"Les voisins du 12 bis" (The neighbours from 12B) is a new bilingual story for immersive listening to familiarise yourself with the French language. The first episode of the podcast will be online on Wednesday 7 October.   

In a block of flats in Paris, a small group of neighbours have become friends. Zirek, the Kurdish doctor who now works as a private car hire driver; Diane and Pierre, who just have had another child; Amir, the young afghan florist, and Billie who is exploring Parisian student life with the help of Rosa, her compatriot, who has lived in the French capital for more than 40 years.

Les voisins du 12 bis is a podcast in 13 episodes and tells the story of Rosa, Billie and their neighbours to find young Awa, whose voice and songs wowed them.

Listen in to a new episode every Wednesday.

You can also subscribe to the podcasts on: Soundcloud, Deezer, Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google Podcasts.

And for optimal listening use headphones!

Les voisins du 12 bis allows you to:

• Follow the story through cartoon pictures on Instagram
• Learn French on Le français facile avec RFI through exercises (answers provided) based on each episode 
• Teach French with the use of the educational sheets you will find on Le français facile avec RFI to practice basic communication skills in French learnt through each episode. All activities have been devised for learner and intermediary levels, as well as low literacy adult learners. Booklets you can print are available for those who wish to use the teaching material for newly arrived immigrants.

Les voisins du 12 bis 

A Radio France Internationale programme coproduced with France Éducation international, with the support of the French culture ministry.

Scenario: Alexandra Lazarescou

Dialogues: Anne Claude Romarie et Mariannick Bellot

Original sound tracks: Ommm

French voices: Chloé Sitbon, Olivier Blond, Ahmet Zirek, Omid Rawendah

Illustrations: Julina Jean-Joseph

Production: Raphaël Cousseau, Joël Hermant, Naosi Nazem

Editorial and educational supervision: Julien Cousseau et Agnès Foyer

Educational material: Emilie Kasazian et Mathias van der Meulen

Overall supervision: Lidwien van Dixhoorn

French-English version:  

Adapted by: Arnab Béranger

Voices: Nirupama Nityanandan, Tulika Srivastava