6 Reasons Why Studying French At UVic Is The Future

Parlez-vous français? Maybe not fluently yet, but did you know that French is spoken by around three hundred million people?! So there have to be a few reasons why it’s worth learning, especially chez nous at UVic! Here are my top 6 reasons why I think learning French at UVic is a worthy initiative.

Reason #1: Youth bilingualism in Canada is increasing!

1 in almost 5 young people in Canada can speak both official languages. Youth bilingualism in Canada is totally en mode, because it’s been on the rise in the past 10 years! You might become one of them and be among the more than 300 thousand in BC who speak the language of Molière.

Reason #2: French culture knows no borders

Learning French can give you a whole new perspective on being a global citizen!
Photo by Nejc Soklič on Unsplash

What do Vietnam, Lebanon, and Belgium have in common? They are all part of the francophonie, or the French-speaking world!

Learning French means you can find new books, movies, or music that you can fall in love with just like with your own language, with flair from cultures all over the world!

UVic even offers classes like FRAN336: Québec and Francophone Cinema or FRAN265: Global French Connections for a deep cultural exploration of French and French cultures.

Reason #3: Oh, the places you’ll go (on exchange!)

If you’re looking for somewhere that will give you opportunities to immerse yourself in French cultures all around the world, look no further than UVic’s partnerships on exchange with 11 French-speaking institutions in 3 countries, where you can do a semester or a year abroad and the best part is that tuition is the exact same as here at home!

There are also opportunities to have 3 month field school experiences between Victoria and Paris, and our world-class co-op program can help you go abroad and find life-changing work experiences wherever the world calls you.

French unlocks doors to understanding the history of Canada, in places like at the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City!

Reason #4: French is the future of the economy

Some of the world’s fastest-growing economies are located in French-speaking Africa, in countries like Senegal, Niger, Guinea, and Morocco. For those who are economically savvy, having connections in some of these economies can be very important.

There’s no better connection than being able to speak the language of the future. Even if you don’t err on the side of being a French major, picking up a language can open doors in networking, too!

Reason #5: Pick up other languages easily

If you have a flavour for the world and are a bit intimidated by the thought of needing to study every language in the world in order to be able to communicate if you want to travel or make friends from other cultures, don’t fear: studying French can open many doors in terms of learning other European languages!

French belongs to the same language family as Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian, which means that you could potentially be able to speak with more than a BILLION people in the world! But if you want to stick to speaking French, you’re in luck – there are French communities found on every continent, even Antarctica!

The French Undergrads (FUN)’s Soirée jeux de société, our board game night when we played Apples to Apples, en français of course!

Reason #6: Small program, big heart

UVic’s French program has 12 professors and instructors and I belong in a cohort of around 25-30 people. Our small size means that we have become really close and that help is always available wherever we need it.

I love how my professors know who I am and how their doors are always open. And just like every program, it is very encouraging to study what I love with a group of people who love the same thing too. It’s the camaraderie of it all!

I can talk on and on about why I love learning French, especially at UVic because it has a certain… je ne sais quoi. The community, the engagement, the support I get is unreal. Learn more about the Department of French on their website!

Have you learnt another language? What tips and tricks would you give to anyone learning a second (or third, or fourth) language?