LLCER bachelor's degree with dual-language course

Of the 100 or so languages and cultures taught at Inalco, each has its own neighborly relations, each country has its own diaspora, and each state is part of the globalization process in its own way. No language, culture or society escapes these contacts. Licences bilangues are an opportunity to integrate this aspect of oriental studies, exploiting the unrivalled wealth of training offered by Inalco.

Some examples

• Chinese character practice is useful for learning Japanese, but also Korean and classical Vietnamese literature ;
• a liturgical language, Slavonic, unites the East Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian) with the idioms of the South (especially Bulgarian and Macedonian, other Slavic idioms, but also Byzantine Greek), just as the Sanskrit linguistic heritage unites India and Asia, and there is an Arabic unity ;
• strong ties unite all the peoples who make up the ummat, the community of Muslim peoples, across geographical and historical distances (from the Indonesians to the Rromani, via the Iranians and Syrians);
• the countries of Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazahstan, Turkmenistan) vie for the paternity and excellence of a famous culinary dish: rice pilaf... and are at the heart of the current battle to exploit natural gas reserves;
• In Central Africa, where a number of seemingly unrelated languages coexist, a common trait can be observed: pronouns used only when quoting others;
• economic and social crises, too, have no regard for borders: the Asian crisis at the end of the last century, the current crisis in South America, which is sweeping away indigenous peoples in its turmoil, some of whom are also studied at Inalco (Quechua, Guarani curricula), and so on.

A bilanguage degree means:

• Developing real dual skills in 3 years
• Enhancing your CV

Demanding studies

To succeed in these demanding studies, you need to be able to organize your study time rigorously, have good powers of concentration and strong motivation. A carefully calibrated progression is planned to enable the parallel study of two different languages and cultures at the same pace: learning the second language begins in L2, once the basics of the first language are firmly established. Teaching of the second language focuses on fundamental courses and familiarization with the wider culture.

Various combinations according to objective

According to their professional objective, students choose two languages:

• from the same families (Peul and Wolof, Khmer and Lao, etc.),
• from related geographical areas (Hindi and Telugu, Romanian and Hungarian, etc.),
• from different geographical areas (French and English, German and Italian, etc.),
• from different geographical areas (French and English, German and Italian, etc.),
• from different geographical areas (French and English, German and Italian, etc.).),
• from communities linked by close economic, historical or geopolitical ties, or even all three at once (Hebrew and Arabic, Amharic and Chinese, Russian and Lithuanian, etc.).
• The future comparativist can also opt for unexpected combinations.

CV enhancement

Inalco's monolingual bachelor's degrees already offer an opening towards these constant contacts existing between Oriental languages, cultures and societies, but only the bilanguage degrees make it possible to really integrate this opening into the curriculum followed, since it's through a knowledge "from the inside", and especially of the language, that one can really understand the customs and cultural subtleties of peoples.

Enrolling in a dual-language diploma enables you to become a privileged observer of one area of Oriental studies, and thus broaden your intellectual horizons while ultimately enhancing your professional prospects. This dual competence may be of interest to potential translators, diplomats, negotiators, salespeople, journalists, or even those destined for research.

To find out more about the bilangue degree, contact the Service Coordination des formations (SEFOR): sefor-formations@inalco.fr