French Language and Literature

This programme is accredited in Czech and requires students to have a native-speaker or C1 knowledge of Czech or Slovak.

The criteria for admission for studies are the results of the Field of Study Examination. The Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University disregards the results of SCIO National Comparative Examinations.

You can file your e-applications for studies from 1 November to 28 February.
Field of Study Examinations will be held from 21 April to 24 April.
The date and time of the examination will be stated in the electronic invitation for the examination, which will be uploaded to your e-application. The faculty will not be sending paper invitations. Applicants applying for the major study plan and minor study plan in a combined study must comply with the conditions for admission into both plans.

Learning Potential Test (TSP)

For admission for studies in this degree programme, you do not need to take the TSP.

Field of Study Examination

This examination is intended to check the applicants’ knowledge of the given field of study. This is done in the form of a motivation letter and oral interview.
Basic description of the Field of Study Examination:
The motivation letter must be written in French and the applicant will explain why they want to study French language and literature, why Masaryk University, and what are their plans after the completion of their Bachelor’s studies. Upload the motivation letter in PDF format directly to your e-application, in the section Příloha 2, no later than by 15 March.
The oral interview will be conducted in French. The level of language, language certificates, cultural overview, and orientation towards the current politics and events in the largest French-speaking countries will be subject to evaluation.

Admission without the entrance examination

You may be exempt from the entrance examination based on at least one of the following criteria:

1. secondary school results from profile subjects of Czech (Slovak) language; history or basics of social sciences; French, English;
2. certificate of participation in French language competition(s);
3. certificates TCF B1 / DELF B1 / CEFP 2, TCD B2 / DELF B2 or higher (C1).

Secondary school results may be applied for an exemption from the entrance examination by those applicants whose average grade was 1.5 or higher in each of the four profile subjects. The total average result in all subjects is not taken into consideration. Secondary school seminars are also disregarded. The average grade of each profile subject is calculated based on the results of the last four years of study in the following way: the mid-year grade is calculated from the final year, whereas the final grades are calculated from the previous three years. It is also necessary that applicants have studied each of the profile subjects for at least two years during the last four years.
Enter your grades in your e-application. Then print the grades out and let your secondary school certify them with a stamp and a signature. Upload the scan of the certified grades into your e-application. You can also upload officially certified school reports or any other documents certifying your school results.
Please upload the officially certified documents directly to your e-application in the section Application for the Exemption from the Entrance Examination no later than 28 February.

• Total maximum number of points for the motivation letter: 100
• Limit for successfully passing the written exam - motivation letter: 50

All applicants who will gain 50 or more points for the motivation letter will be invited to the oral interview.

• Total maximum number of points for the oral interview: 100
• Limit for successfully passing the oral interview: 50

Applicants will be sorted into the final admission order based on the evaluation of the oral interview.

Studying the French language and its literature opens the door for students to understand the multicultural Francophone world. They can go on to master French; become familiar with the Francophone cultures of Europe, North America, and Africa; and understand their cultural contexts and ties. Beside acquiring knowledge of the practical language and specialized linguistic disciplines, such as phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax, students will learn about the history, culture, basic facts, lifestyles, institutions, and literatures not only of France and Canada but also of the Maghreb, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Caribbean.

Studying French will, on one hand, improve students' linguistic knowledge of the skills required in fields based on communication and communication technologies, such as translation or public service, while on the other it will build analytical capabilities, independence, and creativity.

Through a systematic training in connection with practical language, specialized linguistics, and literature, students will master the main principles of a cultivated written and spoken style in both French and Czech.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• communicate in spoken and written French on C1 level according to CEFR
• perform linguistic analyses of texts, at all fundamental linguistic levels and based on knowledge in selected branches of linguistics
• analyze a literary text
• critically address literary history in basic interdisciplinary and cultural contexts
• translate from French into Czech and vice versa

Graduates of this programme have the knowledge and skills to be able to perform independent work in intercultural communication, in internal and external company communication, in cultural institutions, as editors in translation agencies and translation sections of national and international institutions and companies, and as editors in the media and publishing houses. In all of these fields, they will be able to apply their linguistic competence and knowledge of a different cultural milieu.

A standard length of a Bachelor's thesis ranges from 72,000 to 90,000 characters, including footnotes, cover sheet, content, index, and bibliography. Students can work with already published texts, although they must approach them in an analytic and critical way in order to express their own comments, opinions, and conclusions. These are to be written in French so as to demonstrate the student's capability to work with sources and to communicate in an appropriate and cultivated way, without errors.

Graduates of the Bachelor's programme may subsequently continue in any related Master's programme (after fulfilling the conditions for admission).