French and English Language

Overview

French

French is a major world language, spoken in Africa as well as in Europe and Canada. Its art and thought have played a central part in creating modern civilisation.

Studying this programme will give you near-native fluency thanks to four years of intensive training.

You will also explore French culture, including Francophone literature and cinema, fascinating political history, social movements and philosophical ideas.

Our courses cover material from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century and include specialist options taught by leading experts in their field.

English Language

You will focus on developing your understanding of methods of communication.

This includes:

• how we learn language

• the principles of theoretical linguistics

• regional and social variations of English, and of languages in general

While developing your linguistic research techniques, you will examine the structure of spoken and written English. You will also study patterns of linguistic change in the UK and beyond.

Why Edinburgh

We are unique in Scotland in offering students a full academic year abroad within the four-year honours programme, regardless of whether you spend the year studying or working.

Our language programmes are also extremely flexible. In Years 1 and 2, you will choose option courses from a broad list of disciplines in addition to your core subjects.

Career opportunities

Studying languages and cultures to degree level, especially when you spend a year abroad, gives you a set of skills and life experiences highly prized by employers.

By the end of the French and English Language programme at The University of Edinburgh, you will be able to speak a major language of international communication, one of the most widely spoken in the world. You will be able to work in the 29 countries where French is an official language.

You will also be able to find opportunities in the many multinational companies and institutions where French is a working language, such as the European Commission.

Our employment statistics for language graduates are impressive. Our graduates can be found in every sector, especially those that require disciplined and imaginative thinking.

Many of our former students are working in roles where language skills are of special value, such as:

• education

• translating

• interpreting

This includes for multinational companies, political institutions, and other organisations in the European Union and beyond.