French PhD program - classes in English?

[fleur30]

Hi all,

So I have a question that I never imagined I'd be asking, but here we are.  I was accepted to a top state university for a PhD in French after earning my MA elsewhere. The funding is incredible, higher than some ivies I considered. The people are great, the town is fun and growing, so I was thrilled.  When I visited the campus in April, my only qualm was that the two classes I visited were taught in English, so during my visit, I asked the grad advisor if this was an anomaly. She assured me that it was and that most of the coursework would indeed be in French.

Fast forward to me starting my program, and the French dept courses I'm in are being taught in English The readings are mostly in French but many people just revert to the English translations, when available, for the sake of efficacy. This has really shocked me, considering that my MA was at a much lower ranked school and the coursework was almost exclusively in French. Not to mention that the other French PhD students at my current school are accomplished and fully bilingual like me...  The only answer I can think of is that there are some comp lit students in those French classes, but shouldn't they be able to speak at least decently in French if they are theoretically expected to do the readings in that language? Theory can be a bit hard to translate, so I get that, but we're even talking about primary texts in English and it feels completely absurd.

I feel a little ungrateful since there are great things about the school and they clearly really want me here, but I also love speaking French and I'm wondering if anyone who's been in a PhD program elsewhere can confirm whether this is a normal language dynamic for PhD programs in French in the US.

Thanks for any help you can give.

[knp]

Yes, this does happen. I don't really have a sense of how common it is—I come to this through doing studies of a world region that was once colonized by the French, and thus having some anecdotes from friends in French PhD programs, so I'm not the most authoritative source—but I know that both all-French PhDs and mostly-English "French" PhDs are cultures that exist in French departments in the United States. Who are the people who are reverting to the translations? Are they the comp lit students, or are the PhD students doing this? What do the other French PhDs think of this? If you can find allies in a small class, maybe you can pull some of your coursework back more towards French. On the other hand, if this continues, that seems like a very good reason to transfer. I am sorry.

[ThousandsHardships]

I did my M.A. in French, and yes, the majority of my classes were in English, although there was a fair bit of code-switching going on. The bottom line is that at the graduate level, you are expected to have mastered the language already. You are not there to learn or to practice a foreign language; you are there to analyze the literature. Whichever language allows you to best do this is the language that is used. For this reason, you will find that at a lot of schools, the native English-speaking professors generally hold class in English, while the native French-speaking professors will hold class in French, and they couldn't care less what language the students respond in. Typically the students contribute their original thoughts to a discussion in their own mother tongue, and everyone else naturally responds with that same language until another student switches back. I've also had professors who decide that we'd discuss English readings in English and French readings in French. Most scholars in the field in the U.S. do publish their works in English, so it makes sense to write seminar papers in English (if that happens to be your native language), and to discuss theory in English, especially if the theorist is not originally French.

With regards to students resorting to translations, I haven't seen this done all that much, at least not with the students within our own department. Occasionally we'd get a student or two from other graduate groups who do need translations, but the translation is only a resource, and sometimes it's actually quite cool to hear the differences. It's usually up to the professor as to whether or not they accept students with subpar language skills into the class. There are pros and cons either way. I too love using my French and would love to use it in my classes, but sometimes these students from other literature programs or programs in history or philosophy can get a lot out of the class, and their intellectual merit can be of great value to all of us. Therefore, I don't think it's the best idea to always exclude them based solely on their language skills.

[xypathos]

In my undergrad at least, once you were past learning the language and into literature and culture classes, they were all in English. The PhD students at Vanderbilt that I knew doing work in French and Spanish - all of their courses were in English as well - granted of course, this doesn't mean that all of the courses in the department were like that.

[Soleil ت]

This blows my mind, to be honest. My MA program was exclusively in French. If you spoke English, they would redirect you to French. I can certainly understand your frustration. Yes, you are expected to speak the language by that point, but why not then use and maintain it? Baffling. Anyway, perhaps you could contribute your ideas in French? That may encourage others to respond to you in French and to provide their own contributions in French, as well. 

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Thanks for the heads-up, I will certainly keep this in mind as I accept offers of admission next year.

It's odd that people mention that happening in undergraduate, because it certainly wasn't the case at all at my college. The first day, when the syllabus is read, would be taught in English, but onwards it would be just French, and that helped my French A LOT. A professor who is not willing to teach language and literature in the language (beyond the introductory courses) would not sit well with me.