Start with context
See who is speaking, what happened immediately before, and what relationship the speakers have.
A student-curated project for A1–A2 learners
Entre les lignes
French Beyond Translation · 字里行间
A translation can give you the words and still leave out the relationship, tone, implication, or cultural context. These short lessons ask what changes when French is understood in a real conversation instead of in isolation.
5 short lessons
French used in France
No login required
How each lesson works
Read the situation, notice the difference, test the meaning.
Look beyond the words
Compare the literal structure with the natural English meaning and the information translation may hide.
Try the situation
Answer one contextual question, read the explanation, and retry immediately if your first choice is wrong.
The first collection
Five ways translation can leave something behind
Beyond the lesson
A place to read, compare, and ask better questions.
01 · Language in context
Change the situation
Put two draft teaching examples side by side. Notice what the relationship or preceding line changes.
Compare contexts → 02 · Culture reading deskFollow a cultural question
Explore three proposed reading guides on art, cinema, and literary archives, with original institutional sources.
Open the reading desk → 03 · Learner's notebookKeep your own interpretation
Read the project's learner perspectives, then record a question or observation of your own.
Open your notebook → 04 · Help shape the projectMake an explanation clearer
Prepare a specific correction, usability report, or topic suggestion to share with the project author.
Prepare feedback →Lesson library
Lessons
Five short research drafts explore social relationships, encouragement, sentence perspective, implication, and polite responses. Choose a theme or continue where you left off.
Language in context
What changes between two situations?
Five comparisons, one for each lesson draft. Read both situations before revealing the explanation. The situations are constructed teaching examples, not dictionary quotations or records of real conversations, and they remain pending instructor review.
Art · Cinema · Literary archives
The culture reading desk
Begin with one object, one source, and one question. These three proposed reading guides connect cultural context with close observation.
Reading guides — Draft. The institutional pages were checked on November 3, 2026. The guides and reflection activities are drafts, and are not instructor-reviewed lessons. Historical examples do not represent all of contemporary France.
Learner perspectives
A notebook, not a final definition.
These comparisons began with the project author's own questions. They sit alongside sourced explanations, and remain personal interpretations.
Your private reading note
What did you notice?
Your note is stored only in this browser. It is not sent to the project author. Download a copy if you want to keep or share it.
Help improve Entre les lignes
Which part needs another look?
A useful comment points to one phrase, one screen, or one confusing step. You do not need to be a French expert to describe what was unclear.
This form prepares a note; it does not send it. Copy or download your feedback, then share it with the project author through the channel where you found the site. No name or email is required.
Methodology
About this project
Why this project exists
A translation can be grammatically correct and still leave a learner unsure about tone, relationships, implication, or cultural context. Entre les lignes ("between the lines") turns questions encountered by a French learner into short, contextual lessons for other A1–A2 learners.
Scope
The first version focuses on contemporary French as used in metropolitan France. When a lesson discusses a regional difference, that difference will be identified rather than presented as a rule for the entire Francophone world.
How a lesson is developed
- Question: begin with a real learner misunderstanding or a phrase whose context is easy to miss.
- Research: consult dictionaries, language institutions, and other relevant published sources.
- Separation: distinguish sourced explanation from personal interpretation.
- Review: request instructor feedback on naturalness, register, and context.
- Testing: invite beginning learners to try the lesson and revise unclear explanations.
How artificial intelligence is used
AI tools assist with programming, interface development, research organization, and editing support. The project author chooses each topic, checks the cited material, makes content decisions, and approves every revision. The site does not generate translations or lessons for visitors.
Review status, explained
Every lesson is labeled with one of three statuses:
- Draft
- Still being developed or awaiting final review. Sources may already be listed, but the lesson should not yet be treated as final.
- Source-checked
- Compared against a dictionary, textbook, or other reliable published source.
- Instructor-reviewed
- Read and confirmed by a French instructor or fluent reviewer.
All five lessons are currently marked Draft while instructor review and learner testing are being prepared.
Who this is for
The lessons are aimed at college-level beginning French learners, roughly A1–A2 on the CEFR scale, who already know some basic vocabulary and want to understand how it is actually used.
From a short post to a fuller explanation
The companion culture account and this website are designed to share the same four strands: beyond translation, French in context, cultural observations, and learner notes. A short post can introduce one question; the website provides the dialogue, sources, and practice behind it.
Suggestions and corrections can help identify the next question to investigate. Prepare feedback, or explore the culture reading desk. The three reading guides are labeled Draft.
How this website is built
This website uses plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It requires no account and has no server-side database. Quiz progress and saved reading notes are stored in your browser. Reset progress clears quiz completion and keeps your reading notes.
The site loads typography from Google Fonts. Research sources, the companion Instagram account, and the feedback form open on external websites.
Preparing, copying, or downloading a feedback note here does not submit it. To send feedback, open the Google Form and submit your response there. Nothing typed into this website’s feedback fields transfers to Google Forms automatically.
Project log
Updates
A public record of what has been completed, what is under review, and what comes next.
November 3, 2026 · Content expansion draft
Lesson situations, context comparisons, culture reading, and learner notes
Added context comparisons for all five lessons, a short opening situation for each lesson, three proposed source-linked culture guides, a private reading notebook, and a feedback-note tool linked to an external Google Form. The new situations are constructed teaching examples. Lessons, comparisons, and culture guides remain labeled Draft. Instructor review and learner testing have not been completed.
October 2026
Five-lesson research draft completed
The first collection now covers tu/vous, bon courage, tu me manques, on verra, and je vous en prie, each with a contextual quiz and listed sources.
Current stage
Instructor review and learner testing
The next step is to check naturalness and register with a French instructor, then invite a small group of A1–A2 learners to test clarity and usability.
Planned next
Revision, feedback, and new topics
Feedback will guide revisions to the first five lessons before additional expressions are researched and added.