Well, I’m two weeks into my classes. I’d forgotten how much work being a student is! I’m just glad that I don’t have to be concerned about grades.
The business French (Français des Affaires) course is particularly serious. The professor, Mme Sainlos, is very geared toward making sure that we can pass the DFA1 exam offered in at the end of the term. The DFA (Diplôme de Français des Affaires) is offered by the Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie de Paris to certify French fluency. The written exam has two main components: writing letters and writing résumés (which in the case of business French means summaries), and so our Tuesday meetings are mostly given over to résumés, while on Thursdays we work on letters. The oral exam similarly has two main components: providing an oral summary in French of an article written in our native language and mounting an argument for (or against) an idea presented in an article written in French. And so part of our course work will also include such presentations. Next Thursday (yes, already), it’ll be my turn to argue. I have an article entitled "Le tourism s’invente de nouveaux guides" ("Tourism invents new guides"). I’m charged with outlining the advantages and limits of this new approach and advancing my own opinion.
We also have work in small groups: in groups of two or three, we’re researching different French companies and will be presenting our findings to the class. I’m working with one other student on Air France; our rough outline includes the history of Air France, their alliance with other airlines, objectives, activities, and balance sheet.
And while all of this is going on, we’re learning French business vocabulary, which is particularly tricky, since some fairly simple words have very specific meanings when they’re used in a business context. And of course those very specific meanings are not addressed in our little pocket dictionaries.
Unlike the general French course, most of the 12 of us are non-Americans with French spouses. Only three of us are Americans.
