French Language and Culture for the Professions Major and Minor

Explore diverse cultures, learn to speak French fluently and gain skills that will help you in your career. Our remarkable curriculum is enhanced by off-campus programs, a language-learning residential experience and Native Speaker Teaching Assistants.

Faculty member speaking with a student in an office

Why Study French Language and Culture for the Professions at Albion?

From the classroom to our language-learning housing (known as the I-Space), and from internships on the other side of the Atlantic to engaging in Albion’s thriving French Sister Cities relationship, you’ll build linguistic competence and cultural understanding needed to successfully navigate your international career path.

What Will You Learn as a French Language and Culture for the Professions Major?

In your first courses you will develop the four skills—listening, speaking, reading and writing—you’ll need to effectively function within a French-speaking environment. As you expand your communication skills you will also gain cross-cultural understanding through more enhanced interpersonal, interpretive and presentational communication.

Upper-level courses will enable you to explore selected global issues and develop communication skills that are vital for any professional in a French-speaking work environment.

Major Courses Minor Courses

Program Highlights

Experience Opportunities

Isabella Scalise in front of the Louvre in Paris.

Fluency in more than one language and understanding other cultures are essential skills for living and working in our increasingly internationalized world. While practicing and mastering their French outside of the classroom—weekly meetings with Native Speaker Teaching Assistants, living in the I-Space, studying abroad—Albion students will discover how people in other parts of the world think and express their ideas and beliefs.

Internships

Two Albion College students working around a table.

A specific requirement for the French Language and Culture for the Professions major, an internship abroad or a documented internship-like experience abroad, approved by faculty, provides a fantastic opportunity to put your French to everyday use in a professional setting.

Scholarships and Awards

The French-American Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Chapter, offers a scholarship program to assist college students in Michigan to study business or business-related courses and French language studies and who plan to combine French and business in their future career plans. Read about a recent Albion recipient.

Honors Thesis

Faculty member addressing students in a classroom setting.

Students majoring in French Language and Culture for the Professions who are also members of the College’s Prentiss M. Brown Honors Program can construct an original research project as a capstone to their undergraduate studies at Albion. Eighty percent of Honors students go on to graduate or professional school after graduation.

Careers & Outcomes

The major in French Language and Culture for the Professions is intended for those students who are pursuing pre-professional studies in fields such as economics and management, communication studies, science or public policy, among others, or for those students who are pursuing more traditional liberal arts fields and wish to add a practical component to their education. Your knowledge of French language and culture will continue to grow in importance as a foundation for a successful career in a global economy.