A couple weeks ago, the French Department held an information session on the French major and minor, and it lead me to reflect on how I’ve been maintaining my French skills this semester. As a French major myself, I relied on French classes to improve and maintain my French proficiency over my college career so that when I finished all my major requirements, I was faced with the task of maintaining my French level outside of academic classes.
One option to help with language maintenance is La Table française. This is an informal French conversation practice that the French department provides. At La Table, students can practice their French conversation skills twice a week over a meal with each other. Typically lower level French students are required to go but it’s open to anyone who wants to practice! I went to the La Table several times last semester because my friend, who is also a French major, lead one of the days, and it was a fun way to talk about the latest social media trends, everyday life, and goings-on around campus with students I would otherwise never meet. After all, isn’t it more fun to practice French by sharing what’s on our TikTok For You Pages with each other?
Another option with French maintenance is visiting professors’ office hours. Admittedly, I did not do this. Instead I found other ways to implement French in my daily activities. Simple things like turning the language of my electronic devices into French is a very easy way to reinforce the presence of French. Plus, it’s a practical way of learning technical and digital vocabulary. When I’m taking breaks from school work, I like scrolling through TikTok and Youtube, thus it’s a perfect excuse to find content in French related to what I normally would watch on these platforms. Learning about French equivalents to English slang, the restaurant scene in Paris, and French beauty content are some of the things I’ll watch. As someone who also listens to podcasts and music, listening to French podcasts episodes and songs have also been an avenue to practice my French listening skills. I’ve enjoyed podcasts from Binge Audio and Nouvelles Écoutes particularly Les Couilles sur la table (which is about masculinity) and Bouffons (which is about food) from those companies respectively. If I really want to procrastinate on work, I’ll watch some reality TV like The Circle France or Nailed It! France to get a good sense of informal conversational French flow or I’ll watch beloved animated shows like Pokemon or Avatar the Last Bender dubbed in French to see linguistic differences from the English versions I’ve watched. Lastly, to practice my French reading skills, I’ll read French news from Le Monde, France 24 or France Info. This is all to say that the language you learn in class doesn’t have to remain as an academic subject, it can have practical application in one’s everyday life!
My experience with the French department at Bryn Mawr has given me a comprehensive understanding of the francophone world with courses that focused on various geographic locations (France, the Carribbean, North Africa), and time periods (from medieval age all the way to the 20th century). Furthermore, as someone who took the transdisciplinary track within the French major, I had flexibility in taking classes outside of the department that could still count towards my major. Some of my French classes also introduced me to various musicians and filmmakers in the francophone world that it set me off on going through rabbit holes to find more music and media to listen to often. Some favorites from these classes include Les Silences du palais (Moufida Tlatli, 1994) and Belgian singer Angèle.
If you’re interested in learning more about the French major at Bryn Mawr, check out the French department’s official Instagram account @pensez_francais to get up to date information on events!