Program Overview

French

Program Type: Major, Minor

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department: French and Italian

We offer beginning and intermediate language courses in French and Italian, supported by an extensive and distinctive curriculum of courses based on literary texts, film, and cultural and historical documents, and other media.

Why Study French at Oberlin?

Associated Faculty

Language Learning Centers

Study Away Programs

students gathered around table eating breakfast — Having breakfast in La Maison Francophone is one of the many ways students who study French have opportunities to speak the language. Photo credit: Courtesy of Bailey House

La Maison Francophone

La Maison Francophone, also known as Bailey House, is a coed residence for about 30 students, a French-speaking faculty member, and two graduate assistants from France. Founded in 1927, it is one of the oldest language-based program houses in the United States. Here students learn and speak the language, have meals together, and engage in social activities.

Sample Courses

FREN 101 - Francais elementaire I 4 credits
FREN 301 - Expression orale et ecrite 4 credits
FREN 376 - La France Moderne: Histoire, Societe, Culture 4 credits
FREN 320 - French Cinema: from the National to the Global 4 credits

Curriculum and requirements

French Faculty

Our faculty has specialties in French language, cinema, literature, cultural history of the 19th and 20th centuries, linguistics, French theater, and the Enlightenment period.

Explore Faculty within French

“At all levels, my goal is the same: To help, challenge, coach, provoke, inspire, and collaborate with Oberlin students in their acquisition of the French language and their exploration of the multifaceted, storied culture that French has always carried with it, in metropolitan France and in many corners of the world.”
Matthew Senior, Chair, Department of French and Italian

See Profile