Is there a French equivalent of Deutsche Welle?

I've done some french before at school, so I don't want a beginner's path - I want a grounded grammar-correct path.

Radio France.....................

Thanks. But I seem to find it quite hard to understand Radio France's shows (e.g. in podcasts).

Is it even possible to repetitively listen to French and understand it eventually, assuming you have some basic knowledge of French?

I love watching French films btw - like Amelie or A Very Long Engagement - and having the subtitles help a lot.

We hear the familiar and see it in context and assume we understand. 90% of the time we are wrong but the 10 % grows our understanding, I believe. Then how long would it take?

I think that foreign language learning is becoming a relic. If you speak English, you are set, given how widespread it is and how available translations are. But we still enforce it on students as a relic of the days when to be educated, you had to be able to read the great works in other languages.

Is there a French equivalent of Deutsche Welle?

I've done some french before at school, so I don't want a beginner's path - I want a grounded grammar-correct path.

(Not that I find this very philophical, but if I can help...)

Did you try to google that?
Try this www.frenchassistant.com. Not that I recommend it but at least is offers intermediate and advanced level.

Beware of movies, there' s a lot of jargon and they do speak quite fast.
If you really want to try recent ones, I would suggest Les Visiteurs and Le P?re No?l est une ordure or Un air de famille (but give up the idea to understand Bacri, no way), you won't understand much, but at least they are funny.

Maybe the best hint would be to look for movies with Fabrice Luchini, he's indeed most clear in his elocution and there are abundant recent films with him in key roles.

Maybe old films would be more approachable, La grande illusion, Casque d'or or the Battle of Algiers (actually this is an Italian film, but they speak French and Arab).

Via the radio, or television, I would suggest to try with different accents, they might be more comprehensible to an English-speaking pupil. The Swiss or the Qu?b?cois (actually that is quasi-French with an almost American accent - but they may disagree strongly about that) might sound clearer to you.
Belgium would be an ideal compromise, pretty standard, but slower, and much more funny (RTBF.be: le site de la Radio T?l?vision Belge Francophone).

Warning: even if you understand their language it does not mean that you will understand what they say...:bigsmile:
Good luck.