If you’re even a little bit like me, you love to listen to some smart person explaining something they are passionate about. Even more so when it’s an interesting topic.
Do you?
I love getting lost in the sea of TED Talks: passion, innovation, smart thinking… In fact, I credit part of English to them.
So I thought ‘hey, why not sharing my favourite French TED talks so you can do just like me’.
Good idea?
Let me present you 8 of the best TED talks in French.
Comment sauver l'amour ? Yann Dall'Aglio
Subtitles – 🇫🇷 🇬🇧 +
Funny, philosophical and damn interesting.
Yann Dall’Aglio’s French is gloriously simple. Academic, straight forward, .. I’m sure he’s a brilliant mind as well.
The title of his talk might be a bit misleading: ‘how to save love’. He’s not stating the fact that love is dying, but rather, how we love and how we can love better.
The talk reminds me of my philosophical classes in Terminale (the mast year of high-school).
The multilingual in you - Sébastien de Nuñez
Subtitles – 
“La grammaire n’est que de l’élégance” = Grammar is only style.
A talk about languages? It’s an obvious choice for you.
Sébastien Roger de Nuñez is an inspiration. The man speaks 11 languages, and to a good level. He has a deep understanding of how language work, beyond the linguistic.
Bref, he’s very inspirational for language learners AND native speakers alike.
“Il faut devenir la personne dont on apprend la langue” – You need to become the person you are learning the language of.
Comment comment font-ils pour apprendre une langue ? Sharon Peperkamp
Subtitles – +
Sharon Peperkamp is dutch. French is her second language. That’s partly why I selected this talk for you. Her accent makes it easier to understand for someone who’s learning French.
Plus, the talk has subtitles in French, English, Spanish, German,…
But that’s not the only reason.
The topic of her talk ‘How do babies learn languages?’ is interesting for you as a language learner.
She’s talking a lot about the struggles of learning a foreign language. And why it seems so easy for babies to pick up their native language.
If you take out anything from it, it’s that you first have to identify words within sentences.
Alors on danse - Stromae
Subtitles –
What? A French TED Talk 70% in English? Yes 
This is a good choice for beginners, as you don’t get overwhelmed by too much French. And even his French is not academical, so no big problem.
In fact, this talk is mainly a performance. Which might be weird for a TED talk, but hey, let’s roll with it
Do you know Stromae? Big Belgian (yes) pop star. He’s behind the songs ‘Formidable’, ‘Papaoutai’,…
‘Alors on danse’ is his first success, and in his talk, he is going through the several music production level of the song. Fascinating!
The shadow of the donkey - Jean-Christophe Saladin
Subtitles – +
Do you like stories? Because Jean-Christophe Saladin is a storyteller.
And his French is delicious: simple yet precise. His voice is also a delight to listen to.
The topic might appear a bit weird to you, but watch it for the words, not for the meaning.
Merci à la femme parfait d'être une connasse - Marie-Aldine Girard
Subtitles –
“La femme parfaite est une connasse” is a book. Very popular in France – you can get it here. (aff link)
BTW, it’s a great book if you want to learn some modern, slang vocabulary.
But here, Marie-Aldine Girard is bursting through the imposter syndrome and the limits you put on yourself.
It’s quite refreshing. And her delivery is awesome.
Sexist jokes kill! - Anne-Cécile Mailfert
Subtitles –
What is feminism? Damn, can’t tell you how many times I met people who have a wrong idea of what it is.
This talk is particularly good at explaining what it is, and what stopping sexism could do for the world.
What a simple sexist joke can do, and what it means.
Apart to the message, her speech is clear, and the French she speaks is neutral enough to be used formally or casually.
A must see as a French learner then 😉
La France, pays de l'égalité ? - Abnousse Shalmani
Subtitles –
Equality is one of the French values. But France really a country of equality?
That’s what Abnousse Shalmani is going to demystify. Taking the example of gender equality.
I would advise beginners and intermediates to find another talk though. This one’s for advanced learners, as there is only French subtitles, and she’s using a bunch of fancy words.
Abnousse Shalmani is truly an example, as a feminist and as a French speaker.
You got it. 8 of my favourite TED Talks in French.
They’re not necessarily innovative conferences, but all are lead by good, confident thinkers.
Did I forgot your favourite one? Tell me.Do you watch TED conferences in different languages?
That’s it for today, as usual, apply what you’ve learned this week, keep learning, keep laughing.
Oh, and if you need to take your French to a whole new level, that you struggle to learn French – please check out the 3SSF Method – which I give you when you enter your email below.
It’s the method 200,000 French learners used to start speaking French.
4 thoughts on “8 TED Talks in French you need to watch 🎤”
where are the transcripts?
where are the transcripts?
May I suggest a couple of good talks in french by us at TEDxMontreal :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU3iSBtXKQo&list=PLsRNoUx8w3rOjT8_Ur42bTK2jVaU-NZvc&index=6
https://www.ted.com/talks/eric_montpetit_la_politique_justifie_t_elle_cynisme_et_desillusion
…if you want more you can browse them at tedxmontreal.com
Look forward to improving my French.