Course summary

Combine in-depth study of French language and culture with learning how language itself works. No prior knowledge of French is required. Your first year introduces you to various aspects of French studies, and you’ll move your spoken and written language to a new level. You’ll learn the foundations of linguistics, focusing on both the nature of language (its structure and how it connects to thought and to sound) and its use (how it varies from person to person and situation to situation). You could find yourself recording dialect speakers, working out the rules of an endangered language or learning how to write down a sneeze. The programme is flexible, with a wide choice of modules in each subject. You can study French literature, art, thought and society; and specialist areas of linguistics from sociolinguistics to grammatical theory to the philosophy of language. You’ll spend your third year studying or working in France or a French-speaking country, immersing yourself in its language and society.