Why Study French?

French is one of the most widespread international languages, second only to English.

Francophonie, the organization that brings together francophile and francophone nations of the world, has a membership of 51 countries with a total population of over 500 million.

These people use the French language in some official capacity on a daily basis.

French, with English, is one of the two working languages of the United Nations Organization and its agencies around the world.

French is also one of the most prominent languages of the European Union.

Closer to home, French is one of the two official languages of Canada.

In addition to its prestigious past history and its rich culture, today the French language opens the way to a wide variety of professional opportunities at the national and international levels.

French is a must for students contemplating a career in foreign relations and diplomacy, international trade, journalism and communications, international development, and translation.

French also provides a solid background for a career in a variety of fields including education, law, and library science.

In Canada, proficiency in French is a key asset to finding employment with the federal and some provincial governments, as well as with a great number of major corporations.

Also, bilingualism in English and French is often demanded for promotion to most senior positions in the federal civil service and in the military.

Finally, with the advent of globalization, knowing at least two international languages is more and more indispensable, and French definitely appears as the natural choice next to English.

Why Study French at Dalhousie?

The Department of French at Dalhousie University is the only full-programme department of its kind east of Ontario, with programmes leading to a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D.

It offers a wide range of courses in language, literature, linguistics, culture and civilization.

The department has an impressive profile as a very active and dynamic unit. It enjoys a solid regional, national and international reputation which rests in great part on the quality of its faculty members, most of whom are eminent teachers and scholars in their own right.

 In the last couple of years, two members of the department have won prestigious teaching awards, including the Dalhousie University Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Award for Excellence in Teaching. 

Other faculty members have distinguished themselves through their publications and their services to the academic community both at Dalhousie and around the world. The Department’s vitality is further based on its quarterly journal, Dalhousie French Studies, which has made the Department and the University known world-wide.

The Department is also the home of the Faculty’s first e-journal, Belphégor, an innovative and multilingual publication focusing on popular literature and media studies, which has been hailed as "probably the leading e-journal on popular culture" (European Comic Art Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 2008).

The diversity of offerings, the backgrounds and specializations of faculty members, the warm and student-friendly atmosphere, the competence of the administrative staff, the ideal classroom conditions (with an average of 30 students per language class), the multiple learning opportunities provided by other academic units on campus, all combine to make studying in the French Department a uniquely exciting and enriching experience.

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