Why Learn French and why at the RC?
Pourquoi apprendre le français et pourquoi le faire au RC ?
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French Game Night: Banagrams en français !
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/french/french-speaking-countries/
Why learn any world language?
Why learn French?
Why learn any world language?
Whether you learn a new language or pursue the one you studied in high school, studying a language strengthens your intellectual ability to adopt new ways of communicating. By being exposed to different ways of life, you also develop a cross cultural sensitivity that broadens your worldview and makes you a global citizen. Indeed, you will acquire the tools to understand why a practice, attitude or behavior that seems odd to you is perfectly normal for someone else.
Learning a world language reinforces your understanding and appreciation of your own language and culture and helps with the elasticity of your brain, for example, focus and memory.
Learning a language is also acquiring a diverse set of transferable and marketable skills that employers highly value:
Analytical and critical thinking skills
Research / Project development skills
Interpersonal / Cross-cultural skills
Communicative skills
To know more about the benefits of speaking more than one language:
Watch a video from the BBC (2024) on Why being bilingual is good for your brain!
Read or listen to a Science Friday (NPR) interview with Northwestern Professor Viorica Marian (December 2023) on Speaking Multiple Languages Changes The Way You Think.
Read an article from the BBC (July 2016) entitled The amazing benefits of being bilingual.
Read an article from the BBC (July 2022) about why being bilingual is good for you entitled How our brain copes with speaking more than one language.
Read an article from The Guardian by David Robson (September 2023) entitled How thinking in a foreign language improves decision-making.
Why learn French?
Besides introducing you to a rich cultural universe, learning French gives you a competitive edge! Read below about professional opportunities and facts that make French a world language worth knowing!
Explore professional opportunities!
French is both a working language and an official language of the United Nations, the European Union, UNESCO, NATO, the International Olympic Committee, the International Red Cross and international courts. Proficiency in French is essential for anyone considering a career in any international organisation. France is the 7th largest economy in the world and many fields, such as retailing, automotive, luxury goods, aeronautics.
Upon graduation, some RC French students decide to spend a year in France teaching English with Teaching Assistant Program in France or to join the Peace Corps. A few others have enrolled in Post-Secondary Institutions in France to pursue Master's degrees in various domains.
See Opportunities beyond the classroom for more information.
Former RC French students have gone on to work in many fields:
Immigration and International Law
Medicine (working with vulnerable populations such as refugees)
Education
Translation
Research
Find out more about the French language!
FRENCH IS ...
... the fifth most spoken language in the world with more than 321 million of French-speakers in
106 countries, including 33 million in the Americas and 11 million in the United States.
... spoken on all five continents.
... the official language or one of the official languages in 32 countries.
... the 2nd most spoken language in Europe.
... the 4th language used on the Internet.
FRENCH TRIVIA
50 million people learn French as a second or third language.
About 45% of modern English words are of French origin.
Along with English, French remains an influential language in the diplomatic world.
As part of the legacy of Pierre de Coubertin, two official languages are enshrined in the Olympic Charter: French and English.
*French-language culture is connected to major developments in world history: the Crusading movements and knights of the Middle Ages, the French and Haitian Revolutions, student movements in the 1960s, AIDS activism, decolonization from Vietnam to Algeria, twenty-first-century climate accords, and more.
*Learning about the French-speaking world and its long history is also learning about questions of race, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, neurodiversity and social justice.
*French-language literature is one of the richest and most influential of the modern world, featuring authors and philosophers who have defined movements such as the Enlightenment, Surrealism, Negritude, Feminism, Créolité and Critical Theory, among many others.
*France is one of the most prolific producers of international films.
With 3,000 pages, in 13 volumes, of Marcel Proust’s “À la Recherche du Temps Perdu”, is the world’s longest novel.
*Adapted from https://lsa.umich.edu/rll/undergraduates/majors-and-minors/french.html
Why learn French at the RC?
The RC is well-known for its highly effective language programs.
If mastering another world language is one of your goals,
you are in the right place!
Halloween 2022
French students came to class dressed up!
Learn the language in a semi-immersion program by taking intensive courses!
We provide a semi-immersion experience in which emphasis is placed on communicative competence. If you are at a beginning or intermediate level in the mastery of a language, you will spend two hours a day in your language class, four days a week, and in addition, you will benefit from daily opportunities to attend co-curricular activities such as lunch tables and coffee hours where the target language is spoken. You will be able to make proficient use of the language within one year. After passing the Proficiency Exam, which concludes the two levels of intensive instruction, you will take a readings course. In this seminar-format course, you will no longer study the language as an end in itself, but use it to explore other areas such as the literature, history, or philosophy of other cultures.
See Program and Courses for more information.
Join the RC community of language learners and meet new friends!
RC language programs play a major socializing role for incoming students. Because you will spend a great deal of time studying and practicing the language, it is very likely that you will meet your first, if not your best, college friends through your language class.
Elect French and Francophone Studies as your major or minor! (or as one of your majors / minors)
You may become one of the many RC students who elect to pursue French and Francophone Studies as a major or minor. By taking RC courses, you will be well prepared to succeed in the Romance Languages and Literatures Department (RLL).
You can find more information about the French and Francophone Studies major and minor here.
Apply your skills to help others in the community!
Many RC French students are seeking ways to use the language outside of the classroom. For example, you might be interested in using your skills to volunteer and help a vulnerable community locally through service-learning opportunities. The RC French Program partners with Freedom House Detroit, an organization that offers free services, including legal help, to victims of persecution seeking asylum in the US.
See Program and Courses for more information.
RC French students also participate on a voluntary basis in the annual UM Translate-a-Thon organized by the Language Resource Center. Participants translate documents for non-profit organizations.
See Opportunities beyond the classroom for more information.
Study or intern abroad!
The confidence you will build in your language classes will perhaps motivate you to explore the many options available to you to study or to intern abroad. In fact, a high percentage of RC students take advantage of these opportunities to apply their language skills and step outside of their comfort zones.
You will have the opportunity to study the language and literature in France, through specific programs, either Intermediate French Language Studies in Grenoble or Advanced French Language in Paris. UM also offers options to study in Sénégal, Morocco, Madagascar, Switzerland and Québec for stays of various lengths with emphasis on various fields, such as, for example, political sciences in Paris, traditional medicine and healthcare systems in Antananarivo, Madagascar, or global health and development in Nyon, Switzerland. Opportunities to intern abroad are available through a Francophone Internship course.
See Opportunities beyond the classroom for more information.
Become a tutor for other RC French students!
You might also be interested in using your skills to help other RC French students, through the Directed Peer Tutoring Program.
See Program and Courses for more information.
Testimony from a former RC French student
From: https://lsa.umich.edu/rc/news-events/all-news/search-news/alumni-spotlight--brett-graham---18--political-science-and-histo.html
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