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Department of

Languages and Literatures

French

France

The French language is the vehicle for a rich culture and civilization. It is a humanistic, lively, modern language encountered not only in gastronomy, fashion, and travel, but also in industry (from aerospace to biotechnology to electronics), the sciences (from medicine and ecology to micro-biology), business, etc. As one of the official languages of both the U.N. and the European Union, it is a very useful tool in diplomacy and the political arena. French thinkers have traditionally been in the avant-garde of intellectual life, which makes a working knowledge of this language invaluable to scholars in all fields, just as it is indispensable for teachers, translators, writers, and diplomats.