After French at Stirling: 50 years on…

It is definitely a sign of how busy things have been at Stirling since the start of the year that it’s already the end of March and this is our first blog post of 2024 but it’s a great one to get us started again!

We’re always happy to highlight the progress of our graduates but in this blog post we are delighted to share reflections that go back further than usual. Russ Walker is celebrating fifty years since his graduation from Stirling, and reflecting on what a degree in French led to…

“I graduated from the University of Stirling in the summer of 1974 – hard to believe that it will be fifty years this summer. A degree in French – what to do with it?

I had a chance to work as an ‘intelligence agent’ (spy? they never said) and an opportunity of a post on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean. Instead, I spent my working life based in Scotland in jobs where French was not a requirement. However, it proved surprisingly useful in many of my postings and in my other interests.

The first half of my working career was involved with General Register Office for Scotland which organised and ran the recording of all births, deaths and marriages in Scotland along with the population census. To my surprise, in my first month I found myself back in Paris at the Palais du Luxembourg translating for registration colleagues at the annual meeting of the CIEC – the International Commission on Civil Status.

In the following years we returned as observers at annual conferences in Madrid, Salzburg and Cesme (Turkey), even being invited to present a paper in French on the new Scottish Marriage Law.  I worked on the team that took the new law through Parliament.

As a graduate civil service recruit, I undertook a number of lengthy training courses in London. One of these involved a week studying at ENA Paris (Ecole Nationale d’Adminstration) where we twinned with the future top administrators of France. Emmanuel Macron was a later graduate but went on to close it down.

I was part of the team planning and preparing the 1981 population census and then took charge of overseeing the census in the Edinburgh and Lothians area. This involved around 2,000 temporary workers at a time when the census involved house to house visits.

For most of the 1980s I was a travelling inspector checking and visiting registrars across western Scotland covering the area from the Isle of Lewis down to Gretna. Scotland was covered by three of us with the grand title of “District Examiner” – one of the best jobs it was possible to have! I married and moved back to the Glasgow area. I was free to plan my own timetable and spent many pleasant summer weeks on Lewis, Harris, Barra, the Uists, Skye, Islay and the smaller islands – saving Glasgow and the larger offices for winter visits! It was a great way to learn about my native land and what was happening locally.

My travelling life stopped in 1992 and the second part of my career was a complete change. I started working for the Scottish Government initially on government assistance grants to companies creating new jobs. There were many interesting and ambitious local companies looking for assistance to expand including some of the computer games companies which were just beginning to emerge at that time.

I followed that with a lengthy secondment to Scottish Enterprise, our business development agency, working firstly in the Locate in Scotland (LIS) briefing team. LIS was charged with bringing in and supporting investment from outside the country and we were kept busy briefing government ministers announcing new investment and job creation in some of the new, emerging industries. There were usually lots of TV and newspaper coverage at these events.  Later I took on the German desk (!), supported by my very capable colleague Heike, a formidable Glaswegian German. I followed that with the renewable energy remit, a sector which was just emerging at that point. At that time too I participated in some EU-based courses in Brussels, conducted in French (of course).

The final part of my career was a return to the Scottish Government in various parts of its International relations interests. We ran an international network called ‘Friends of Scotland’ and developed web based material to promote Scotland internationally, with the aim of growing our trade, investment, influence and networks.

One memorable project involved a close connection to my time at Stirling. I had spent the second semester of my third year studies in Montpellier. One of our ‘Friends’ offered the opportunity to leave a permanent reminder there – the partial restoration of Sir Patrick Geddes garden in Montpellier and the installation of a copy of Geddes bust at the College des Écossais – now one of the main centres for courses for teachers in the Hérault. When I was there in 1973 I had no idea then about the college nor any knowledge of Sir Patrick Geddes!

Geddes has since reappeared as one of the great environmentalists and his phrase – Think Global Act Local – is used around the world so it was nostalgic to return to Montpellier for the unveiling of the bust and the project itself was well covered by an article in The Scotsman.

In my personal life I was able to use my French quite regularly for many years. My department was very supportive of assisting further learning so I took a number of courses at the French Institute in Edinburgh including its Diploma in Commercial French as well as enjoying some French Government sponsored courses in France (a week visiting Champagne producers around Reims, for example!)

I was quite involved in athletics for many years and as part of its European City of Culture in 1990, Glasgow hosted the European Indoor Championships. I helped to recruit most of the interpreter/liaison volunteers to work with the overseas teams and I acted in that capacity for the French team. An Italian/Ugandan friend from my Stirling days came up do the same with the Italian team.

Another interest is in philately – stamps, postal history, postcards etc – and that has called on my French from time to time. I attended the Salon Philatélique d’Automne for a few years helping some dealer friends sell material to French collectors. We also established very friendly links to the New Caledonia stamp club (Caledonia being the initial link!) and I gave a presentation to its members in the Maison de la Nouvelle Calédonie near the Paris Opera. I am now investigating whether my fairly large collection of French North Africa might be of interest to the university. Over the centenary years of the First World War my philatelic society worked with the French Institute and Goethe Institute in Glasgow to put on a number of displays there showing material from the war.

And Brel? Well we did organise a memorial dinner for more than 20 at Bar Brel in Glasgow to mark the 25^th anniversary of his death. Of course with ‘frites et moules’.

Il nous fallut bien du talent
Pour être vieux sans être adultes

Finally, another memory from Stirling in the summer of 1974. Monty Python came to film nearby at Doune. The University invited 175 students to take part in a Python battle scene in its May 20 1974 newsletter. The advert stated: “While pay for the day is rather humble at £2 a head, transport to and from the film set is free, as is the food, including elevenses, hot lunch and tea. An added attraction, of course, will be a bunch of crazy antics coupled with the fact that the film is a full feature length film – going out on international release. Transport, in the form of buses, will be leaving from the back of Pathfoot at 8am (on May 25) – yes, that early, so that the makeup and costume girls can do a good job on you. Who knows, this could be your chance for stardom!”

I volunteered along with our two French Assistantes – we have dined out on that story ever since!”

So many of our graduates have gone on to such a diverse range of careers, further studies and adventures after they’ve completed their studies at Stirling but this has to be one of the most diverse posts we’ve been able to add so many, many thanks to Russ for taking the time to send this through and we look forward to tales of further French-related adventures.

  

Borderland theatre, music and poetry: discoveries and encounters

Over these summer months, we’re keeping busy in French at Stirling, whether thinking about teaching for the new academic year, working on publications, attending conferences, developing schools outreach projects or just generally keeping up with all things French and Francophone. Having recently spent a month on a research trip in Armenia (blog post to follow later in the summer…), our colleague Nina Parish has just returned from another trip and has sent this update on the research she’s been conducting and the encounters and discoveries she has made along the way:

‘The month I have just spent at the Borderland Foundation, staying at the site of the Milosz Manor in Krasnogruda situated close to the Polish-Lithuanian border in the Suwalki Gap, has certainly been rich in discoveries and acquiring knowledge.

I have had a crash course in learning about the history of this particular borderland, which is so relevant to the work we are doing for the DisTerrMem project, but also in understanding the Borderland philosophy and practice developed in Sejny and Krasnogruda by Krzysztof Czyźewski and his friends and family.

I have twice been to see The Sejny Chronicles, an ongoing theatre workshop and play, organised by the Borderland Foundation and performed by local teenagers, aimed at rediscovering the rich multicultural, multilingual (hi)stories of Sejny using oral histories handed down by its residents before World War II. I have had the immense privilege of talking to different generations involved in The Sejny Chronicles and been struck by what a lasting influence participating in this project has had on their lives. I have swayed to the intoxicating music created by the Klezmer Orchestra of the Sejny Theatre in the White Synagogue.

I have been reminded of the importance of the local, of community practice, of kindness, and of the slow work of poetry.’

Many, many thanks to Nina for this post and do follow the links above to learn more about the Borderland Foundation and the DisTerrMem project.

‘Busy with conference season!’

It’s been great to get a sense of how our students are doing as we shift from term-time into the summer months but we also wanted to let you know what French at Stirling staff are up to, starting with Nina Parish who is, indeed, very busy with conferences at the moment:

‘It was the Society for French Studies annual conference last week and I chaired an excellent panel on ‘Poetic Revolutions: Remediation, innovation and translation of 20th and 21st French Poetics’ with papers by Emma Wagstaff (Birmingham), James Wishart (KCL) and Jeff Barda (Manchester). The conference was cancelled last year so it was really good to see colleagues again albeit virtually and to listen to some fascinating papers and plenaries (our own Fraser McQueen was also live tweeting the conference).

This week, it’s the Memory Studies Association Conference and I’ll be chairing a panel on the ‘Memories from the Margins’ project  and the Journal of the British Academy special issue (‘Memories from The Margins: Violence, Conflict and Counter-Narratives‘) that I co-edited with Daniele Rugo (Brunel) and which came out last week, with papers by Daniele, Carmen Abou Jaoude (Saint Joseph University of Beirut), Adriana Rudling (Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen) and Chris Reynolds (Nottingham Trent University).

I’ll also be chairing a panel on ‘Memory in Music and the Arts’ and speaking with David Clarke (Cardiff) as part of a panel on the Disputed Territories and Memory project about ‘Diaspora Memories and the Virtual Museum: Remembering Lost Homelands.’

And I’ve just finished the second series of Lupin which I found very entertaining indeed!’

Thanks to Nina for this post, good luck with the various papers and chairing duties and there’ll be more updates from students, graduates and staff over the weeks ahead!

Summer 2019 Publications and Conferences

As we move closer and closer to the start of term, there’ll be more updates and news about all things French and Francophone at Stirling. In the meantime, we just wanted to let you know about a few new publications and conference papers written by some of our current and former postgrads and colleagues.

Former French at Stirling PhD student Martin Verbeke’s latest article ‘Unveiling the Myth of Mars and Venus in French rap: An analysis of the gender determinants of non-standard language use’ was just published in the August 2019 issue of the International Journal of Francophone Studies.

And our current PhD student Fraser McQueen gave a paper at the Society for French Studies annual conference at Royal Holloway in July entitled ‘Muslim is French: Zahwa Djennad’s Tabou. Confession d’un jeune de banlieue (2013).’ Fraser will be conferencing again later this week, at the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France in Paris, where he’ll be speaking about ‘Transnational Paris and Peripheral France in Michel Houellebecq’s Sérotonine.’

And finally, for the moment, our former colleague, Bill Marshall, has a chapter on Xavier Dolan’s films out in ReFocus: The Films of Xavier Dolan, a new collection focusing on Dolan, edited by Andrée Lafontaine. The chapter was previously published in Nottingham French Studies. Bill’s chapter on ‘Quebec Cinema as Global Cinema’ was also published earlier this year in Janine Marchessault and Will Straw’s Oxford Handbook of Canadian Cinema.

More to follow…

‘Hearing someone speaking another language always seemed slightly magical’

I’m delighted to say that responses are still coming in to the emails I sent out to colleagues and students last week asking about how and why they started learning languages… and how and why they’ve kept going with them. Emeline Morin is a Lecturer with us at Stirling, originally from France but now working in Scotland:

‘Like Mathilde, I started learning bits and bobs of English from songs. For instance, aged 5 or so, I vividly remember my mum telling me what “I will always love you” means from Whitney Houston’s song.

I only properly started to learn English in high school, aged 11, and I was very excited to start. I come from a very rural part of France and never really travelled as a child, so to me, hearing someone speak a foreign language, no matter which one, always seemed slightly magical.

I’ve always been a big reader, and when I think about it, my love for books definitely impacted my wish to learn languages. When I was 12, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out in English in July and would not be published in French until the end of November. I was so frustrated, I spent hours on forums searching for the (usually fairly rough) translations people wrote chapter by chapter. That’s when I became very dedicated to learning English because I decided that I just had to read the books in original from then on.

In high school, I also picked up Latin (which included a trip to Italy!) and Spanish. By the end of high school, I loved languages so much, I decided to do a degree in English and Spanish and I also picked up a bit of Mandarin, Russian, and German. (For some reason, German is the one language I have tried and just do not seem to be able to retain AT ALL).

This year marks the tenth anniversary of my move to Scotland. Being able to live abroad and to settle down here, to make friends and family has been incredible. Not only do I still feel that I am learning every day, I have also learnt a lot about my own language and culture while teaching it and confronting it to an outsider’s point of view.

Learning a language is not always easy, and is sometimes frustrating, but I don’t know of many things as rewarding either.’

Many thanks to Emeline for finding the time to send us this post – we’re hoping to find ways of following up on the references to songs and books and language learning over forthcoming blog posts!

Why Study Languages? What our students say…

As promised, then, as well as having gathered responses to questions about language learning (which ones, why, why not, why keep going with them…) from colleagues, we’ve also been delighted to receive (and to continue to receive!) a number of responses from our students. We’ll post a couple of these separately but, without further ado, here are some of the initial thoughts and experiences from students across different years and different programmes:

For David, who is in the first year of a BA Hons in French with us, French started at the age of 13 at secondary school but, in his words, he was ‘a bad student and count only count to 10 by the time [he] left.’ He then restarted learning French at the age of 50 and is now, as I say, in his first year with us. The motivation for taking up French again came from David having had to stop work and he says that ‘French is not an easy subject but a great challenge due to its difficulty, beauty and culture.’ He also did Beginners’ Spanish in an access course last year but didn’t continue with it because he found that it was too difficult to be learning two languages at the same time.

Catriona is also a mature student, studying French with us who explains: ‘I started learning French in 1^st year at high school, aged 11. I think that was in 1968! I remember being delighted when I realised I could understand the French bit of the Beatles’ song ‘Michelle’!’ In her 3^rd year, she took up German as well and did two years of Latin in 1^st and 2^nd year. Her mum had also enjoyed French and German at high school (both to Higher) so she wonders whether that influenced her though she points out ‘it didn’t have the same effect on my brother so maybe that’s not the cause!’ She liked French and found it fairly easy (‘probably because I liked it’) and the same applied to German. She would also have liked to have done Russian or Spanish but neither was available. Having done Higher French and German, Catriona then pursued a career in nursing but has done various continuing education courses in both languages over the years. She’s doing French now because ‘I still like learning it and don’t want to forget what I know. I like the country and the culture and like being able to speak to the people in their own language and read things I see when on holiday etc. I suppose I’ve got a bit of a fascination with foreign languages and learning them.’

Chelsea is a final year student whose dissertation happens to be looking at language learning, anxiety and motivation in secondary schools so she has been particularly interested in the news coverage. She started learning French aged 10 (in P6) and initially, very honestly, continued learning it because she had to study a language up until S4. Chelsea’s decision to study Higher French was largely based on getting good grades and she says: ‘I didn’t actually start to enjoy French until I was studying it at Higher.’ She went on to take it at Uni because she enjoyed learning it and was good at it but also because she wanted to improve her spoken French. She also took Beginners’ Spanish in first year but had to stop because it didn’t fit any more into the structures of her degree.

Chloe is in the first year of her degree in Primary Education with a Specialism in Modern Languages, having started learning French in P7 when she was about 10. Her initial motivation for continuing with it came partly from needing a qualification in French to get into her University course as she wanted to do languages teaching and enjoys learning languages. She travelled to Romania and had to learn the basics of Romanian to get by there but found that she would get it confused with her French so stopped it after that particular trip.

Like Chloe, Lauren is also in the first year of a degree with Education but, in her case, our Professional Education (Secondary) programme with French and Spanish. The first language she learned that wasn’t her own was French and she started learning it at 4 years old. At that age, her grandparents got her involved with a French class outside of school but she stopped aged 8 after her teacher fell ill. She started another one around a year later and her teacher was a franchisee of La Jolie Ronde. Lauren says she kept up with her languages due to the influence of her grandparents: ‘my 84-year-old grandpa often texts me in French and we have conversations in French at dinner times whenever I visit.’ Lauren decided to study languages at University as ‘it’s the one passion I’ve had since I was little that hasn’t changed and has been ever present in my life.’

As is the case for those of us teaching French at Stirling, those studying it with us come from a range of backgrounds, having taken up languages for all kinds of reasons. We’ll keep adding any responses that come in from other students over the days ahead and we’d like to thank all those who’ve already been in touch!

‘Studying at Stirling inspired me to do translation’

It has been a hectic first half of semester so there’s been a bit of a lull on the blog but we’re now halfway through our mid-semester break and there’s a little bit more time to catch up with the backlog so, with apologies to the very kind and patient contributors, let’s go! First up, we have a post by Laura, who graduated in French and Spanish in 2015 and who has just completed a Masters at Glasgow, focusing on Translation Studies:

‘Well, it’s been an intense and really quick year, and I think studying for a Masters in Translation Studies has had something to do with it. As I have the chance to stop and look back at everything that’s just happened, I realise I wouldn’t have been doing all this if it wasn’t for the amazing experiences I had during my undergraduate course at Stirling. After all, it was thanks to my time there that I was encouraged to keep learning and practising languages. Here are the different things that inspired me…

Classes

The speaking practice I had in Langage Parlé encouraged me to want to keep practising. And if grammar hadn’t been made so interesting in classes, I would probably remember a lot less today. In the final year, we did a fair bit of translating, including newspaper articles – I always did quite well at it, so it made me realise I could take this area of language study further. Then, after having positive experiences of learning French and Spanish, I thought I would try my hand at something new for my postgraduate, and ended up doing Beginners Chinese as an option module. Tricky, but definitely worth it!

Adventures

My semester abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France and year as a language assistant at a primary school in Spain also played a huge part in my decisions. This was where I really got to put language skills to use beyond the classroom (despite often being in classrooms), and have the chance to live everyday life in other countries. I met lovely people from all over the world and had lots of fun visiting new places, and going to many a cultural event. How could I not want to keep using different languages?

Friends

I have lots of great memories with friends I made while studying at Stirling, and it’s always nice to catch up and reminisce with those I still keep in touch with. We’re all doing different things, ranging from teaching to working with animals, but our studies and time spent at Stirling led us to the paths we’re on, whether the influence is obvious or not. Two of my friends at Glasgow had actually studied at Stirling as well, but had been in a different year from me before, so that was a nice surprise and something extra in common.

French at Stirling

I previously wrote a review on a Celtic Connections concert for French at Stirling. Then after graduating, I ended up e-mailing the festival to see if there were any opportunities to use language skills. As a result, I volunteered there and got to do Spanish speaking for a band from Galicia. Also, as part of my Masters dissertation (which I was delighted to hand in!) I translated articles from a Spanish music magazine, so was able to use my passion for music when translating. I think writing the review made me think a bit more about how I could combine languages with music, and I’m so pleased that I’ve been able to achieve that.

It’s been an amazing and worthwhile experience doing a Masters at Glasgow, providing me with an ideal mix of theory and practice. But my time at Stirling will always be special to me, from the scenery and the loch, to the super language department. Now, enough nostalgia – it’s time to look to the future and see what lies ahead … I would love to keep translating, and I am considering working freelance as well as part-time in a wonderful library. My dream would be to keep mixing languages with music, and do translation for events or media. I’ve helped out with Havana/Glasgow Film Festival for a few years, so I know that I enjoy working with festivals. And finally, even though I focussed on Spanish to English translation, I’d love to keep up my French (bien sûr!) and translate out of that too.

Merci beaucoup!’

And merci to Laura, too, for this great post and all our good wishes for the future – keep us posted!

Strasbourg Summer School Tales

Back in June, a small group of our students were lucky enough to be able to attend the annual Summer School organised by our partners at the Ecole de Management in Strasbourg, an opportunity that gave them a chance to spend time in a beautiful city but also to benefit from fantastic classes and visits to European institutions and much else besides. Nick, Paloma and Stefano are now all back in Stirling and they’ve each sent their own take on the experiences in Strasbourg.

For Stefano, ‘one of the most thrilling aspects of our Summer School was the possibility to go on business trips to the European Institutions that are located in Strasbourg. Within our first ten days there, our group was invited to visit the Council of Europe, the continent’s oldest political organisation, founded in 1949. It was exciting to experience such an institutional and international atmosphere! Once we got there through the beautiful surroundings of Strasbourg’s diplomatic area, we managed to explore the building with its famous Hemicycle and we also got the chance to attend a conference on “The role of the Council of Europe in the European Political Architecture”. It is perhaps worth mentioning some key facts about this vital institution in Europe. The Council itself groups together 47 countries, including 21 countries from Central Eastern Europe and it currently has one more application from Monaco. Moreover, the Council has granted “observer status” to 5 external countries (US, Canada, the Holy See, Mexico and Japan). Broadly speaking, the Council is distinct from the European Union, but no member state has ever been part of the Union without joining the Council of Europe in the first place.’

Stefano, Paloma and another Stirling student, Annika, visiting from her internship in Germany

Stefano also points out that the EU’s motto (United in diversity) fits very well with their entire programme of classes and visits: ‘ As a group of 30 students from, almost literally, all over the world, we had first-hand experience of how so many different countries can work within European Institutions. For instance, just one week after our visit to the Council of Europe we got the chance to explore the European Parliament, the only directed body of the EU. Most importantly, we were lucky enough to attend real sessions and debates of the Parliament over the following week; throughout these experiences we got a strong sense of how the Parliament elaborates community laws and how strongly its relations are intertwined with those of the European Commission and the Council of Ministers.’

From Paloma’s perspective, the cultural, geographical and linguistic aspects of the month in France were as important as the access to elements of the structures of the EU. ‘Strasbourg is a mixture of two cultures, French and German, perfectly balanced. Generally, the French were friendly and easy to talk to (as long as you were trying to speak in French…), however body language and gestures were required if our French wasn’t enough. Also, a large proportion of the older generations spoke German (or the alsacien dialect).

It is an adorable city, the perfect size, not too big, not too small. Sightseeing in Strasbourg was hence relatively easy: from the cathedral and la Petite France to the Parc de l’Orangerie (a mini zoo) a few blocks away from the school and the Place Kléber with the main shopping area. The first Sunday of the month gives you free access to some cultural spots, so we took advantage and visited a few museums, the cathedral tower and its astronomical clock.

As Strasbourg is located very centrally, we could easily travel around to Nancy, Colmar, Obernai, and even Zurich and Karlsruhe. However, its central location and its position as the seat of many EU institutions means that living expenses are quite high, so we took the tram line to Kehl in Germany to do our weekly groceries.

Stefano, Paloma and Nick

Local cuisine included tarte flambée (dough bread covered with cheese, crème fraiche, onion and bacon), baeckeoffe (casserole with vegetables, pork, beef and lamb cooked slowly in white wine), kouglof (bread-cake that is displayed in the window of every bakery in Strasbourg) and lots of white wine. Local farmers’ markets in the street parallel to our accommodation every Saturday had everything from yogurt, fruit and vegetables, bread, flowers, to second-hand clothes and pots and pans. The boulangerie was a few blocks away from the school; in the morning you could see the French queueing for the bread of the day.

On the 21^st of June, we experienced La Fête de la Musique. Once a year, the city transforms into an “open concert” with music for all tastes. A different band plays in every corner downtown Strasbourg. For us (as Paloma is of Mexican origin), some of the highlights of the night were an Ecuadorian duo and a Brazilian party.’

And finally, from Nick’s point of view, it was the mix of classroom-based learning and extra-curricular activities that really stands out: ‘During my month in Strasbourg all students had a significant number of classes alongside the social activities most of us took part in outside of the curriculum. The classes were divided into several different subjects: European Integration, French Language and Business, which included Marketing, HRM and other topics.

Most classes were quite intense and well-structured. They were also very interesting and engaging (for the most part) with the only downside being the teaching rooms which did not have air conditioning or any real ventilation. It can get very hot in France during summer…

Some of the courses included some very cool field trips, such as a visit to the Europa Park, which was supposedly related to the business part of the course. It wasn’t really, as we spent most of the day on awesome rides (or queueing for them), but unsurprisingly nobody complained about that.

I feel it is maybe important to let future participants of summer school know that the amount of class in hours per week is significantly more than most of us will be used to from UK universities. This, however, is no issue at all, as self-study time is kept at a minimum and most classes are very informative and highly enjoyable, with lecturers from all over the world (Ireland, the US, Poland, France, etc.).

I can personally say that I genuinely learned a lot about the EU, European culture and French language during my stay in Strasbourg. I loved the outside activities and the group we were in was amazing and very international. The lecturers were entertaining, clever and left us all with an unexpectedly large amount of knowledge. I would recommend Strasbourg summer school to anyone at any educational level and from any background based on my experience this past summer.’

Many thanks, indeed, to Nick, Paloma and Stefano for sharing their experiences and their photos from the Summer School. Having also had the pleasure of visiting colleagues at EMS in September, it’s particularly nice to be able to confirm that it really is a great place to send time so thanks to the students and to colleagues at EMS for having made us all feel welcome!

Former French at Stirling Student’s Piaf Show

Any of you with an interest in French music might like to know that former French at Stirling student Christine Bovill is bringing her acclaimed Edith Piaf show to the MacRobert at the end of this week – tickets still available via the MacRobert website!

Languages as huge, intricate puzzles

Another account of life since graduating from Stirling. This time from Mira who, like Saara, also graduated in French in 2014 and who, since graduation, has gone on to develop a career as an interpreter but who was very pleased to get a chance to reflect on ‘the Stirling bubble’:

“This summer it will be two full years since my graduation, I can hardly believe it, and even less so the fact that it’s been nearly 6 years since I’ve started University, now that’s crazy!

I came to Stirling, having chosen the university because of the attractive language courses it offered and the absolutely magical campus it occupied. Say what you want about big cities but no University in Scotland beats our campus. For me, Stirling was the perfect choice. Glasgow and Edinburgh are only a short train ride away, which is one of the best ways to relax and clear your head: listen to some music and watch the picturesque landscapes of Scotland pass you by.

I loved studying at Stirling. All of our French lecturers were wonderful, so very different but all so passionate about what they teach. Their excitement seeped through into the students. I am very fond of languages. Speaking four fluently, I am fascinated by how they work, like huge intricate puzzles. All with such different parts that fit together in such different ways. So, naturally I thoroughly enjoyed the grammar and translation classes. Having lived in France for a short while when younger I was somewhat familiar with French culture. The course however broadened my understanding of francophone cultures, through courses that explored the different parts of the world and history when French was spoken.

I found everyone in the French department to be very approachable and ready to help. Our lecturers, with their oceans of knowledge, were always ready to share it with us and advise us on the ideas we were exploring. I find this important because to a certain extent, having a department that is not helpful and lecturers you don’t feel comfortable with hinders studies.

Stirling offers some pretty attractive exchange programs and when it came time to choose where to go for my semester abroad, I decided it had to be Paris. We were free to study pretty much anything we wanted while abroad and I loved my courses at Sciences Po. I took “Philosophy of Friendship”, “Utopia” and “The cultural history of Europe” all en français bien sûr! I still have all my notes and books from these and I have no doubt I will be re-reading them. The teaching differed quite a lot from Stirling, I think because the dynamic between the students and the lecturers just wasn’t the same.

I must speak quickly about Paris. I didn’t know what to expect. My exchange took place from January until June, only six short months. Yet within these I built a whole new life. I made some amazing friends, whom I still see regularly now. My experience was bohemian and artistic, full of cheap wine and fresh baguettes, photographer friends who’d take beautiful pictures and bookshops with captivating events. Having studied much about France and French culture, it felt surreal to walk around Place de la République, or visit the Grand Palais and just stare in adoration at the beautiful architecture, and think how many people passed through these places through the century. Spending half a year somewhere lets you discover the “hidden” gems of the city, when first visiting Paris you will go to the Jardin du Luxembourg or the Tuileries but it’s places like Parc des Buttes Chaumont, that truly stole my heart.

I really enjoyed the final year of university, maybe because of the independence in study and writing that we had. Writing the dissertation meant you chose an area of interest personal to you and just plunged into it. Sure it was stressful, you had to be driven, organised and generally on top of things, but doing the research, analysing the information and creating a report was very satisfying and rewarding.

My friends and I always talk about the “Stirling Bubble”, nothing is far away and after a year you pretty much know everyone and everything. Which makes you feel at home, safe and cosy, and that’s something big cities can’t offer. On top of it all Stirling has some really interesting young talents, community initiatives and creative events. The Filth and Aztec music gigs remain some of the best ones I’ve been to.

My time at the University of Stirling has provided me with skills and experiences that have led me to where I am today. I live in Scotland and work as a Polish interpreter. I currently work with: local schools, social work offices, health centres, the police and even the courts. In fourth year we went to a multilingual debate at Heriot-Watt University. The debaters all spoke different languages and their conversation was possible due to the final year students of an interpreting course. It was my first time witnessing the mechanics of interpreting in action and I was fascinated. Throughout our language classes I had amassed the skills to work with language. We worked thoroughly on each text we translated for practice, exchanging ideas and methods. We would discuss the intricacies of the language and the many connections that words create between each other. What meaning these connections of words convey and how to transfer that meaning into a different language. Realising that sometimes it is absolutely crucial to know where the words come from and how they are used in contemporary society in order to fully grasp the subtle differences in meaning between individual words. Learning that often you can only become truly fluent in a language if you understand the culture of the people that speak it. That is exactly what the French degree at the University of Stirling equipped me with.”

Many thanks to Mira for sending this blog post and all the best for the years ahead!