First of all you have to settle down one query, which apartments to rent Paris will be the most appropriate for you, furnished or non-furnished one. Look at the problem from a few aspects. If you would like to remain there for several months it is better for you to rent a furnished accommodation, because it will ease your headache about buying various objects in your new flat and you will be vacant to install yourself in a new place of dwelling. But from the other side it will be much more economical to get a non-furnished accommodation if you would stay here for several years. It is simple to come to a secondhand market and look for some furniture on your taste that will be appropriate for you and your pocket.
There exist two means to rent an apartment in Paris, the 'do-it-yourself' method, and the 'agency' method for those who are rich enough to pay a month of rent extra to the agency for their service. You are to select one of these modes to find Paris apartment.
Of course, the agency method is much easier. The only point you have to do is to identify the English speaking agency that will have office workers with that minimum English to get what kind of apartment you require. Do some search in the net, get the yellow pages, and look for the section 'immobiliers' (French translation for real estate) and start calling them. After you have called to an agency you have to say 'Bonjour, parlez vous anglais?' ('Bojho, parley voo angley') which implies “Good day, do you speak English”. And if the answer is positive, you can say what you require for. Remember that there can be 2 terms to make a payment for Paris short term accommodation: half of a month's and full month term.
The “do-it-yourself” way can be also so easy one as the method with the assistance of a company. But the difference is that due to this method you will save much more funds than in previous situation. The difficulty what you can have here is to communicate with the landlords. It will be better to have some help. You can request for it one of your acquaintances or to meet someone on the net, for instance. If you cannot, then of course you are restricting the amount of apartments that you may visit