GSUeagle Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4750 days ago 17 posts - 21 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French
| Message 1 of 6 28 May 2013 at 12:42am | IP Logged |
So, in the fall of 2014, when I graduate university, I want to go abroad and fortify my knowledge of French for 3-6 months. I have been looking at some intensive programs and haven't really made my mind up which one I would like to go for or even which country I would like to study in. Does anyone know of any good programs in France, Quebec, or North Africa?
Additionally, would it be better to study an intensive course or to just go to a country and live for a bit? I suppose my budget is somewhere between 10-15k, in US dollars.
My current level in French is about A2 after a few months of study, but I have C1 in Spanish (Thanks to a similar immersion experience in Mexico.) and think I should be able to get French up to conservatively at least B2 before leaving.
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Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5366 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian
| Message 2 of 6 28 May 2013 at 8:25pm | IP Logged |
If you are B2 by the time your trip comes, why not just scoot over to Québec and get a job for a while? I suspect you'll learn an awful lot more than if you just sat in a classroom with other non-natives for 10-15k. Find francophones looking for roommates, volunteer or work, meet people, learn about life, etc. Just don't make the mistake of hanging out in English-speaking social circles (if you stay in Montréal) or you will have wasted your time.
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GSUeagle Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4750 days ago 17 posts - 21 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French
| Message 3 of 6 28 May 2013 at 10:13pm | IP Logged |
My eventual goal is to immigrate to Quebec, so quebec is the obvious choice. I thought about trying to go and live there for a bit, but without working or studying it would be incredibly monotonous. Since I am an American, it seems hard to come across a temporary work visa. I don't want to go there and simply live life doing nothing for six months.
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Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6582 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish
| Message 4 of 6 29 May 2013 at 1:57am | IP Logged |
If that's your goal, definitely find an opportunity to go to Quebec!
You could try to find a USA-based job. Like working over the Internet or at a Canadian office of an American company. Or you could teach something privately and informally.
Edited by Serpent on 29 May 2013 at 2:01am
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Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4994 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 5 of 6 29 May 2013 at 4:07am | IP Logged |
That's strange that it is so difficult to get such a visa. Thanks God for the EU. I know
two people who went to work in Spain and Germany for a few months. They did some course
at least at the beginning as well but both profited much more from the work among the
natives.
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Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4994 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 6 of 6 29 May 2013 at 4:12am | IP Logged |
Or another thought. There are enterprises that take interns. It depends on what are you
studying but you might be lucky to find something and perhaps there might be separate
visa rules for internships (I just guess). And it could be a huge plus on your CV once
you apply for long term job. Or, since you have some money, you could volunteer
somewhere.
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