I do religiously read Le Monde, though… they have an English site for when I’m lost, and since I read the news in English too, I usually don’t have to use it.

First, as opposed to only renting/borrowing foreign films, some English-language DVDs have the option of viewing subtitles in another language, which could work if you are trying to learn French or Spanish (since they are more likely to be options than, say, Swahili). Check the DVD extras.

Also, what about borrowing purely instructional language tapes or DVDs? I have definitely seen them available in the library before.

It’s a great community site for learning languages. The exercises are a little cheesy, but I really found that using them as a way to “meet” native speakers is the best part. Then you can converse in other ways.

Also, the Alliance Francaise in DC offers courses as well as a get together for practicing conversations. I believe there is something via the German embassy as well that allows people practicing various languages and not just German.

One of the public access channels shows French in Action often .. you could record those and watch later if they aren’t played during a good time for you. I think this is via NVCC?

Finally, if no one else has mentioned it yet, there are MANY podcasts in French.

Best of luck (: