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Advice for Anglophones in Civil Law


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Lettuce
  • Law Student

Hey, everyone! 

On the old forum, there were a few topics brought up where some individuals were asking for advice as anglophones attending French civil law schools. As one of those anglos, I found the advice given there to be extremely helpful and encouraging knowing that it isn't such an uncommon feat and, while difficult, it is very possible. If anyone here has some advice that they wish they knew going in or if any francophones have some pointers for future anglo classmates, feel free to post below!

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ProudCrocodile
  • Law School Admit

Same question! I'm wondering if it will be a good idea to apply for mcgill law with my french DALF-C1.

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Lettuce
  • Law Student
21 hours ago, Licn said:

Same question! I'm wondering if it will be a good idea to apply for mcgill law with my french DALF-C1.

McGill law's French requirement is much lower than the French requirement for, say, Laval, where all classes are 100% French. If you have C1 French, you will be just fine at McGill. For instance, to go to UdeM law (also 100% French) they require at least C1 French, so McGill will be fine.

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Civil2Common
  • Lawyer

Bilingual person here who studied at a Quebec civil law university. 

Generally speaking it is important to have a good handle on French if you go to the likes of ULaval, UdeM, Sherbrooke, UQAM, etc. In most, if not all of those cases, you will have to fulfill or prove your knowledge of French - possibly even take French language course(s) - if you did not go to a French CEGEP.

My advice?

Do what you can to improve your French before going to a Quebec civil law school. One thing I noticed (at least at my school) is that some profs will deduct marks for French mistakes (it happened to me in 2-3 of my own classes) and can have a noticeable impact on your grade. Personally speaking, I had completed an undergraduate degree entirely in english before my law studies (and did not go to CEGEP) and even though I interacted in French on a daily basis with friends and family, it was even a bit of an adjustment for me to work get used to learning in French.

Is doing civil law as an anglophone doable?

Absolutely! I had a number of anglophone friends who were studying in their second language. Was it a struggle at times? Definitely but, in the case of one of them, his marks really improved after he spent a summer doing french language classes. Another thing that helped all of my anglophone friends was making an effort to interact in French as much as possible. It seems self evident but getting a better grip on the language can absolutely help improve one's experience at a civil law school.

Also pro-tip: All code civils have an english and french text for each articles/sections side by side. Sometimes reading the english version can help make sense of/understand the french version that you'll typically be looking at during class.

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