So You Want to Major in French...

!

And more just waiting to be discovered...

So You Want To Major in French...

A Quick Guide Concerning Writing, Genre, and Your Future in French

Teach

French at any level

Translate

your favorite books! Become a

professor

Teach English In

France

Be a Tour

Guide

Be an Interpreter -

Oral translation

Editing / Proofreading

Foreign Service Officer

Work for an

International NGO or Non-

Profit

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/.

Table of Contents:

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 - 3

Field Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 - 6

Genre Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 - 11

Interview Summaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-17

Proposal for Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 - 20

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

This portfolio/magazine is a research project I, Amber Dierking, created for a first year

writing class at the University of Denver. After some background study in rhetoric and genre

theory, I researched genres and writing within my major, French. I used both primary and

secondary source research along with personal experience to develop ideas and find

information for this project. During my research some common themes were revealed. These

centered around the lack of visible job opportunities available for language majors, as well as

the fact that the genre of writing that one does in the French major does not matter so much

as the ability to express oneself in that foreign language.

First, I began with a field guide. It is not an intimidating piece, but instead eases you, and

other readers into the project with lots of visuals and short individual pieces. It is full of

advice, useful resources, and tips for first year French students. To help with their writing,

there are sections on transitional phrases and easy ways to improve writing skills. Grammar

help can be found with visual elements that help simplify those complicated little articles and

pronouns as well as some basic verb conjugation. There is a small history section titled, Did

You Know? to give the students some background information about the language they’re

learning, not to mention the resources section, F.A.Q.’s and more!

After you’ve gotten that taste it’s time to dig deeper into the meat of the research and

issues discussed with the Genre Investigation. This piece takes dry and boring genre theory

and converts it into a detective story. You will help to build a profile of background

So What Exactly are You Getting Yourself Into?

information on genre with a little help from the experts we consult before moving on to

interrogate the witnesses in the case. The witness genres are syllabi, oral exams and

presentations and translations. The end goal is to solve the question of why we use the genres

we do to learn and communicate in French. Supplemented by playful and informative visuals,

this investigation will make you feel as though you are right in the middle of things.

After completing the investigation, you will be taken directly into the research itself.

There are two summaries of interviews. Following the first interview are two pages of quotes,

and following the second there are two pages of direct transcription. In this way you and

other readers can really get a feel for the primary research in it’s unaltered form.

Lastly there is a proposal for change that addresses an issue that I stumbled upon during

my research and ran into multiple times again throughout the writing process. This problem

would be the lack of career information available to French majors which often leaves them

not knowing what they could really do with their degree and therefore promotes the

stereotype that this major is impractical.

I hope my audience, in particular any of you that are in fact first year or potential French

majors, are able to gain a fuller understanding of the discipline and what sort of writing is

done in it and why. I hope some of the information I provided herein will help in your

decision to become or remain French majors and will smooth that process for you. Now that I

myself am about to complete my first year at the University of Denver I am uniquely placed

to understand the needs and issues facing the students that will be arriving this next year and

the years after them. I tried to provide any and all information that I had found wanting in my

own personal experience. So go on, go check it out!

Écrivez-Vous Français?«To you French is almost like a dark continent, the area you don’t know, but is attractive -

you wanna go there» - Frédérique Chevillot

Ne pensez pas en Anglais!!

Don’t think in English! As one of the University of Denver’s very own French professors cautions, «I don’t think you can write in French if you don’t think in French.» This field guide is designed to give you an idea of what you might be expected to do, especially as far as writing is concerned, as a French major or minor. You can find useful tips, resources, advising, and other information all in one location for a quick, easy to use guide for writing in French.

Remember the Gender!

ElleEn

La UneSa

Cette

ILAu

LeUnSon

Ce/Cet

Top 10 Useful Transitional Phrases

• La raison pour laquelle

The reason for which

• D’un côté, de l’autre côté

On one side/hand, on the other

• À mon avis In my opinion

• D’ailleurs Besides

• C’est-à-dire That is to say

• Néamoins Neverthless

• au lieu de Instead of

• Il faut que It is necessary that

• Bien que Although

*Transitional phrases like this are not necessarily included in the standard classroom curriculem, but they come in quite handy for any writing assignments you will have. Insert some transitions into your work and have it stand out from the crowd. Catch your professor’s attention as a student that is willing to go above and beyond, who doesn’t limit their learning to the classroom.

Some no-brainers for improving your writing in French...! Just like in English, one of the best ways to improve your writing skills is by reading. I know it can seem daunting to try to pick up novels or magazines when you’re not entirely comfortable with a language, but that is precisely the reason you should. Besides, reading doesn’t have to be painful. Some of your favorite novels like Harry Potter for example, are available in French translations. A neat way to begin reading in another language is to start with a book you already know cover to cover so you don’t have to worry about missing the intricacies of the plot twists. Instead you can focus on the vocabulary and understanding grammar structure.

Let your pronoun order point you

towards success!

Me! Le Te! ! Lui! La ! Y / En! Nous!! Leur! Les Vous

Don’t Forget to Conjugate!(Here are three of the most commonly used verbs)

Did you know?!! L’acadamie française, created in the year 1635 had a profound effect on the language. It’s members are charged with maintaining the official dictionary. Keeping the French language pure is one of their main goals, which means that the French that is spoken in France today is much more traditional and has fewer alterations than the French spoken in say, sub-saharan Africa, Quebec, or some Caribbean Isles.

ÊtreJe suis!! Nous sommesTu es! ! Vous êtesIl/elle est! Ils/elles sont

AvoirJ’ai! ! Nous avonsTu as! ! Vous avezIl/elle a! Ils/elles ont

FaireJe fais!! Nous faisonsTu fais!! Vous faitesIl/elle fait! Ils/elles font

F.A.Q.’s of Potential French Major/Minors

Q: How many credits will I need to fufill my requirements?! A: At least 24 credits (6 classes) above ! the elementary level for a Minor, and 44 ! credits minimum for a Major. Q: What can you do with a French Major?! A: The possibilities are endless! There is ! no specific field that you will be ! funnled into.Q: How relevant/useful/applicable is French?! A: French is one of only two languages ! that is spoken on five continents. ! French is also the official language of 33 ! countries, second only to English (45 ! countries).Q: Can you double major with French?! A: Absolutely! Languages are one of the ! best subjects to double major in because ! they complement other disciplines so ! well. If you manage your time well, and ! think ahead during the schedualing ! process it’s easy to fit in all the classes ! you will need.

Beware of Online Translators!! It’s ok to use an online translator

as you would a dictionary to check gender, or to look up specific words, but all online translators should be taken with a grain of salt. Often when you try to translate an entire phrase or sentence they are not accurate. Direct translations do not work. Languages are full of nuance and cultural differences that must be accounted for. With the increased availability of online translators professors have also become increasingly good at recognizing when students have resorted to these methods to complete their homework. Invest in a good French/English dictionary instead! Your work will always be your own, you can find translations you can rely on, and trust that they are accurate. A resource like this will continue to be benefitial for as long as you continue your studies in French.

Resources

• ht tp: / /www.du.edu/ahss/schools / langl i t /programs/french/index.html This is the official website for the French program at the University of Denver. It is extremely useful for information about classes, major/minor requirements and contact information for professors.

• The Center for World Languages and Cultures This AHSS program is located in Sturm Hall and provides free tutoring in many languages. You can get help with homework, spoken skills, editing a foreign language paper and more.

• Your professor’s office hours Office hours are an underutilized and very valuable resource. Get a better grasp on the material and your professor’s expectations.

• Clicnet A website of French resources created and maintained at Swathmore College.

• Le Grand Robert &Collins Dictionary Online is excellent not only for translating specific words, but phrases as well. This dictionary is sensitive to idioms and cultural nuance.

• La Bibliothèque Universelle is an excellent online collection of Classical French literature and other texts.

• http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/frenchwriting.html This website contains basic information to help with French writing skills

• www.languedoc-property-site.com contains lots of fun tidbits, idomatic expressions, toungue twisters etc... for those looking to improve their French painlessly.

Bonne chance à toutes vos études!

Get out there and have fun with French! Become lovers of the language. :)

Genre Investigation ! Why do we use the methods we do to learn and communicate in French? Why this one genre instead of any other? It’s a mystery for sure, one that we’ll have to dig deep to find the answers to. It will be elusive, and try to hide behind complex terms and theory but we will root out the evidence and find the connections. Over the course of this investigation we will visit three different genres and pull from a background of genre theory to analyze what they have to tell us. ! First, it is important for us to do a thorough background check on genre and all the influences upon it’s development aka the theory behind it. We need to build a profile of what genre is and what it does. Our first expert profiler, Carolyn Miller, points out in her article Genre as Social Action that genre has long been understood as different types of communication, making it a very multifaceted, complex subject. However there are some common elements of any genre. ! Genres are rhetorical, that is to say genres either respond to particular situations in pragmatic ways or invite responses to those situations which is an idea Lloyd F. Bitzer, another of our expert profilers brought us in his article The Rhetorical Situation. They, that is to say genres, do this because of certain situations, rhetorical situations. These are imperfect situations that could potentially be fixed or improved upon. The sense of being obligated or required to fix these situations is something that we call exigence. Genres as a conduit of rhetoric can either demonstrate where exigence exists or try solve the inherent problem. Exigence can also be thought of as the

reason for doing or saying something, the motive behind it. Exigence also implies a certain amount of urgency, an immediate need.! It is important to remember also that there are limits to what each genre can do depending on the situation. After all, just as we are all products of what came before us and what world we live in - our culture, and our parents, genre itself is a product of it’s own antecedent forms and of constraint. Genre is a product of compliance to the audience’s expectations and it’s typified features which are defined by social norms. It might help to think of these constraints in terms of nature versus nurture, where antecedent genres correlate to the nature of a genre, while typified features, the audience’s expectations and social norms are the nurture aspect. All of these elements create different genres and pair them with the appropriate situations. ! It is important to include any known alias of the subject under investigation in a background check. From time to time, genre has been observed operating under the pseudonym ‘discourse’. It is really quite a convenient, clever disguise because both concepts can rhetorically aim to accomplish the same social actions vis-à-vis communication. However they always leave some clues, and you can tell them apart in these ways; while genre includes countless forms of communication, discourse is simply the existence of said communication to reveal or solve a rhetorical situation. ! We live in an irregular, unpredictable world, which means an infinite number of rhetorical situations exist and likewise infinite methods of communication and types of genre to respond to these situations exist as well. Each situation has it’s own set of constraints, of exigence and of rhetoric etc ... that determine what genre the

appropriate response will be formed into. The overarching situation relative to our case is the French Major. Four common genres that students and professionals encounter within this situation are syllabi, oral exams and presentations, and translation*. Why are these particular genres the common appropriate responses to the overarching rhetorical situation we have been examining of students and professionals in the French major? ! Now that we have established some basic background information to use as a sounding board in our investigation it is time to immerse ourselves in the case and delve into the field. Primary research is of the essence, some genre witnesses will provide key pieces of evidence and some leads for us to follow. Some of our connections from the French department at the University of Denver will also be consulted to lend a hand in the area of their expertise to help solve the case. ! Our first pieces of evidence come from a group of randomly selected syllabi. The usual domain of syllabi is within the classroom setting. It’s purpose, the social action it fulfills is to present a concise summary of a class, with all of the need to know information in one location. Syllabi are well known for their efficiency and well structured organization and were eager to show us their easy-to-read fonts and helpful formatting. It is something that is expected of them, and that they typically don’t have a problem incorporating. ! All the syllabi we cross-examined willingly divulged the name of their courses, all of the contact information for the professor that they had access to, course objectives, the required materials, the grading system, and a schedule with homework, in-class

work, due dates, and tests. These typified features, many of which signal efficiency of communicating the information the audience expects, show us we are on the right track. ! So let us enter the more specific rhetorical situation and scene of investigation where syllabi are found - the start of a class. Investigation Scene Do Not Cross The audience, aka the students need to know what they will need to be successful, what to expect over the course of the term. The exigence calls for discourse found in the form of the genre of syllabi. Syllabi are the fitting, appropriate response to this need. Students are demanding. They want what they want and they want it now. Information needs to be easy to find. Syllabi are often formatted with bullet points and clear segmentation that is easy to navigate quickly unlike text-heavy documents that many students would tend to gloss over. The professor’s authority in the classroom is reinforced whenever classroom expectations or late policies are outlined, letting students know that if they do not respond appropriately to the rhetorical situations the assignments present there will be consequences. ! Syllabi are a baseline; they set the stage for all other genres that are commonly found in the French major. The genres that we will have to familiarize ourselves with as first year or potential French majors are all alluded to in the syllabus. Syllabi are like summaries of key values and aims of the entire discipline. The most common assignments, the projects that are worth the most points, this is where we can discover what the professor believes are the most important elements. ! Although the specific genres In

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*Translation is hard to quanitfy as a genre because it can be so versatile and can encompass many genres, however, it is included in this investigation due to it’s relevant merit as a catagory of writing and communication that is unique in the language disciplines. For this reason it is important that students gain a full understanding of the act of translation.

emphasized remain the same, they do evolve. In the French Major, all of the examined syllabi referred to oral, written, and literary components, but with different difficulty levels corresponding to the level of the course. The form of the syllabus itself evolves along with the difficulty level of the course. The 1000 level French syllabi are mostly written in English, but the syllabi for courses over the 2000 level are almost exclusively written in French. Even the name of the genre evolves. In the upper levels ‘syllabus’ in French translates to ‘Emploi du Temps’. This relationship is well represented in the image below.

! It seems that syllabi are the preferred genre to use in these situations because they are the most efficient communicators of the necessary information and the most effective at fulfilling the required social action.! Moving along in our investigation, next we will investigate a different demographic to form a more complete picture. While oral presentations and exams may be elements of some classes in other majors, they are rarely as consistent of a component in those classes as they are for language majors. The specific rhetorical situation of oral presentations in language classes has a completely different exigence than this genre does in other majors. For this reason, oral presentations and exams in language classes are a unique genre.

! The spoken word is a common form of human communication used on a daily basis. We learn this broad genre of communication first as babies by listening to our parents, and through trial and error as toddlers, then unconsciously continuing the process throughout our young lives. Conversations we had when we were first learning to speak are some of the antecedent forms to the oral presentations we make in classes while learning a second language. While using this genre it is necessary for students, to once again accept their inner child and the natural mistakes they will make. It is difficult and frustrating to not be able to express oneself as a grown adult. «When it’s time to think in French not only do you have to let go of thinking in English for one thing ... and then you have to sort of welcome trying to do that very strange thing which is to think in French because you don’t know how to do that.»-Frédérique Chevillot says and also advises that one must not be afraid of, «submitting to that vulnerability that comes with trying to learn another language, sounding like a child, and making mistakes and being ashamed of one’s mistakes.»! And so we have discovered that the exigence one encounters through oral presentations is the need to be able to express oneself orally in a different language. The rhetorical discourse necessary to satisfy this exigence is quite practical, learning to be comfortable speaking in that language comes simply through practice. This rhetoric is thus very pragmatic as nobody can exactly go walking around in France with post-it notes and a pen writing down everything they want to say. !! Also, even if some of us know we will not need to speak in French often, this is a comparable situation to a baseball pitcher who, for example, who works out

English! ! ! ! French

! ! Reading! Beginner Oral Skills Advanced! ! Writing

his arms quite often because those are the muscles he uses the most, but if he were to work out his back, abdominals, and legs in addition to his arms he would be a better, overall stronger, athlete. This is why it is important to work to improve various genres of communication, and not simply written forms. ! In this genre, students like us are expected to have accurate pronunciation, flow, good grammar, and correct usage of the vocabulary. Whenever students deviate from these expected norms they are breaking the genre. Sometimes they do so successfully, but more often not. Breaking a genre is always a risk, but in one upperclassman’s opinion sometimes that risk can pay off, «I mean they definitely want you to be grammatically correct, but also to step outside of the box and maybe use new terms, or um grammatical styles that are a little less common in conversation. So just trying to see how far you’re willing to take it, and how many risks you can take while still being accurate.»! Although the students we spoke with did not directly mention the constraints on this genre, they left fingerprints that led us to them. It became quite apparent that this genre is difficult to utilize successfully if one has an apathetic attitude. The students who put effort into their work and who were interested and engaged always left stronger prints than those who didn’t care. «What comes from your heart is energy which is going to drive your brain.» Can you see the difference?

!

! There is one final genre witness for us to question: translation. A metaphor for the social action that the translation genre fulfills is building bridges for those that can’t swim. Bridges are the only way that those people will be able to cross the river. Some bridges, however, are better than others. Rope bridges, wooden bridges, and the occasional fallen tree may all get the job done, but solidly constructed, structurally sound bridges made with good materials will always be more trustworthy. The same goes for translations. Online translators and those still learning the language may be able to do the job in a pinch, but it is always best to rely on a professional, and in a best-case scenario someone who is truly bilingual and fluent in both of the languages. This person will then feel equally at ease on each bank of the river, and on each copy of translation. The original, the side you start on, and the translated version where you end up. ! Translation is a unique genre, or more accurately an act of communication, because it can contain so much diversity. Translations are an umbrella of communication that can include every possible other genre. This wide scope may take one by surprise we found when our student consultant mentioned, when she was asked about any unexpected writing that she had done as part of her French Major, that, « Sometimes the content is a little surprising just because we don’t really have a theme for the kinds of works that we’re translating. So it could be something from the eighteen hundreds, it could be something posted a week ago ... it just depends. »! What makes translation really tricky is that the audience expects the inherent meaning of whatever is being translated to remain intact. Direct translations are just not enough. We would

be breaking the genre if, by missing the nuance, we were to loose the meaning. Such a translation would no longer be an appropriate response to the rhetorical situation at hand. There are people that do not know how to swim aka who cannot understand both languages, and the exigence is that they need to cross the river. If the genre aka the bridge is broken the person may never get to the other side of the river, may not understand what was trying to be communicated. ! Messy work and shoddy bridges are suspicious and easy for us to follow a trail of. People that don’t pay attention to nuance don’t know how to cover their tracks. By leaving these footprints they quickly reveal themselves as outsiders who are not to be trusted.

!This is why translation

is a professional genre. Beginners who are not yet well versed in nuance do not possess the subtly to translate accurately. Some examples of poor translations are as follows; if we literally translate the idiomatic French phrase, ‘boire comme un trou’ it would seem to mean ‘drink like a hole’ which makes no sense whatsoever. The real connotation is ‘to get wasted’. Perhaps when we realize how wrong we can be and how confusing translation can be we will, ‘devenir chêvre’ or ‘become goats’ (the French intend this expression to mean ‘become angry’). Even experienced students struggle with these nuances, «even if something I said was technically correct, she (the professor) would always have a way to make it sound more French, like an expression in

the way French people would normally say it.»! (A little tip for any French students reading this, jokes, idiomatic expressions, tongue twisters, music, these are all fun ways to become a more natural speaker of the language because these genres often include slang and cultural allusions that a formal education often fails to mention in all of those dry classes on verb conjugation.)! Translation has ties to the oral presentation genre we investigated earlier. Considering most of us are not native speakers, we are constantly translating or attempting to think in that other language simultaneously when we talk. It is important to be able to translate on the spot in real time and think on our toes. This skill of thinking in French is very important, even professors caution, «I don’t think you can write in French if you can’t think in French. » If you can remember back to the beginning of our investigation, the syllabi as well had to be translated. All of these genres flow out

of an exigence of communication. Ease of communication that is the crux, it

is the point that all our evidence is pointing us to.

!Some of

the standard genres we have come into contact with in the F r e n c h major are syllabi, oral exams and presentations, and translation, each representing the classroom, the student, or the professional aspects of the Major. One of the key reasons one majors in a foreign language is to expand communication worldwide. These particular genres are especially salient to the French major because they are the most practical ways to improve that desired communication.

Straight From the Horse’s Mouth: My Interview with a French Professor thanks to Frédérique Chevillot for all of her help

I conducted my first interview with the French professor I have had for

two quarters now. I interviewed her during her regular office hours after class one day.

Before doing the interview I had used the list of suggested questions along with many of

my own ideas to create a new list of questions to ask, and had arranged them in an order

that I thought would be conductive to a flowing conversation. I focused my questions on

the types of writing she assigns for her students, what she believes is good writing, as

well as her own writing as a professional. The interview was full of character and

personality, Frédérique never tries to separate herself from her career, and in this way I

believe the interview not only was very honest and heartfelt, but also provides some

excellent quotes, to be found on the next two pages. Some of the phrasing may seem odd

when read by someone who doesn’t know her, so I would like to remind any readers that

she is a French native, and English is not her first language. This was the more helpful of

the two interviews, and is where I am finding the umbrella ideas behind my genre theory

investigation. This interview gave me direction and focus for the rest of my project.

Frédérique did not just talk about the dry specifics of genre, but of the why behind the

writing we do. She emphasizes the re-reading, and re-writing process, focusing more on

the way and quality in which you are thinking in order to accomplish the assignment

rather than the time it takes to finish, or the resulting grade. Her thoughts on writing

reflect her philosophy of life, summed up well with this phrase, «What comes from your

heart is energy which is going to drive your brain.»

Quotes from the Interview

«So it’s very difficult to think in any other language besides the one you know inside out

that you think in, without thinking about it»

«When it’s time to think in French not only do you have to let go of thinking in English for one thing ... and then you have to sort of welcome trying to do that very strange thing which is to think in French because you don’t

know how to do that.»«What I try to teach my students is to build a vocabulary and a context and

almost visualize that context within their imagination, within their heart, their soul,

whatever they want to call it. And project, with French words a sort of

understanding of that situation, that visualization»

«I don’t think you can write in French if you don’t think in French.»

«There is a lot of thinking that must take place in order

for some sort of structure to emerge.»

«I don’t grade, I adjust.»

«You pay an arm and five legs to go to the university to receive an education, the least I

can do is to give you one.»

«I do not write. I rewrite and re-rewrite and re-reread and

re-rewrite. So if you can get something out of me here

today is that I do not write, I constantly re-read and re-

write ... and then let it sit and then go back several days

later.»

«No! paper is due when you think paper is ready.»

«But the thing is, it’s a process, I’m teaching you a process and everybody

wants to get a product right away, we can’t. The product it arrive fifteen

years down the road if you think of me and what happened in class

because something resonated with me. You send me an email and you say

thank you.»

«Teaching French is a pretext to so many other things. It’s not French that

you’re gonna learn, you’re gonna learn about yourself.»

«To you French is almost like a dark continent, the area you don’t

know, but is attractive - you wanna go there.»

«So I’m not gonna make fluent speakers out of you, but I’m going to make lovers

of the language. Lovers of the discipline of submitting to that vulnerability that

comes with trying to learn another language, sounding like a child, and making

mistakes and being ashamed of one’s mistakes.»

«You cannot do any research, the research is your own because it’s a skill,

it’s a humanist skill. What does it mean to wonder about the language

that we use and the ways in which we use it unless you’re a writer. And I

think that what I’m doing for my students is that, well you might become

a writer you never know but very few of my students will become writers

to such an extent that they are in love with the way they write ... but I

am going to make my students realize that potential and how important it

could be to their lives.»

«What comes from your heart is energy which is going to drive your

brain.»

! This was the second interview I conducted. I interviewed a transfer student in her

second year, but of Junior standing, who is a double major in Psychology and French.

Because I do not personally know any upperclassmen in the major well, this student was

recommended to me by the professor I interviewed. The student works as a French tutor

in the Center for World Languages and Cultures, this was where I met with her to set up

the interview, and where it was conducted. Because this was my second interview I was

more aware of the direction in which I was heading, which helped me create a concise,

useful list of questions before the interview. We were not previously acquainted, so there

was less small talk and we were able to keep on topic much easier than in the previous

interview. It went smoothly, we met at the appointed time, I set up GarageBand for the

recording, and proceeded to ask the questions. Many of her answers reinforced

assumptions I had previously made about writing in the French major, for example, there

is not much research required, nor is the topic of the writing important, as this student

herself advises, « It’s more about being able to express yourself well and not so much

about what exactly you’re writing about. » Another assumption I had made is that there

are not are clearly defined professional fields or careers that French majors head towards.

Many students, including this one, rely on a second major for their main career paths.

One piece of information that she was not able to provide me with was information about

testing, and writing in the lower, beginner levels because she had not taken those courses

at the university level. The professional and the student interview complement each other

well, and reinforce some main ideas that I wanted to explore.

Learn From Your Peers

Student Interview TranscriptAmber Dierking - Interviewer

A: So which of your classes for your French major have you done the most ! writing for? S: Um probably as I got up into the upper two thousands, lower three thousand level ! classes, especially as we started talking more about literature and things like that, ! we started having longer writing assignments. A: Mhmm, so more of the lit classes rather than the cultural ones? S: Mhmm, yeah, but I think pretty much all of the classes I’ve taken have been pretty ! writing intensive. A: It just goes up as the difficulty goes up. S: Yeah, it just goes up in length. A: Yeah, I’ve noticed that too. Umm, and then What sorts of writing, so if you ! could like put it into a different genre? Like literary analysis would be one ! for the literature class ... if you could think of other types?S: Umm a lot of them are just reflexion on our reactions to a passage or maybe a movie or ! something like that so a lot of reflexion, and um kind of at the end of a quarter, ! especially with Fred’s classes we would have a writing assignment where it’s just ! more of like an essay, um kind of synthesizing everything we’ve learned. So, ! yeah. A: But even in earlier levels, the format of tests count too, so if it was like short ! responses, and fill in the bland, literally like anything, any writing, even if it ! seems super simple. S: I haven’t taken any classes here where they’re from tests with the exception of my ! translation class, and in that one we’re just translating sentences. So, that’s the ! only writing we do...A: That counts too, that’s a nice, interesting, like different genre for languages, ! as far as like no other I guess discipline would have that. S: YeahA: So that counts definitely. But yeah, I haven’t, I didn’t take the lower levels ! either so maybe I should ask someone else... Um and then what types of... ! Which types of writing did you find the most challenging?S: Ummm definitely where I’m trying to argue a complex idea, you know, !something ! that’s probably difficult to come up with in English is going to be even harder to ! come up with in French, and to try to articulate those ideas in a foreign language ! can be hard, if it’s something more complex. A: Like 2400, ‘cause that’s the controversies?S: Yeah, and um that would be a good example, or um yeah like in my film class last ! quarter, it was 2700, we were asked to define culture based on the films we ! watched and I think culture is something hard to define in your native language, ! let alone in a French language.A: Yeah, that’d definitely be true. What do you think your professors look for ! when they’re grading your writing? S: I think they look for, I mean they definitely want you to be grammatically ! correct, but also to step outside of the box and maybe use new terms, or um

! grammatical styles that are a little less common in conversation. So just trying to ! see how far you’re willing to take it and how many risks you can take while still ! being accurate. A: And what do they do to help like with feedback, like are you allowed to ! rewrite most of your papers? S: Um, well with Fred, Fred was the only professor I had until this quarter, so I’ve taken a ! lot of classes with her, and um in the lower classes she would correct them and we ! would have to rewrite them, and turn the corrections back in. But, um, as I got ! further up she would just hand back a copy with a lot of corrections and just trust ! that we would look at them and learn from them on our next assignment. A: Um, and did the feedback they gave you, all of the comments were generally ! very helpful, it’s not like they, like you couldn’t understand where they were ! coming from...S: Yeah, what I liked about Fred’s comments was that she always ... even if ! something I said was technically correct, she would always have a way to make it ! sound more French, like an expression in the way French people would normally ! say it. A: Yeah, instead of thinking in English... S: Exactly. A: Um, and then do you do anything besides just use the feedback to help ! improve it (the writing) I guess you can’t actually come here (center for ! world languages and cultures) because you work here, but is there anything ! else you use as a resource?S: Um, there’s actually a really good translation website that I found online and it’s called ! The Grand Robert Collins Dictionary and um it’s really good at the expressions in ! a language because often like google translate, or one of the other more basic ! translators, they don’t really help you with the expressions or more complex ideas ! and things like that. So that helps a lot, there’s really no other way to find those ! things out. So... A: And it’s a good way just to check yourself, I mean, it’s not like you’re ! looking up the whole thing. S: Right, exactly. A: And then, have you found yourself doing any types of writing for those classes ! that you wouldn’t have expected, going into them? S: Ummm, not really, I mean with Fred, she stays pretty consistent in all her classes and I ! think I just got used to the expectations from her. Um I guess in my translation ! class we do have, we’ll have to translate like a literary passage, or an article, or ! something. Sometimes the content is a little surprising just because we don’t ! really have a theme for the kinds of works that we’re translating. So it could be ! something from the eighteen hundreds, it could be something posted a week ! ago ... !it just depends. A: Interesting, and have you had to do any research for any of your classes at ! all?S: Um, not really, pretty much everything is in the text that we do, I mean if I refer to ! the text that’ll be like as far as I’ll go with it, so...

First Year and Incoming French Majors,

While you may have seen a lot of great and informative things about your (potential)

major thus far, you may have also run into the same problems that I encountered during my

research. There is a disconnect between what many students like you and me know we can do

with a French major, and what we can actually do once we’ve graduate with a degree in French.

What are some possible career paths? What are good jobs that will require us to use our

knowledge of French? There are many real-world applications of French, but where are the

career-specific applications? Yes, one of the wonderful things about this major is that it can be so

open ended, that we can go on to do anything we want, but there are many students, including

myself, who, at the age of only 18 or so, don’t know exactly what they want to do with their

lives. A little direction to inform them of how they can use their skills from this major, and

giving them an ideas for potential career paths to explore could really make a difference. Giving

students like you and me in the French major informed answers to the question of what we can

do with that major will help to lessen the stereotypes that languages, philosophy, art and other

humanities make students unemployable and are therefore unpractical.

When I told my parents that I wanted to major in French, they were supportive and said,

‘it’s wonderful to do something you’re passionate about, just make sure you’ll get a double major

in another more practical subject so you can get a job.’ I’m willing to bet that many other French

majors have heard a similar sort of argument at one point. However, this is not a strong argument

because it is built off of ignorance. As soon as students can be provided with legitimate

information to counter the skeptics, the argument will disappear.

May 9th, 2013

Let’s make a change. Let’s make career options and information available and discussed

in the same ways that they are in other majors. There are a plethora of careers out there that

require strong French skills, the problem is that they are not advertised. The problem can be

addressed very simply or on a larger scale. It could be as easy as creating posters of potential

careers and putting them up in the AHSS building or as involved as creating a career fair for

language majors. Once in my Algebra II class in high school I saw a poster that had pictures of

the many different careers that used math on a day-to-day basis. Why couldn’t we as students

along with professors and administrators create something like that for French? *

Some professors might argue that providing direction like this could limit the openness of

the discipline. That in seeing the examples, students like us may think those are our only options

and that therefore we will be discouraged from perusing a degree in French. I think that this way

of thinking severely underestimates the students. After all, in other majors where there is much

more direction and career information to be found there is still a large range in what the students

go on to do with their lives. The bottom line is to inform language majors that there are

legitimate options that take advantage of our language skills in a practical way that will enable

us to earn a living.

Also providing information about what other areas of study work well with French, and

what careers could be reached by those combinations, can help students to find a job that will

take full advantage of all their areas of study and expertise. Providing this information early on

can help us be sure that this is the right discipline for us. Moreover, if we have more of an idea

of where our careers might be headed we’ll have a better idea of what kinds of writing we’ll

want to focus on and can deliberately choose to take certain classes within the major.

May 9th, 2013

*An example of which can be seen on the cover of this magazine

As a first year French student myself, I know that information like this would really help

me to feel more at ease. I would be able to form more concrete goals rather then just ‘yeah I like

the subject, but I have no clue what I’m going to do with it.’ French majors need some direction

towards potential career paths so we can take full advantage of our education. All we need is a

little availability of information. So, it’s up to us French majors to make it known to the

administration and to our professors that this is an area that can be improved upon. We can talk

to them, email them, and go to their office hours. The more of us act, the more they will realize

this is a legitimate concern that requires action.

May 9th, 2013

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Chevillot, Frédérique. “French 2400: Composition & Conversation.” University of Denver, 2013.

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Chevillot, Frédérique. “Introduction à la Littérature en Français.” University of Denver, 2013.

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Chevillot, Frédérique. "Professional Interview." Personal interview. 4 Apr. 2013.

Footprint. N.d. FOOTPRINT :: Functional Tools for Pesticide Risk Assessment and

Management. European Commission, 2009. Web. 23 May 2013.

Karberg, Sascha. "German Lang. Media: Fingerprints, Flaws, Judges and Journalists." Knight

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Pokerman. Carbon footprints measure the amount of CO2 you produce in your daily life.

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