French Degree

[Whatabloodymessthisis]

Is it possible to do a French Degree without spending a year in France?

Thank you :)

Yes in fact most language degrees do not have a year abroad.

It wasn't when I did mine 20 years ago but maybe things have changed!

It would be much easier to learn the language with the year in France though.

most language degrees do not have a year abroad.

Not that DD was looking for courses specifically without a year abroad, but none of those she looked at didn't include it. She has applied for courses with French as an and or with to IR, or in one case (Leeds), the IR is the 'and'.

Most decent MFL degrees DO have a year abroad! You won’t find many RG ones that don’t. Or many others I suspect. They are nearly all 4 years and the 3rd year is immersion in one or two languages. A student would be mad to choose a course with no year abroad.

Why would you not want the year abroad! It's the most valuable part .

I agree, unless you’ve previously lived in France, it’s a very important part of the course.

I'm sure most degrees do include it. You need to be immersed in the language and have plenty of opportunity for conversation.

If you don't want a year in France maybe a degree in French isn't for you.

The whole reason I did my degree was because I knew it included the year abroad

I switched my degree in first year to one where the year abroad was optional as I got cold feet about it.
In my second year my personal tutor persuaded me to go and I am so grateful to him, that year was the making of me.
In hindsight I don’t see what the point of the degree would have been if I hadn’t gone.

15 years later my French is a bit crap but the life skills and memories from that year will last me a lifetime.

Surely without the year abroad, part of the academic rigour would be absent so the course would be inferior to others. It cannot possibly be comparable, for all sorts of reasons. Universities don’t just require language immersion, they require submission of work based on a topic of study in each country. If you go to a university abroad, you might have to take exams in your chosen subjects. Why would missing this year out give the same degree as someone who has studied or worked abroad? Surely it would be a massive dumbing down?

The only reason you were able to get out of the year abroad at my university was if you’d recently spent a significant amount of time in the relevant country.
I hated my year abroad (complex reasons) but in the end I’m proud that I got through it.