Grammar, idioms, and vocabulary; practice in translating moderately difficult technical and non-technical French. Intended to assist graduate students to satisfy reading knowledge requirement but does not carry graduate credit. Not to be used to satisfy undergraduate language requirement. Not open to French majors.
Athena Title
French for Reading Knowledge
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in FREN 2500E
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will demonstrate the ability to read and analyze moderately complex French texts, including scholarly articles, literary works, and specialized documents.
Students will produce accurate and nuanced translations of French texts, preserving the original tone, style, and context.
Students will compare competing translations of French texts, evaluating the effectiveness and accuracy of different translation approaches.
Students will identify and interpret grammatical structures in French, applying this knowledge to enhance reading and translation skills.
Topical Outline
Translation of French of increasing difficulty, ranging from
individual words to sentences, to passages taken from
literature, the social sciences and the physical sciences. As
the course progresses, different features of the French language
are taught: cognates and "false friends," gender and number of
nouns and adjectives, verbs (conjugations and tense systems,
especially methods of tense recognition), different structures
of negation, interrogation, and subordination. By the end of
the course, students translate moderately-difficult passages of
authentic French.
