School of Humanities, Languages, & Social Sciences

French Studies

French is an official language for over 140 million people, and remains an important second language for millions more all over the world. It is one of the key languages of regional and international institutions of the European Union and the United Nations.

Francophone culture, which includes the literatures of Quebec, Francophone Africa, and the French West Indies, is one of the most vibrant and French thought has had a profound influence on the humanities and social sciences.

French has been taught at the University of Salford for over 30 years with particular focus on written and oral competence for high-level communication. Language study can be combined with the study of other languages, or with specialisms such as Translation and Interpreting, Linguistics and Politics. It is also taught with non-language subjects.

French is taught from beginners level to master’s level. Our staff include nationally and internationally recognised researchers and practitioners in areas such as translation and interpreting, and can therefore bring cutting edge research and practice to their teaching and supervision.

Courses

You can combine the study of French with translation and interpreting, linguistics and/or politics modules, and English language and linguistics (UWLP programme).

The School houses a Language Resource Centre, offering a variety of multimedia language-learning support materials.

Residence Abroad

Students spend either 6 months or an academic year in a French-speaking country (depending on the course) in a variety of academic or work placements.

Work placements include working in translation companies, teaching English as a foreign language, working in administrative posts in companies and universities, etc.

Research

Our staff and postgraduate research students are members of the Centre for Translation and Interpreting, the Centre for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, the Centre for European Security and the Centre for Social Research within the School of Humanities, Languages & Social Sciences. Research interests are in Translation and Interpreting Studies; French language pedagogy; French linguistics; French history and politics, and French social policy.

Staff

Marlène Bichet
Graduate Teaching Assistant in French
Research: Translation Studies (the translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s work)

Jérôme Devaux, Lecturer in French
Research: Interpreting Studies; the role of the interpreter; interpreting and new technologies
Teaching: conference interpreting; business interpreting and translation (English into French); research methods; French language (written language and grammar).
j.devaux@salford.ac.uk

Jocelyn Evans, Professor of Politics
Research: French elections and political parties; parties of the Extreme Right; quantitative methods; electoral forecasting
Blog: 500signatures.com
Twitter: @JocelynAJEvans
j.a.evans@salford.ac.uk

Professor Abigail Gregory, Professor of Comparative Sociology
Research: gender, work and employment in contemporary France.
Teaching: French language, translation and society.
a.gregory@salford.ac.uk

Dr Kim Langtree
Part-time lecturer in French translation and interpreting

Professor Paul Rowlett, Professor of French Language and Linguistics
Research: Syntactic theory; the linguistics of French
p.a.rowlett@salford.ac.uk

Professor Myriam Salama-Carr, Professor of Translation Studies
Research: Translation Studies; History of Translation; the translation of scientific discourse
Teaching: Translation English into French; translation studies; research methods
m.l.carr@salford.ac.uk