French as part of a BA

Mc12345

Hey! Could anyone give me a bit of insight into how easy/difficult French is as part of a BA and what's involved ? Really unsure about whether to pick it or not. Thanks!

LoneWolf123

So in 1st year, you have 6 hours a week. In semester 1 you have 3 language classes, a culture/media lecture, a Significant events lecture and 1 tutorial. In the second semester,the culture/media lecture changes to a literature lecture.

So, the language classes cover the main tenses that you learned in secondary school, as well as the subjunctive, the pronouns, adjectives, adverbs and more. There are tests every 3 weeks and although there is no big Christmas exam, you do have a 2 hour exam in summer, as well as an oral and a 1 hour grammar exam at the end of semester 2. Generally, if you did well in French at school, you should fly through these classes. There is an option to do the classes through Irish also and even if you hated Irish at school, I would strongly recommend doing them through Irish because the class is very small and there is an unreal atmosphere in them!!

In the culture/media lecture in semester one, you get a brief introduction into the importance of culture in France. You focus on 5 areas, poetry, prose, theatre, drama and sport and basically you just learn about how the French had huge roles to play in all of these areas and how they re-invented their culture/identity after World War 2. That probably sounds really confusing and scary but it's actually a lovely module. It's examined by a small in-class essay at the end of semester 1. You also learn about the French media in this module. You learn about the different French TV and radio stations and how they developed, which I thought was quite interesting. The media part of the module is examined by an MCQ at the end of semester 1.

The Significant Events lectures run through semester 1 and semester 2. Basically, you just learn about important events and people in French history. It's a very interesting module, I found!

In Semester 2, you do a literature module. For the first six weeks of the module, you do a short novel which is assessed by an essay. In the second six weeks, you learn about French multiculturalism, which is just how immigrants integrate into French society. Some of them feel welcome, some don't. This part is assessed by an in-class exam. Most people struggled with the literature module in my year. I think you need to have gotten at least a B2 to do well in it.

The tutorials run throughout the year and cover everything you do in the culture/media and literature modules. They also help you with your pronunciation.

The good thing about first year is it's taught almost entirely through English, which helps a lot to settle you in!

There's a big jump in standard for second and final year. Everything is taught through French and there is more of a focus on literature and culture than language. From what I've heard (I'm only going into second year now) you need to have a good level of French to do well in these years.

You do get to go abroad in 3rd year though which will increase your level of French a lot and help grow your interest in the language.

If you have anymore questions about French, I would be happy to answer them!

Charizard

Language related but not French, anyone any insight to Spanish as part of BA

jacknuig

Charizard wrote: »

Language related but not French, anyone any insight to Spanish as part of BA

Not too sure myself, but I know a few mates doing Spainish in BA. I know 70% failed in first year first semester exam in Spanish (that was the exam, not the module). I was also told there's two lecturers, one was great, the other terrible. And I know you have an option to go on ERASMUS to Spain!

The little I know of CA is that you translate essays and obviously there's always an oral exam.

jacknuig

Charizard wrote: »

Language related but not French, anyone any insight to Spanish as part of BA

Not too sure myself, but I know a few mates doing Spainish in BA. I know 70% failed in first year first semester exam in Spanish (that was the exam, not the module). I was also told there's two lecturers, one was great, the other terrible. And I know you have an option to go on ERASMUS to Spain!

The little I know of CA is that you translate essays and obviously there's always an oral exam. Very similar by the sounds of it to the above post! My friends enjoyed Spamish but one, I think dropped it as he found the lecturer awful.

Charizard

jacknuig wrote: »

Not too sure myself, but I know a few mates doing Spainish in BA. I know 70% failed in first year first semester exam in Spanish (that was the exam, not the module). I was also told there's two lecturers, one was great, the other terrible. And I know you have an option to go on ERASMUS to Spain!

The little I know of CA is that you translate essays and obviously there's always an oral exam. Very similar by the sounds of it to the above post! My friends enjoyed Spamish but one, I think dropped it as he found the lecturer awful.

I heard Spanish is beginner level, would you have any info on this

jacknuig

Charizard wrote: »

I heard Spanish is beginner level, would you have any info on this

They certainly don't expect you to be fluent! Very sure they start from a beginner level, but the lectures are meant to be fast paced. One of my friends only picked up Spanish when he came to NUIG, he did fairly well in the exam! Saying that, it'd be up to you to catch up with the other students (who probably studied Spanish previously). Another friend who went to Spain only became fluent after he spent the whole of his third year there, so in other words, based on my friends, you have plenty of time to learn the language!