The Department of French and Italian

Why Study French?

French is taught in every country on the planet, with an estimated 120 million students and 500,000 teachers. French is spoken on all five continents of the world by about 275 million people, a threefold increase since 1945. In the United States alone, French is a home language of more than 1.5 million people.

French is an official language of 29 countries. It is an official or working language of more than a dozen international institutions, including the International Red Cross, the Olympics, FIFA, NATO, WTO, WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the United Nations.

France is the world’s fifth largest economy. France is a European leader in Artificial Intelligence, cyber security and factory innovation. French commercial interests in the U.S. include 3,600 affiliates and more than half a million employees. Over 2700 U.S. businesses operate in France, with approximately 440,000 employees.

For more on how studying French can be exciting and beneficial, please visit:

Undergraduate Advisor

Lia Haisley
BEN 2.108

Undergraduate French Faculty Advisor

Heather Pelletier
HRH 3.112A

  • Department of French and Italian

    University of Texas at Austin
    201 W 21st Street STOP B7600
    HRH 2.114A
    Austin, TX 78712-1800