French Studies

The French Studies major prepares students in language, history, geography and everything else from one of the world’s most compelling places.

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Did You Know?

• Wake Forest’s program in Dijon has been operating for more than 50 years. More than 60% of French Studies majors have studied in Dijon at some point in the program’s history.
• French for Business is offered as a concentration. The program focuses on French business culture, translation, and cross-cultural awareness.

Courses

Sample courses for students studying French include:

• Service Learning in French Language
• Encounters: French and Francophone Literature and Culture
• French for Management

View official major requirements »

Practical Experience & Skills

Majoring in a foreign language provides you with many of the skills in which employers are interested, although securing a job that uses your foreign language skills can be challenging. With the exception of positions in translating, interpreting or teaching, in most cases at the entry level your language fluency is seen as a secondary skill, an asset.

One option many foreign language students pursue is taking a semester to study abroad in a foreign speaking country. This will give you not only a better handle of the language, but if you are intentional with your time abroad a number of future job connections. Other possibilities to get your feet wet are available with international volunteer organizations that require translators in the field. On the local level, Wake Forest has connections with volunteer clinics and community centers in need of interpreters.

Students in this program will develop the following skills:

• Translating ideas/languages
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Perception of word patterns and structures
• Analyzing content
• Gathering information
• Summarizing
• Comparing ideas/translations
• Memorizing
• Project development and follow through
• Attention to detail
• Understanding other cultures

Clubs & Organizations

French students participate in the following clubs and organizations:

• French Club
• Center for Global Programs and Studies

Career Outcomes

Careers that often interest French majors include:

• Editor/Proofreader
• Educator
• Foreign Service Officer
• Interpreter
• Journalist
• Language Engineer
• Lexicographer
• Librarian
• Linguist
• Missionary
• Social worker
• Technical writer
• Translator

Recent graduates majoring in French Studies have worked as financial consultants; marketing specialists; hospital administrators; teachers in the U.S. Embassy in Paris, and in several other professions.

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Ready to take the next step?