French
It is a requirement that students selecting French should have taken it as a subject in the Leaving Certificate or equivalent.
Why Study French?
French is a many-sided subject: it comprises both the intensive study of a foreign language and the development of knowledge and understanding of a major world culture. All students of French are concerned with a common area, namely the French language. The study of the subject also leads to work on French and Francophone Literature, History, Thought, Culture, Society, Politics and Linguistics. The benefits to students that flow from the study of French include the acquisition of key transferable skills, including those of information gathering, analysis and interpretation.
The Department of French is a large community dedicated to providing teaching of the highest order. It includes a large number of native French speakers and members of the Department, who have themselves received their education in universities in Ireland, France and Britain, and who will give expert teaching and guidance in language learning and in the study of a foreign culture.
Subject Overview
The study of French language and French culture is closely integrated. The teaching of the French language is undertaken in small groups and some of this teaching is given in the medium of French. Language work focuses on the development of an advanced level of competence in the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Teaching also focuses on French culture of the past and the present. This aspect of the study of the subject provides the opportunity to acquire a capacity for critical thinking, interpretation, analysis, argument and communication. In each year, students work on literature and ideas in a series of core modules comprising both lectures and seminars.
In the Second and Final Years, specialised or elective modules are provided in the French language, Linguistics (i.e. the systematic study of language), Literature, the History of Ideas, Cultural Studies (extending over a range of forms of cultural production in modern and contemporary France), and Politics and Society. The diversity of French as a university subject means that it is admirably suited to cater to a wide range of interests, but it provides at the same time a focused intellectual training.
For Module descriptions, see the Book of Modules for French.
Postgraduate Opportunities in UCC
Many students undergo further education to avail of these and other opportunities and to extend the range of knowledge and skills they have acquired. The Department provides a wide range of postgraduate teaching in Language and Linguistics, Literature, Ideas, Cultural Studies, Politics and Society and Translation Studies, and also participates with other Departments in a range of interdisciplinary programmes.
Study Placement
Students who choose the Language and Cultural Studies stream or who choose French as their major language in the European Studies stream will spend Year 3 studying at a university in France or Belgium.
Career Opportunities
Careers in which knowledge of French can be used directly include the public service in Ireland and in Europe; heritage management and tourism; international business, administration; information and communication technology.
