My name is Fiona Astle, and I’m a sophomore majoring in French. I decided to major in French because I fell in love with the language and culture at a very young age when I started learning French in middle school. My major focuses on both speaking and writing as well as grammar. So far, I’ve learned how to properly use certain verb tenses such as the subjunctive and passé simple as well as how to have a conversation with a native speaker. My favourite class so far would have to be FRN 201 because I really enjoyed the project we had at the end of the semester. We had to recreate a scene from a film we watched in class called, Liasons. In the film, a young woman meets a mysterious man who she follows to Paris. I got to work with a bunch of my friends from the class, and we had a lot of fun filming and writing the script. Both our class and our professor also loved it.
I haven’t studied abroad at MSU yet, but I definitely would like to! However, I did go to France during spring break in high school with my French class. We stayed with a host family for a week in Paris and the last three days in Nice. We traveled around Paris and got to see many famous sites such as Notre Dame, L’arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower. It was an absolutely amazing experience which I’d gladly do again. If anyone is interested in getting involved in French on campus, there’s the MSU French Club which meets every Monday at 5:30 in B106 Wells. We have conversation hour, French culture events, and many more.
After graduation, I plan to get a masters in translation. My advice to incoming Freshman French majors is to talk to your professors if there’s anything in the course, such as a certain grammatical concept, that you’re struggling with. It’s important to remember that learning a language isn’t always easy and there will be times where you may struggle with vocabulary or grammar, but that’s okay. If you keep at it, with time and practice you can achieve anything. Also, be sure to take care of yourself. Your health will be reflected in your academics.