, but will that be enough?

Le Journal - Le dernier ancien combattant/14-18

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Neighbors, friends, and the people of France remember Lazare Ponticelli, the last Poilu, who saw one hundred and ten springtimes and two world wars before passing away in March of 2008.

Le Journal - Salon du livre

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

At the Paris Salon du Livre this year, in response to the visit of the Israeli president, six Arab nations decided to exclude themselves from the event. Some attendees were puzzled by the boycott, especially considering that many Israeli writers are known to advocate the creation of a Palestinian state. With all that pressure, no wonder the roof collapsed!

Le Journal - La traite humaine

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Viewer Discretion Advised

Immigrants who travel clandestinely from Turkey to Great Britain often pay a far steeper price than the five hundred euros demanded by traffickers.

Le Journal - Choisir un nom d'enfant

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Choosing a name for a new baby is just one of the tricky tasks parents face. Should you go with a classic, like Jeanne; a trendy name, like Mathéo; or an old-school throwback, like Alphonse? It can be tough to decide, but if all else fails, just use your alphabet blocks!

Le Journal - À l'écoute de la douleur

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Pain, and how to better manage it, is becoming increasingly focused on by members of the medical community. Some hospitals have even appointed special doctors for pain management and a few are opening pain management centers.

Le Journal - L'Arche de Zoé

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Don’t confuse Noah’s Ark with Zoé’s Ark. The first is said to have saved Noah, his family, and two representatives of each living creature, and the second claims it tried to save children. The members involved in this child abduction scheme have been found guilty, but who should pay the restitution?

Le Journal - Manifestations au Tibet

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Buddhist monks and other Tibetans protest against Chinese rule while their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, continues his exile in India. The topic of Tibet was a sore point for China as it prepared to host the Summer Olympics.

Le Journal - Les vignobles

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Two women – one French, one American – speak of their new careers as vineyard owners. With the increasing popularity of New World wines, land in the Bordeaux region of France is becoming cheaper.

Le Journal - "Claude François"

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

You’ve heard of Elvis impersonators? Well France has Claude François impersonators! Meet Tom Evers, who performs in the style of Podium at the very same club where the real Claude used to come to relax, comme d’habitude.

Le Journal - Publicité anti-calories

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

There are warnings on cigarettes, warnings on bottles of wine, but do we really need warnings on rich foods? Who doesn’t know that they can make you gros et malsain?

Le Journal - 2000 mètres sous les mers

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

A robot is sent into a deep ocean fault south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. Its mission: to explore mineral chimneys and collect the organisms that can live there without sunlight.

Le Journal - Apnée du sommeil

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Not only can sleep apnea keep you from getting a good night’s sleep, but it can also wreak havoc on your health, causing such serious health problems as brain damage and cardiovascular disease. Luckily, thanks to research by the National Scientific Research Center in Strasbourg and special equipment like oxygen masks, sufferers of sleep apnea may now be better able to get some rest.

Le Journal - Yann Arthus Bertrand

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

The Yacyretá dam in Argentina is controversial for several reasons. Accused by some to be the result of a bribe to displace the local population, the dam has now gotten famed French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand into hot water. Arthus-Bertrand, who was filming a documentary there, is alleged to have walked out on a twenty-eight-thousand-euro bill he owed to a local travel agency.

Le Journal - Passer le permis de conduire

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Another protest on the streets of Paris: this one about the difficulties of obtaining a driving permit. The steep price of a permit is currently about 1200 € in France, and candidates must face long waits of several months or more just to take the test. Increasing the number of driving inspectors would help both to lessen these delays and lower costs.

Le Journal - Le droit de mourir

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Chantal Sébire, whose face was disfigured by a large and incurable tumor that caused her excruciating pain and made her blind, had one request: to end her own life. But the French government refused to allow her to obtain a prescription from her doctor for a lethal amount of drugs. One week after this report, Ms. Sébire was found dead in her home.

Le Journal - Champagne

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

What’s in a name? Quite a lot, as it turns out! Thanks to changes in what land is covered by the Champagne Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (or AOC, the French method of labeling foods and wines according to region), some farmers will soon be able to start cultivating official champagne. But not everyone is a winner—some farmers will lose this prestigious appellation.

Le Journal - Enseigner l'Holocauste en classe

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

The best way to teach primary school students about the Holocaust is a contested topic in France. (See our Le Journal video on France’s Holocaust memorial.) One idea, originally proposed by Nicolas Sarkozy at a dinner organized by the Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France, has not yet been able to see the light of day.

Le Journal - Le mémorial de la Shoah

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

What is the best way to explain the horrors of the Holocaust to nine-year-old children? France’s Holocaust memorial has taken measures to avoid disturbing children by placing the most graphic photographs out of their line of sight and by offering a tour specifically designed for younger viewers. The idea is for children to learn about this dark moment in our history without being overwhelmed.

Le Journal - Défilé de mode - Part 4

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

The last in our four-part series on Paris fashion week showcases the latest collections of Lanvin by Alber Elbaz, Christian Lacroix and his luxury ready-to-wear, Louis Vuitton by Marc Jacobs, and Hermès by Jean-Paul Gaultier.

Le Journal - Défilé de mode - Part 3

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Which four designers’ collections are not to miss (if your income is in the seven digits)? Chanel, Yves Saint-Laurent, Loewe, and, for your delicate foot, René Caovilla and his sparkling handmade Venetian shoes.

Le Journal - Défilé de mode - Part 2

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Chanel and its “rock star” designer, Karl Lagerfeld; Loewe, the “Spanish Hermès,” and its creator José Enrique Ona Selfa; Yves Saint-Laurent under the direction of Stefano Pilati: each line offers a distinctive and beautiful collection.

Le Journal - Contrôle des prix alimentaires - Part 3

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

French Minister of Finance Christine Lagarde takes a stroll through the aisles of a Parisian supermarket, checking as she goes to see if the actual prices of the store’s dairy products match prices recorded in a recent French consumer’s report. The verdict? It appears that shelf prices are actually lower than what was listed in the report. But the French can rest assured that this won’t stop the government’s investigation into the country’s rising food prices.

Le Journal - Contrôle des prix alimentaires - Part 2

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

The second video on rising food prices in France takes a look at dairy products, in particular yogurt, which has been especially affected by this general trend of skyrocketing prices. So who is responsible? The milk producers? The product manufacturers? The supermarkets?

Le Journal - Contrôle des prix alimentaires - Part 1

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

The first in a trilogy of segments from Le Journal on the same subject, this video discusses the emergency measures called for by the French government, which has brought together a task force to deal with rising food prices in French stores.

Le Journal - La tuberculose

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Tuberculosis remains a deadly disease—affecting 10.6 million people annually and killing one person every twenty seconds. The recent development of multidrug-resistant strains of the bacteria has made TB even more threatening. Especially affected are areas without the proper means of fighting the illness. Eight countries accounted for more than two thirds of the global total: India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the WHO, 13 billion dollars would be required to effectively combat the disease.

Le Journal - Le mensonge

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Her stirring, tragic story has moved millions of people. As an eight-year-old Jewish girl during World War II, she was taken in by wild wolves and walked for thousands of kilometers in search of her family. Sound too implausible to be true? Turns out it is. Her story is fiction, and, in fact, she’s not even Jewish. Though she may be the James Frey of French World War II tales, her lawyer claims she’s done nothing wrong.

Le Journal - Maison écologique

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

José Bové may be famous for having dismantled a McDonald’s, but it turns out he also knows a thing or two about building houses — all in line with his alterglobalist ideals!

Le Journal - Sarkozy en Afrique du Sud - Part 2

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

On the final leg of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to South Africa, the leader meets with Nelson Mandela (after visiting the cell where Mandela was imprisoned for twenty-seven years), and speaks about the importance of being a uniter—not a divider.

Le Journal - Sarkozy en Afrique du Sud - Part 1

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

A first look at French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to South Africa. He proposes a new axis in the capital’s “Francafrican” politics and shores up relations with English-speaking Africa.

Le Journal - La bougie du sapeur

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

This newspaper, called “The Sapper’s Candle” (a “sapper” is traditionally a military man who disarms mines), only comes out on the leap year. But how can a periodical published only on February twenty-ninth be financially sound? Maybe it’s true: less is more.

Le Journal - La grippe aviaire - Part 1

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Billions (oui, milliards!) of birds migrate from Africa every year, and with bird flu developing rapidly, their arrival to France is closely monitored at the Marquenterre National Park. Learn how French scientists and engineers there have taken innovative measures to make it difficult for the virus to settle in the mud where the birds like to feed.

Le Journal - Manifestations des lycéens - Part 2

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Peaceful student demonstrations were marred by the intrusion of young rioters, non-students who joined in and caused mayhem and violence. Now the student organizers have accepted the aid of union members and are working together to keep the march safe.

Le Journal - Dentisterie

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Will French dentists soon have their patients grow new teeth, instead of filling in the old ones? New techniques using restorative molecules and even stem cells (which can be found in the baby teeth of children) will go a long way toward helping people smile filling-free.

Le Journal - Indices révélateurs des glaciers

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

French scientists study 740,000-year-old Antarctic ice samples and find clues that point to a relationship between greenhouse gases and global warming. It is feared that the record high carbon and methane levels of today will cause severe climatic change in coming years.

Le Journal - La Grande Muraille vue de l'espace?

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Even the Chinese agree with French astronaut Jean-François Clervoy: the great wall of China is NOT visible to the human eye from space, not even from a low orbit. Chinese astronaut Yan Liwei, who orbited the earth fourteen times in a Chinese spaceship, couldn’t see it either.

Le Journal - Le Polaroid

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Hipsters all over the world are surely mourning the loss of their favorite instant-nostalgia art medium: the Polaroid. With the recent closing of the last two remaining Polaroid factories in the U.S., it looks like that familiar and much-loved “ch-click-whrrr” sound will soon become a thing of the past. Polaroid has plans to soon launch products suited to the digital era. But can anything ever compare to the one and only original? Only time will tell.

Le Journal - Défilé de mode - Part 1

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

The magic of Nicolas Ghesquière? Innovating, without betraying the heritage of the venerable fashion house of Balenciaga.

Le Journal - Les effets bénéfiques du rire!

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Sure, everyone likes to laugh, even the French, but can it really be good for your heart? Scientists seem to believe mais oui!

Le Journal - Les microcrédits

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Microcredit can make a big difference to people on welfare or those without good credit history. Case in point: this fifty-five-year-old man who succeeded in opening up his own pizzeria thanks to the help he received.

Le Journal - Manifestations des lycéens - Part 1

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

All over France, students are protesting the loi Fillon, which they feel does not best represent the interests of students and their schools.

Le Journal - Concurrence des routiers étrangers

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

In the US, many American truckers don’t want Mexican drivers on the road. A similar situation is brewing in France where drivers from other countries will do the same work for half as much pay.

Le Journal - École de pilotage

Difficulty: difficulty - Intermediate Intermediate

France

Ten months of training go into learning to fly a helicopter, but less time is being spent aloft. More and more flight hours are logged in a hyper-realistic simulator that allows young pilots to hone their skills without ever leaving the earth.

Le Journal - La grippe aviaire - Part 3

Difficulty: difficulty - Adv-Intermediate Adv-Intermediate

France

Birds aren't the only ones who might feel their lifestyle's been a bit restricted lately. France’s rural cats enjoy a good hunt. But the avian flu has put the lid on sporting felines living in affected areas.

Le Journal - La grippe aviaire - Part 2

Difficulty: difficulty - Adv-Intermediate Adv-Intermediate

France

Five of the nine districts of Lyon, the second largest French city, are being monitored for the H5N1 virus, better known as “Bird Flu”.

Le Journal - Marion Cotillard

Difficulty: difficulty - Adv-Intermediate Adv-Intermediate

France

Marion Cotillard was not a superstar when she landed the role of Edith Piaf in La Môme. But, already a formidable actress, she had an impressive set of roles under her belt, and the film’s director had no doubt she was “the one.” He was right: Marion took home the Oscar for best actress in 2008.

An interesting note: The USA release title for the film – in French, ironically enough – is La Vie en Rose, the name of a famous Piaf song, which basically means, “life through rose-colored glasses.” The French title comes from Piaf’s nickname: “La Môme Piaf,” which can be translated as “the little sparrow,” but also means “little kid Piaf.”

Le Journal - L'âge et la fertilité

Difficulty: difficulty - Adv-Intermediate Adv-Intermediate

France

It’s common to see photos of celebrities aged forty and up happily pregnant or pushing a pram. But according to most doctors, a woman’s chances of conceiving drop dramatically after age thirty-eight or so. Of course there are exceptions. Modern medical fertility treatments allowed a sixty-six-year-old Romanian woman to give birth to twins in 2005. But unless we’re willing and able to procure such treatments, which can be financially, emotionally, and physically draining, those who want to wait until their forties to have kids will have to take their chances.

Le Journal - Grève de l'EDF à Lille - Part 1

Difficulty: difficulty - Adv-Intermediate Adv-Intermediate

France

Workers for the power company in the city of Lille aren’t happy and want management to know it. So they sabotaged the grid, cutting off power to thousands of businesses and residences. Despite the inconvenience, the mayor, and even many residents, support the workers.

Le Journal - Grève de l'EDF à Lille - Part 2

Difficulty: difficulty - Adv-Intermediate Adv-Intermediate

France

Though we reported that some of the residents of Lille support the power workers and their blackout strikes, it turns out that not all of them do. Office workers shout from balconies to give the strikers a piece of their minds, and the workers respond in kind.

Le Journal - Laurent Voulzy

Difficulty: difficulty - Adv-Intermediate Adv-Intermediate

France

As Laurent Voulzy is walking down the beach, he chances upon a fan, and sings a little duet with her. At his concert that night, she’ll be in the front row. Can that “change the face of the world”?

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