• Even if you don't intend to visit Paris, learning French can be enjoyable.tour Eiffel - Eiffel tower image by AlcelVision from Fotolia.com
  
  There are many reasons for you to learn French, even if you do not intend to visit the Louvre any time soon. Over 135 million people speak French as a first language, and once you add those that speak it as a second language, learning French would allow you to communicate with well over 300 million francophones in the world. There are many resources you can use to learn French for free on the web, so you may as well start right now.
  
  

For Absolute Beginners

• Before you can make the most of the available resources, you have to develop a basic grasp of the French grammar, and you must also acquire a basic vocabulary. There are sites such as flyoverfrench.com or learnfrenchlanguageguide.com where you can take those crucial first steps. The BBC also offers a very polished and professional course for beginners, available at bbc.co.uk/languages/french, and many public libraries offer free online French language courses to their registered patrons.
  
  

Like a Diplomat

• The Foreign Service Institute of the United States developed a very polished language course that merits particular mention because it was developed by diplomats for diplomats. Because it was made by the United States government, it is in the public domain. While the FSI courses are not directly available from the government, there are many websites where they can be found for free, and fsi-language-courses.org has the basic French course, complete with mp3 versions of the audio tapes.
  
  

Pen Pals

• There is only so much that you can learn by reading and listening. Communicating your ideas in French will help you develop confidence in your language skills, and one of the easiest ways to do so is by getting in touch with a French-speaking pen pal. There are many online services that you can use to find one. Try europa-pages.com/epals/language.html, interpals.net/ or speakmania.com.
  
  

From the Masters

• While it is not usually marketed as a language learning tool, the website of the Gutenberg Project, gutenberg.org/browse/languages/fr, can be very useful for language learners because it often hosts free versions of the same works of literature in different languages. By reading the French and the English version of the same text, you learn to use the language as elegantly as the literary masters. The works of Alexandre Dumas are particularly engaging, or you can try the works of Baudelaire if you are more of a poetic kind of person.
  
  

Dictionaries

• In order to make the most of your correspondence with your French pen pals, and in order to fully enjoy the subtleties of the masters of French literature, you are going to need a good set of dictionaries. For English into French translations (and vice versa) you can use wordreference.com/fren or french-linguistics.co.uk/dictionary. More advanced students who want a French-only dictionary can consult lexilogos.com/francais_langue_dictionnaires.htm.