Designed to provide students with the necessary language skills to effectively work in a bilingual professional environment, the Certificate in French for Professionals will help both new learners and current professionals establish the written and oral communication skills required to meet the specific needs of their workplace. Students will enhance their effective communication skills by applying new vocabulary and expressions in daily interactions, learning how to tailor language for specific business contexts, and constructing documentation necessary for workplace success. Through core courses, students will analyze case studies, participate in role-play activities, and create collaborative projects that simulate real work situations.
Program Plan
This certificate program consists of 12.0 units. 6.0 of these units are required courses, while the other 6.0 units can be selected from a set of option courses.
French Language Placement Test
In order to assess their entry level into the Certificate program, students will be required to take a free French language placement test after submitting an application. The required courses for the Certificate will consist of existing online Arts and Science courses and also four new online FREN core and option courses. The selection of the language courses will depend on the learner’s proficiency in French when entering the program:
- Qualified learners (as determined by a French language placement test) will be required to take FREN 107 (3.0 units): Communication et culture II and FREN 118 (3.0 units): Communication et culture III before moving on to the FREN 225 (3.0 units) French in the Professional Workplace foundational course;
- Learners who are above the level of proficiency in FREN 107 (3.0 units): Communication et culture II, FREN 118 (3.0 units): Communication et culture III should contact the department of French Studies; and
- Learners who are below the level of proficiency will first be required to enrol in FRST 105 (3.0 units): Reading French or FREN 106 (3.0 units): Communication et culture I as prerequisites.
Core courses (9.0 units) offered online
Take the following two courses
- FREN 107 (3.0 units): Communication et culture II
- FREN 118 (3.0 units): Communication et culture III
- or possibly FREN 150 (in-class) for students who are pursuing the certificate and who are registered in an on-campus degree plan.
*FREN 107/3.0 must be taken prior to FREN 118/3.0
Plus the following course:
Option Course (3.0 units) offered online
Choose one of the following four courses:
- FREN 236 (3.0 units): French for Healthcare Professionals
- FREN 237 (3.0 units): French for Government Professionals (Coming soon)
- FREN 238 (3.0 units): French for Legal Professionals
- FREN 239 (3.0 units): Indigenous Arts and Cultures
Note: If you are also in an online degree program, only 6.0 units from your degree program or the certificate can count towards both. In other words, to graduate with both an online degree and this certificate, you would need a total of 96.0 units (instead of 90.0 units).
No more than 6.0 units of core and option courses may be transfer credits from outside Queen’s University.
For the most up-to-date and accurate program plan information, please see the Arts and Science Academic Calendar.
How do I apply?
Admission Requirements
Queen's Arts and Science Online has several admission categories for students with diverse educational backgrounds. View them all here.
Submit an Application
To apply for a Queen's online program, simply submit an online application directly through our website here.
Current Queen's Students
Current Queen's students wishing to add a certificate to their degree, please see the "Current Queen's Students" section on the Admission Requirements page for more information.
What can I do with a certificate?
The certificate will provide you with the written and oral communication skills required to meet the general needs of the workplace, as well as the opportunity to further develop these skills through a range of more specialized courses with a focus on specific professions or professional contexts (e.g., healthcare, government, finance, armed forces, real estate). The ultimate goal of this certificate is to enable you to develop language skills necessary to effectively work in bilingual professional environments.
How Online Learning Works
Click here to learn more about when to access your course, time commitments, exams and more.