BA French and Portuguese / Course details

French

• Over 70% of our staff are native speakers, teaching you in French in 'language' classes as well as most 'culture' classes.
• You will experience between 3 and 6 hours of French grammar and conversation every week (at post A-Level or beginners' level), in order to reach near-native precision and fluency. This will run in parallel with optional course units on French and Francophone history, politics, literature, popular culture and/or linguistics, from the Early Modern period to the present.
• You will benefit from our long-established partnership with the Alliance Française de Manchester with cultural events throughout the year, such as film screenings, talks, plays, concerts, exhibitions and intensive language classes.
• You will also benefit from our collaboration with the Institut de Touraine in the Loire Valley, which hosts Easter and Summer French language classes that are appropriate for anyone from beginners to finalists.
• Our range and quality of courses are regularly cited for praise by external examiners and three colleagues have won University Teaching Excellence Awards. Portuguese You will study both European and Brazilian

Portuguese.

• You will also explore a range of options in areas such as contemporary culture, colonialism, literature and cinema from Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique and Angola.
• You will be taught by language tutors who are native speakers of Portuguese with specific training and, as a result both your written and your oral work will be enhanced by constant exposure to accurate, idiomatic, and documented language.
• Cultural content courses are led by academic staff with broad expertise and who publish widely in their field
• You will benefit from outstanding resources, including world-leading collections on Lusophone Africa within the library, and access to hundreds of films and texts on Portugal and Brazil.
• You will also benefit from us working closely with the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

• Provides you with a comprehensive grounding in the language, literature, culture, history and linguistics of the French and Portuguese-speaking worlds. 
• Equip you with the skills in both languages to live and work effectively in French- and Portuguese-speaking countries.

Collaborations and partnerships  

The University has links with language and cultural institutions across the city, including:  

• Portuguese Consulate General in Mancheseter – the official representation of Portugal in Manchester organises a number of cultural activities every year;
• HOME - international and contemporary art, theatre and film;
• Alliance Française - home of French language and culture. 

Residence abroad 

You can study and/or work for up to a year in a country or countries relevant to your chosen language(s) to improve your communicative language skills in a native-speaker environment. 

Societies   

Join the Francophone Society and benefit from French classes, discussion groups, cheese and wine nights, film screenings, themed socials, and a yearly trip to Paris.  

You can also join the Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies Student Society and enjoy a wide range of cultural events and activities.  

The University is home to over 30 international and language-related student societies offering a breadth of cultural activities and experiences.

You'll learn through a mixture of formal lectures, seminars and tutorials, spending approximately 12 hours a week in formal study sessions. 

For every hour of university study, you will be expected to complete a further 2-3 hours of independent study.

You will also need to study during the holiday periods. 

The individual study component could be spent reading, producing written work, revising for examinations or working in the University's Language Centre .

You will be assessed in various ways, including:  

• written and oral examinations; 
• presentations; 
• coursework (which may include library research, linguistic fieldwork and data collection, or web-based research); 
• in your final year, a dissertation based on a research topic of your choice.  

Assessment methods vary from course unit to course unit - see individual course unit listings for more information.

The University Language Centre is home to language resources, including a new interpreting suite, purpose-built recording rooms, and resources for more than 70 languages.  

The Centre also offers multilingual word processing, language learning software, off-air recording and AV duplication, multilingual terrestrial and satellite TV, and extensive support and advice for learners.  

Learn more at facilities