The Best Way to Learn Occitan in 2026

The best way to learn Occitan is to read and hear it in short pieces you can follow, and to ask for the variety you want. Most of your time goes to comprehensible input, which is Occitan you can mostly understand. The rest goes to the words you keep and to real conversation. For what to read at each stage, see Occitan comprehensible input.

Poppy, your AI tutor, writes each Bubblegum lesson for your level, in everyday Languedocien, and plays it aloud, so you read and listen together. For talking, bring in a teacher or an Occitan-speaking friend.

Which Ways of Learning Occitan Work Best?

Spend most of your week reading with the audio on, since that is how you meet the most Occitan at a level you can follow. A 2016 meta-analysis by Jeon and Day pooled studies of extensive reading and found it improved reading in English learners. Occitan was not part of those studies.

Method	What It Builds	Use It For
Reading with the audio on	New words, grammar in context, and how each word sounds	Most of your week
A first course with dialogues	The basic grammar and the sounds of the spelling	The first weeks
Videos with subtitles	Your ear for spoken Occitan	Every week, once the sounds feel familiar
A teacher or an Occitan-speaking friend	Answers on the spot, and a check on how you say words	After you read something new
A dictionary and a conjugator	The right form of a word in your variety	Whenever a form puzzles you
Saved words in sentences	Remembering a word with the sentence it came from	The last few minutes of a session
Books and the news	Occitan as people write it	Once short stories feel comfortable

How Should Your Plan Change With Your Goal?

Talk With Family or FriendsAsk a relative to say the phrases you will use at the next meal, like Bonjorn (hello) and Cossí vas? (How are you?), and record them. Play each one until you can say it back.
Live in Southern FranceAsk your neighbors which Occitan they speak, since the same word can change from place to place, like ostal (house) and ostau. Pick the variety you hear most and learn that one first.
Pass the DCL Occitan ExamThe exam has three levels: A (Aprendís), B (Biaissut) and C (Cèrt), covering A1 to C2. Registration usually opens in February or March, and the exam takes place in the second half of May.
Follow the NewsRead a headline and the first lines on Jornalet about something you already followed in English or French. Add one more story each time the last one feels easy.
Read Books and PoetryStart with the Languedocien tales in Letras de mon molin, which come with an Occitan-French lexicon. Read one tale a week, and look up only the words that stop you.
Watch Television in OccitanPlay Afars Occitans on ÒCtele with the subtitles on. Watch one short episode twice, once with the subtitles and once without.

How many hours a first course takes is on the fastest-way page.

Which Resources Fit Each Part of Your Study?

Part	Other Option	App or Service
A first course	Easy Occitan, a free guide in English to Languedocien pronunciation and basic grammar, or the textbook L'Occitan by Nicolas Quint, 100 lessons taught in French that use literary Languedocien	Bubblegum, for lessons about your interests and goals
Short stories	The 16 Languedocien stories on Duostories	Bubblegum, where Poppy writes a lesson on a topic you pick and plays it aloud
Listening practice	ÒCtele, with subtitles in French and Occitan	Bubblegum's audio, which plays while you read
Sentences in context	The Occitan articles on Vicipèdia	Clozemaster, for fill-in-the-blank sentences
Words and forms	Dicodòc, with three Languedocien dictionaries	Revirada, a free Occitan and French translator
Words to keep	A notebook of sentences you like	Saved words come back in new Bubblegum lessons through Regenerative Review™
Talking with a person	—	An italki teacher, whom you ask for Languedocien

When short stories feel comfortable, move up to the news on Jornalet, and later to a whole book.

What Should You Avoid When Learning Occitan?

Mixing Varieties in One TextA word can change between regions, like ostal in Languedocien and ostau or estau in other varieties. Keep to one variety for each text you write.
Borrowing French ArticlesLanguedocien uses lo and la for “the”, and los and las in the plural, as in los ostals. Check any article you wrote from habit.
Starting With a Word ListLearn each word inside a sentence you read and hear, and keep the sentence in a notebook with it.

Learn Occitan Easily With Bubblegum

Bubblegum

For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Occitan. You learn from Occitan you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.

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Every lesson is written at your level, about things you like.
Each lesson has AI audio to play while you read.
Tap a word to see what it means, or ask Poppy to explain a whole line.
Grammar topics with examples explain how Occitan works, such as how the plural is formed.
Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, and you can export them to Anki as flashcards.
Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.

You can't turn your own Occitan books or articles into lessons. However, you can paste a page into the chat, and Poppy will explain it.
Lessons teach Languedocien. Other varieties use some different everyday words, such as ostau for ostal.
Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.

Regenerative Review™

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Frequently Asked Questions

Should I Use an App or a Teacher?

An app gives you Occitan to read and hear at any hour. A teacher can hear how you say a word and tell you which form your variety uses. italki lists Occitan teachers, so ask each one which Occitan they teach.

Should I Study Grammar Before Reading?

Not yet. Read first, and look up a grammar page when a line puzzles you. The plural in -s, as in ostal and ostals, is easy to learn by seeing it a few times.

Which Occitan Should I Learn?

Learn the one you will hear or read most. Bubblegum teaches everyday Languedocien. If you meet a Provençal or Gascon form in a text, ask Poppy and she explains it.

Which Occitan App Should a Beginner Choose?

If you are serious about learning Occitan, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. If you'd rather begin with a free course, try Loecsen next. More choices are in our comparison of Occitan apps.

Is Bubblegum Free?

Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.