Overview

French is the first or second language of more than 40 countries and is spoken by about 125 million people around the world. French is one of the official languages of the European Union, the world’s second-largest trading bloc. France itself has the fourth-largest economy in the world.

The primary goal of the program in French at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis is to assist students in achieving linguistic and cultural proficiency in French and Francophone settings. To support this goal, the program offers a variety of courses from the introductory to the advanced undergraduate levels in language & linguistics, culture & literature, and applied areas (translation & Business French).

Learning Outcomes

• Develop and deliver well-organized oral presentations that exhibit critical thinking skills in academic, intercultural and professional areas

• Create written products that exhibit critical thinking skills in academic, intercultural and professional areas using major tenses and moods and linking paragraphs into composition length products

• When listening, demonstrate understanding of main facts and supportive details of conventional narrative and descriptive discourse in most genres including those in various time frames in many familiar and unfamiliar academic, social and professional contexts

• When reading, demonstrate understanding of conventional narrative and descriptive texts in major tenses and moods on a variety of familiar and unfamiliar topics of general and professional interest

• When talking with others, converse fully on topics including matters of public and community interest in an organized way with appropriate detail using paragraph-length discourse in various time frames

• Explain the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the cultures studied and their own

• Integrate and apply methods of analyzing language, literature, and cultural products and practices

• Operate with civility in a complex world