French Studies
Features
Spoken by over 220 million francophones worldwide, French is an official language of the United Nations, NATO, UNESCO, the Vatican, the Olympic Games, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, Amnesty International, the Red Cross and many countries including Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Senegal, Rwanda and Haïti, to name just a few. In the global world of the 21st century, becoming bilingual is more desirable and relevant than ever.
French gives you the competitive edge you need to get ahead in a whole range of careers: many federal and provincial government positions, teacher, translator,flight attendant, speech therapist, businessperson, customs officer, diplomatic aide, foreign correspondent, guide (museums, art galleries), human resources director, intelligence analyst, knowledge worker, lawyer, manager, nurse, office worker, public servant, radio broadcaster, social worker, and many more! By mastering French, you will enrich your life and enhance your career opportunities, no matter what path you choose.
About our program
In French Studies, we offer the 3-year BA (Major or Combined Major), the 4-year BA (Major or Combined Major) as well as the Honours BA.
Once you have mastered the basics, you can choose from a broad range of stimulating courses where you will discuss ideas related to cultures, literatures and languages, reflect on current events and contemporary issues, translate newspaper articles and other texts, read classics from the 17th to the 21st centuries, enjoy well-known writers such as La Fontaine or Molière, Balzac, Zola, Proust or Simone de Beauvoir, and contemporary Nobel Prize of literature laureates, Le Clézio or Patrick Modiano, investigate the evolution of French-Canadian literatures, explore the phenomenon of bilingualism and multilingualism, learn modern French vocabulary and syntax, and understand the way language works.
French Studies participates in the Interdepartmental Minor in Comparative Literature. For eligible courses, please consult the Comparative Literature section of the Calendar.
FRENCH PLACEMENT TEST: Students with no or very little French are exempt from the test, and must instead contact the department for permission to register in FREN-1100(3). All other students registering for their first French Studies course must take the online Placement Test. The test results will assist in determining the appropriate first French course to be taken: FREN-1100(3), FREN-1102(3), FREN-1103(3), FREN-1104(3) or FREN-2105(3). For more details on the test, please visit the French Placement Test information page.