DELF and TCF listening practice: train every day with real French

22 October 2026 · 5 min read · Lire en français

Preparing for the DELF B1, the DELF B2 or the TCF Canada? For many candidates the hardest part is not grammar or writing: it is listening. French people speak fast, they swallow words, and on exam day you can't press pause.

This article explains how to train every day with real French (podcasts and radio reports), and where to find practice tests for the exam itself.

Two different jobs: practising the exam and learning to listen

To pass the listening paper you need two kinds of work.

Knowing the exam. The question formats, how many times you hear each recording, the timing, how to write your answers. You learn this with practice papers and mock exams.
Understanding real French. Recognising words at normal speed, following someone who gives an opinion, catching a number or a reason. You learn this slowly, every day, with authentic recordings.

Many candidates only do the first job: they work through exam paper after exam paper and stop improving. Exam papers measure your level; they don't raise it much. Regular listening to real French is what moves you forward.

For the exam: free practice tests

Parisly is not an exam-prep site. To practise the exact format, use tests built for it:

DELF A1, A2, B1 and B2: Kru Rémi's practice tests and mock exams, for all four papers.
TCF Canada: an overview of the TCF Canada, its modules and NCLC scores, with practice series.

Official rules (how long each paper lasts, how many listens, how it is marked) can change. Always check the current information on the official website of France Éducation international, which runs the DELF and the TCF.

What the listening paper asks of you

Without going into the details of each exam, the listening paper of the DELF B1, the DELF B2 and the TCF asks roughly the same thing: listen to recordings (conversations, announcements, interviews, radio extracts) and answer questions about them. The exact question formats vary between the exams and their sections.

In every case you are asked to understand:

the general topic: what is it about? who is speaking?
precise information: a number, a date, a place, a reason;
an opinion: is the person for or against? worried? ironic?
at B2, an argument: what is the main point? which example is given?

That is exactly what you practise with a podcast or a radio report.

A simple method: 20 minutes a day

This routine works if you do it every day for several weeks. Twenty minutes a day beats two hours on a Sunday.

Listen once without reading anything (3 to 5 min). Write one sentence: what is it about? Who is speaking?
Listen a second time and answer precise questions. On Parisly, the guided lesson asks you questions after each passage.
Listen a third time with the transcript. Underline what you hadn't understood. Very often you knew the word, but you didn't recognise it spoken.
Repeat two or three sentences out loud. Copy the rhythm and the intonation. It is the best exercise for hearing better.
Write down five new words, no more. With the sentence you heard them in.

Step 3 matters most. Without a transcript you never know exactly what you missed.

Where to start at B1

If you are preparing for the DELF B1, start with podcasts that have one voice and a social topic. The extracts from the InnerFrench podcast are ideal: clear French at natural speed, on subjects close to the exam's.

Pourquoi les Français ne vont plus au restaurant ? — with the imparfait for talking about the past.
S'ennuyer au travail, le secret du bonheur ? — with tellement… que for consequences.
L'égalité en France, une illusion ? — with the relative pronoun « qui ».
En France, le nucléaire à tout prix ? — with dire que for reporting what someone said.
L'amitié, un lien révolutionnaire ? — with « avec qui ».

Then move on to real radio. The franceinfo report « Et si les géants de la tech nous versaient un salaire… » is a good test: several voices, a current-affairs topic, and work on the past tenses. It is one of the free lessons.

Every lesson at this level is on the B1 podcasts page.

At B2: radio as it really is

For the DELF B2 and the higher TCF levels you need to follow an argument, voices that talk over each other, and people who don't speak like journalists. Train with:

Profession : ramasseur de poulets (France Culture, Les Pieds sur terre): a 76-year-old woman talks about her job with no script. It is the most spontaneous spoken French in the library.
Au Japon, les entreprises ne sont plus obligées de plafonner les heures supplémentaires (France Culture, press review): perfect for reported speech, which comes up constantly in B2 recordings.
Sommes-nous à l'ère de la nationalisation ? (France Culture): an argued column, with nominalisation.

See also the B2 podcasts page and the B2 news reports.

Three mistakes to avoid

Listening without ever reading the transcript. You hear "noise" and you don't improve. The transcript shows you what slips past.
Choosing recordings that are too hard. If you understand less than half on the second listen, take an easier one. You will improve faster.
Only doing exam papers. Keep them for checking your level once a week, not for learning.

In short

For the exam, practise the format with dedicated tests, like Kru Rémi's DELF practice tests. To improve, listen to real French twenty minutes a day, with the transcript. On Parisly every shelf has free lessons, and no account is needed to start: begin with your space or with all the podcasts.