Why learn FRENCH ?
… some facts and figures…
Did you know French is a world language ?
Some figures
 In the world, 200 000 000 people speak
French.
 French is spoken on the 5 continents and
is an official language in 32 countries.
 French is the third language of the Web
after English and German.
Did you know French is a working language in
many organisations ?
 United Nations Secretariat, the WHO, the
European Court of Justice
 the African Union, Interpol, the Red Cross
Amnesty International, Doctors/Lawyers without
Borders and Doctors of the World
UNESCO, NATO, European Council, the
OECD.
French is one of the main languages for
research.
 The first research institute in numbers of
publications is French: le Centre National de
la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).
Ranking from SCIMAGO of the world research institutes based on data
from Scopus (Elsevier). They used the quantity of publications as their
only criterion.
 France is 6th on a world wide scale for scientific
publications.
 France is 4th on the European scale for patents
and 8th on the American scale.
Publications
 Humanities and Social Sciences
Publication websites:
MEDICAL, SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY
research websites:
Why do King’s postgraduates study French ?
 Some words from supervisors:
“We have ongoing collaborations with research groups
in France and the student will be visiting their labs
during her PhD to learn and share techniques.”
Centre of Human and aerospace physiological Science
“Our student is working on continental philosophy
and sociology. He needs to have better knowledge
of French in order to read and comment on works of
Bourdieu, Foucault and others.”
Philosophy
“Some original books in Mathematics
are written in French. Therefore, the
ability to read French would be very
helpful for the student’s research.”
Informatics
“Our lab has links with several
French/French-speaking labs. So it is
likely that the student will go visit them
during his PhD to collaborate.”
Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics
“The student is researching in
the important field of regulation of
medical interventions, part of the
literature for which is published in
journals in French language.”
Law
“The important ESORICS
informatics security
conferences are held in
France and many of the
papers are given in
French.”
Informatics
What can you learn at the MLC ?
 The MLC offers all you need to progress in French :
 Assessed Modules, if you want to take French
classes as part of your curriculum
 Evening Classes
 Tailor made classes
 All of which from complete beginners to advanced
levels !
Do you want to be able to work in French?
We offer specialized French courses :
 French for Medics : This course prepares you for the “Diplôme de
Français Médical” delivered by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry
of Paris and provides you with a socio-cultural understanding of the
French healthcare system and the patient-doctor relationship in
France.
 Business French : All you need to know to understand and interact
with ‘le monde des affaires en français’. You are also prepared for the
‘Diplôme de Français des Affaires’ de la Chambre de Commerce de
Paris.
 Legal French : Intended for lawyers and law students, this course
also prepares you for the ‘Diplôme de Français Juridique’.
How will you learn?
A variety of teaching methods and methodologies are used in class
to ensure the development of communicative skills in a range of
social, educational and professional situations. Language
is taught in its social, political, cultural and historical contexts to
give it meaningful and real communicative value. Texts and
discourses are linked to cultural world views and linguistic
landscapes, and hence a variety of genres, registers and texts are
covered.
Do you want to spend extra hours on your
language skills ?
 The MLC offers top quality facilities.
 The Open Learning Centre (OLC)
Where you will find books, CDs, DVDs, magazines and
movies in French.
 The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
An e-learning environment for self study that you can
access anytime, anywhere as well as working at your
own pace.
So why wait to learn
French ?