Lettres Romane

Your Bachelor's training is based on two complementary approaches: the study of language and the study of literature.

In linguistics, you learn to describe the French language, but also Italian or Spanish, in its various aspects (phonology, morphosyntax, semantics) and understand how these languages have taken shape over the course of history to reach their current state.

In literature, you discover how language enables cultures to define themselves and function through literature. You'll be introduced to text analysis, the history of literary themes and genres, philology and the study of contemporary, modern and medieval French (but also Italian or Spanish) authors.

These courses aim to train a critical mind capable of structuring and interpreting textual, historical and cultural information from a coherent perspective.

Philosophy, history and art history complete your training.

aides à la réussite-art

You're off to a good start

  • you love the French language and literature;
  • you are capable of rigor and precision in analyzing a text;
  • you have an excellent command of French, especially spelling.

Teaching methods

Courses, practical work, seminars, group work... everything is done to ensure that you master the language, its history and its culture.

To encourage assimilation of the material seen for each language and literature, theoretical courses are accompanied by hours of practical sessions in small groups.

Literary history is illustrated through novels, plays and short stories in the form of group conversations and personal analysis.

Through regular and varied work in linguistic analysis and literature, you'll get used to defining the main mechanisms of language as well as the various resources of a text with rigor and finesse.

You conclude your bachelor's program with an analytical assignment in one of the course subjects. Completing this assignment is one of the final steps in developing your independence.

Do you enjoy writing?

To hone your writing skills, UNamur offers you, in addition to practice exercises in written French and scientific writing, optional creative writing courses.
These courses are organized in the form of workshops where a theoretical input and targeted exercises feed your creative practice to enable you to apprehend literature "from the inside".

Experience life abroad - an Erasmus bachelor's degree

Thanks to our language courses, your level of Italian or Spanish will improve throughout your training. If your level is good enough, you can study for 4 months in Italy (Universities of Padua, Siena and Perugia), Spain (Universities of Santiago de Compostela, Cadiz and Cáceres), Argentina, Cyprus or Reunion Island.
You also have the option of staying at a Dutch-speaking Belgian university, in Ghent or Antwerp.

Lettres études

Success aids

To help you meet them, UNamur accompanies you in the development of your disciplinary, methodological, human skills... with the support of many professionals.

Preparatory courses, individualized help... Discover the schemes set up for your training.

Discover romanesque aids to success

After the baccalauréat: the master's degree

The bachelor's degree in French and Romance languages and literature gives automatic access, in the French Community, to the master's degree in French and Romance languages and literature.

During this second cycle, you opt for a master's degree that prepares you more specifically for teaching (master en enseignement), research (finalité approfondie) or another professional specialization in the field of books, publishing, IT and linguistics, teaching French as a foreign language, journalism, etc.

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Les métiers des romanistes

Métiers des romanistes

Romanist professions

Although graduates in French and Romance languages and literature are very often destined to become French teachers, they can put their skills to good use in many other, sometimes unexpected, professional fields.

Teaching and training

Many Romanists share their expertise and passion for French language and literature with secondary school students. But Romanists are also involved in other training contexts with a variety of audiences: they become teachers of French as a foreign language, Spanish or Italian, communication or literacy trainers, for example. They can be found in Hautes Écoles, private language centers, continuing education organizations, associations active in socio-professional integration, or sometimes within certain large companies.

Within the framework of bilateral agreements signed by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, the WBI (Wallonia-Brussels International, the public administration in charge of international relations) coordinates a network of French language trainers in several European countries and even in Louisiana. Dozens of young Romanists thus spend a few years abroad as readers of French language and literature in a university or a school for translators-interpreters, as trainers in a bilingual lycée, or as French language assistants in a secondary school, helping to promote Belgium's French culture in the broadest sense (literature, history, institutional system...).

Cultural professions

Romanists can work in the full range of book-related professions, from proofreading to publishing management, promotion and literary translation. They can work in publishing houses, libraries, bookshops, documentation centers or as freelancers. Thanks to their open-minded training in the major artistic movements, some Romanists manage cultural projects in institutions such as Maisons de la culture, theaters...

My mission is to bring young audiences to the Opéra royal de Wallonie, a role in which I value my previous experience as a teacher. I organize workshops and visits for children, prepare educational sheets for teachers, promote our activities... I enjoy keeping the link with cultural works since my studies in Romance.

Florent

I've been working for an international scientific publishing house for several years. As a production manager, I was responsible for the process from manuscript receipt to printing. Today, I manage our Brussels head office. As well as managing the company in the strict sense of the word, I look for new projects and create and develop collections. Being a publisher means more than just reading manuscripts. The photographic view is favored most of the time because the text is apprehended as an object to be processed, finalized, published... Being able to combine social contact with management activities while working on the text, in short, participating in the implementation of a publishing project is exciting.

Emilie

Media and communication

By opening up to the socio-economic world or specializing in a particular cultural field, Romance scholars can put their skills to work in the media (television, print media...). Today, many of our graduates are journalists, literary critics or editors of company newspapers. Some go on to jobs directly linked to communications: press attachés, project managers in advertising...

I'm an account executive in a major advertising agency. My job is to act as a relay between the client and our agency. I have to make sure that the project runs smoothly. Multilingualism is an asset for working with a more diverse and larger client base.

David

Research

Some Romanists pursue research after graduation, often supplemented by teaching duties, in Belgium and sometimes abroad. Universities and public funds (e.g. FNRS) can finance the completion of a doctorate. Doctors of Philosophy and Letters then have the opportunity to teach at university. Research carried out by Romanists focuses on the history of French literature, comparative arts, Romance language didactics, language...

A social life to develop

When it comes to landing a first job, the personality of candidates is often as important as their university degree, hence the importance of keeping one's curiosity alive throughout one's studies, and building a rich social life, for example by getting involved in the associative world. Young Romanists can expect to follow a sometimes winding career path, especially in the early years...

But it's often in these detours that creative, curious personalities and those driven by an entrepreneurial spirit will discover the profession they're passionate about. Some Romanists continue their studies with further training (communications, languages, IT, management, etc.), which can facilitate their professional integration in specialized sectors of activity.