A language is also learned by ear. Here is where to hear Provençal spoken today, in programmes you can watch freely online. All are subtitled in French : you can follow along without knowing the language, and your ear tunes in little by little.
On television
Vaqui
Weekly magazine · in Provençal, subtitled in FrenchThe Provençal language and culture magazine of France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Reports, encounters and chronicles, entirely presented in Provençal and subtitled in French. Living Provençal, about the Provence of today.
Replay :
france.tv · Vaqui
On YouTube :
the episode playlist
Bouon Jour Marsiho — lou mot prouvençau
Weekly chronicle by Jean-Michel TurcEach week, Jean-Michel Turc, a certified teacher of the Provençal language and majoral of the Félibrige, celebrates a Provençal word : its meaning, its history, a proverb. A short segment, in Provençal, to build vocabulary step by step.
On YouTube : the chronicle playlist
On the radio
Le Moment provençal & Nos Communes varoises
Daily and weekly programmes by Rèino Oberti, Maîtresse d'œuvres of the FélibrigeTwo programmes in Provençal, hosted by Rèino Oberti on Radio Côte Varoise: « Le Moment provençal », every weekday at 6:10am and 1:30pm, and « Nos Communes varoises », a weekly exploration of the Var's towns through their cultural heritage. Over 100 episodes are archived, newest first, each with a direct audio player.
Aqui sian bèn
With Paulin Reynard and guestsA programme in Provençal broadcast since 2019 by ICI Vaucluse (formerly France Bleu Vaucluse), every Sunday from 10 to 11 am. Paulin Reynard and his guests talk about Provence: its traditions, its music and the particularities of its towns and villages. Here is one of the latest episodes available; the others are on the ICI website.
Aqui sian bèn, 30 June 2024
In sound archives
Sound archive of the Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l'homme
Over 8,000 hours of oral fieldwork, with Provence as the best-represented areaSongs, tales, life stories and testimonies recorded in the field since the early 20th century. About 5,000 hours can be streamed online; the rest can be consulted on site, by appointment, at the media library (5, rue du Château de l'Horloge, Aix-en-Provence; +33 4 42 52 41 04).
The oldest recordings in Provençal (1900)
Wax cylinders recorded in Paris by Dr Léon Azoulay during the 1900 World's Fair, with a speaker from Marseille. Preserved and digitised by CREM-CNRS (sound archives of the CNRS and the Musée de l'Homme).
Tale: “The nuns of the Abbey of Saint-Victor”
1900 · spoken voice, man from Marseille · 2 min 48 · followed by the same tale in FrenchA man from Marseille tells the story of the nuns of the Abbey of Saint-Victor in Provençal, then repeats the same tale in French: the recording was made to compare the intonation of the two languages.
Two folk tales: a Christmas carol and a humorous story
1900 · spoken voice, man from Marseille · 2 min 45The same storyteller from Marseille follows a Christmas carol with a humorous tale, both engraved on a single wax cylinder.
Listen now: excerpts from the MMSH sound archive
The verse letters of Marius André, a 1915 soldier, read by Madame Desargues
Survey 4700, 26 July 1979 · recorded by Jean-Claude Bouvier · 11 min 33 excerpt, in ProvençalMadame Desargues reads the verse letters that Marius André, a friend of her father, wrote from the front between August and November 1915, describing the fighting, the fear and the state of mind of the soldiers in vivid detail.
The full interview: letters, songs and memories of the Tarascon area
Survey 4700, 1979 · 46 min · war letters, republican and royalist songs, local anecdotesAfter the letters, Madame Desargues recalls her grandfather locked up in King René's castle in Tarascon, the quarrel between royalists and republicans, the rivalry between state and convent schools, and the ban on processions. She sings republican and royalist songs, reads a satirical text and tells stories about local royalists.
The Christmas log blessing, in Mouriès
Survey 136, 19 February 1976 · Ernestine Gonfon, recorded by Jean-Noël Pelen · in ProvençalErnestine Gonfon, born in 1886, recites the blessing spoken in Mouriès when the Yule log was laid on the fire on Christmas Eve: a wish for joy and the hope of seeing the next year together.
A fisherman from Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer recalls the meals of old
Survey 167, 1984 · Edmond Taillet, recorded by Jean-Pierre Belmon · in ProvençalA retired fisherman describes what people gathered from the wild and the fields for the meals of old in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer: wild salads and mushrooms.
Do you know a programme, a radio station or a podcast in Provençal that we should add? Write to us.