The French program at Williams offers two different majors—French Studies and French Language and Literature—and the French Language and Cultures certificate. Students who choose to study French often combine their major or certificate with courses and double majors in a range of areas.
Why Study French?
In our globalized world, the study of foreign languages is essential to cultural understanding and professional success. Employers and graduate schools seek candidates who can bring excellent communication and language skills to their studies and work. Students in the French program frequently live, intern and study abroad in France, Switzerland, Morocco and Sénégal during their junior years, and many spend a postgraduate year working abroad with the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF). Graduates have gone on to dynamic careers in education, medicine, law, public service, politics, business, journalism and the arts.
Featured Courses
This year-long course offers a complete introduction to the French language and is designed to help you become fully conversant in French by focusing on four fundamental language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
In 1883, Maupassant called on his fellow war veterans and writers to join him in speaking out against warfare and violence, crying “Let us dishonor war!” From the Gallic Wars against Caesar (during the first century BC) to more recent terrorist attacks in France (at the start of the twenty-first century), the French literary tradition is rich in texts that bear witness to war and speak out against its monstrous inhumanity.
Founded during the French Revolution in 1793, Williams College created an inaugural curriculum that required all students to study and speak French, under the guidance of the college’s first French professor, Monsieur Samuel Mackay, a native of Québec. In the next century, over half a million Québécois emigrated to New England, in search of work in lumber camps and mill towns like North Adams and Williamstown where, from the 1840s-1960s, French was spoken widely, both on and off campus.
French Studies Major
The major in French Studies is an interdisciplinary program in which you will acquire skills and knowledge embracing the cultural, historical, social and political heritage of France and the Francophone world. The program allows for an individualized course of study involving work in several departments and the opportunity to study abroad.
If you plan to major in French Studies, you should register with the French Studies faculty advisor during your sophomore year. At that time, you will submit a feasibility plan that articulates your projected program.
French Language & Literature Major
The French Language and Literature major provides training in literary and cultural analysis and linguistic expression through the study of texts from the French-speaking world. Emphasis is placed on the changes in form and subject matter from the early modern period to the contemporary era.
The major consists of nine courses. One of these courses must be the 400-level senior seminar during the student’s final year at the College. Working with your advisor, you will develop a curricular plan that balances various areas of literary and cultural investigation.
The Certificate
The Certificate in French Language and Cultures is similar to a French minor at other institutions and is ideal for students who may not be able to major in French, but who want to devote a significant portion of their academic career to the study of French and Francophone cultures. The certificate consists of seven courses that can be taken at Williams or during your study abroad.
French Placement Test
The goal of the French placement test is to place you in a course where you will thrive. We do not want students in courses that are too easy, leaving you bored and unchallenged, or so difficult that you are lost and overwhelmed. This test is entirely online, takes approximately one hour, and contains two sections on listening comprehension and reading comprehension.
If you’ve ever studied French before—including formal classes of any level or length of time— you must take the French Placement Test, so we can determine which is the best level for you here at Williams. You will not be admitted to a French course without it. Native speakers are also required to take the test, as many heritage speakers may have excellent spoken French but need coursework to improve their grammar, reading and writing.
If you’ve never studied French before, instead of taking the placement test, you should fill out the French Placement Form and register for French 101: Introduction to French.
Honors
Students majoring in French may apply to the Honors Program in French upon demonstrating fluency of spoken and written language; the potential for successful independent research based on strong performance in advanced-level coursework; interest and motivation; and the overall quality and feasibility of your proposal.
To apply, you will submit a three- to five-page proposal and a preliminary bibliography by May 15 of your junior year. If selected, you will spend the summer before your senior year reading, researching and compiling a more detailed bibliography. Then, during your senior year, you will devote two semesters and your Winter Study period to independent study. A draft thesis, written in French, is submitted at the end of Winter Study and you will present in French at a departmental colloquium at the start of the spring semester. Your second semester is spent writing additional chapters, revising and rewriting, and polishing before submitting a final product for review.
Learning Objectives
The major in French Language and Literature, the major in French Studies, and the Certificate in French Language and Francophone Cultures are interdisciplinary programs that provide students with opportunities to acquire advanced language proficiency and both a knowledge of and engagement with the literary, cultural, socio-historical, and political traditions of the French-speaking world.
Upon graduation, French majors and French certificate students should have achieved the following objectives:
- Demonstrate advanced proficiency in spoken and written French.
- Demonstrate the ability to read critically, interpret analytically, speak persuasively, and write coherently about visual and literary texts produced in the French-speaking world.
- Demonstrate familiarity with methodological approaches in the study of literary and cultural texts, such as close reading, socio-historical contextualization, and literary and cultural theory.
- Demonstrate knowledge of literary and cultural traditions, such as major movements, writers, and works of the French-speaking world, focusing on at least one and ideally multiple traditions: European, African, Caribbean, Asian, North American, and other Francophone cultures.
- Demonstrate the skills necessary for scholarly research and writing in the Humanities.
In addition, we welcome and encourage the development of skills in linguistics, translation, and comparative studies.