Bachelor's Degree in French and Romance Languages and Letters

 Daytime Programme    180 credits   3 years
 European Qualifications Framework (EQF): Level 6 
 Internship: no  Final assignment: no   Exchange Programmes: yes

‘French and Romance Languages and Letters’ at Saint-Louis involves the in-depth study of the French language. The programme shows a willingness to study the French language in its native language form, not as learned language: Romance languages are not a subdivision of "modern languages" next to Germanic or Slavic languages.

Following an interdisciplinary approach, the courses of this option aim to develop knowledge and awareness of the language as such, but in particular as a breeding ground conveying a history, a culture, political and social points of view, and more broadly, as understanding of the world and of contemporary society, as a specific delimitation of the field of knowledge.

The programme is a balanced combination of two disciplinary aspects, inseparable and complementary: the linguistic dimension and the literary dimension to approach the language as a whole. Therefore the course includes history of the language lessons (today's French, the French of yesterday, from its Latin origins), entwined with history of French literature courses set in the European literary context, study and practice of the language (language courses, mastery of oral and written expression) mixed with literary analysis courses (interpretation of the great authors, analysis of the various critical approaches, detailed analysis of texts). In the Romance perspective, the study of French is combined with the study of another Romance language and literature: Spanish, Italian, or both (this option is specific to Saint-Louis).

The bachelor in French and Romance Languages and Letters is a first cycle programme (a so-called "transition" bachelor), which comprises 180 credits. It provides a preparation for several second cycle programmes (Master’s degree) in the same orientation that our students can follow at another university, but also to several master's degrees for which there are "bridges".

The courses of the programme are divided into two sections: a “major” that represents the core of the programme and consists of a set of courses designed to provide a fundamental training and a specialised training, and a “minor”: a set of optional courses.

• The programme of the “major” is shared by all students enrolled in French and Romance Languages and Letters. It consists of general courses that provide a solid training in human sciences: philosophy, history and historical criticism, as well as art history, comparative literature etc. These courses are mainly taught in the first year, the objective being to establish from the start a broad interdisciplinary platform for all students, and also to enable students to switch to a different programme from their second year if they wish.

• As for the specialised training in French and Romance language and Letters, it includes many different and complementary courses that revolve around four themes:

1. a literary component, including: history of French literature, comparative literature, ancient, modern and contemporary French authors, text analysis, theory of literature, Latin authors ...
2. a linguistic component, including: how language functions, study of contemporary French, grammar, origin and evolution of the French language, comparison of French with other Romance languages ...
3. another Romance language and literature (Italian or Spanish)
4. theory and philosophy of literature.

• Students can also incorporate a minor in their main programme. At Saint-Louis a minor comprises a coherent selection of optional courses that enables students to broaden the academic scope of their studies by including another discipline. Students may choose from the following minors: history, information and communication, philosophy, European studies, Romance languages - Italian or Spanish - or multidisciplinary. (Students who want to study both Italian and Spanish do not have to select a minor, as learning a third language is equivalent to a minor.)