FREN-296 Diplomatic French: Protocol/Social Usage

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During the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, French steadily supplanted Latin as the universal language and the language of diplomacy in most European Courts. From the seventeenth until the nineteenth century, the dominant usage of French in negotiating and writing treaties was so pervasive that numerous expressions, such as the tête-à-tête with…; the chargé d’affaires, ad interim; the rules of étiquette; the principle of pêle-mêle; the note verbale of…, became commonly used expressions in diplomatic circles. Theses expressions were readily understood in other languages and consequently, there was no need to translate them, whether it was Benjamin Franklin presented to the Court of Louis XVI or John Adams presented to the Court of George III.
This course will examine issues related to good manners that regulate our private lives and contrast them with those related to protocol when the latter is understood as “the set of rules prescribing good manners in official life and in ceremonies involving governments and nations and their representatives”. A careful reading of the French version of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations will provide sufficient Diplomatic French terms and expressions for the students in the course to easily mingle with Francophone members of diplomatic missions in Washington, DC.

Textbook: Guide du protocole et des usages par Jacques Gandouin,
Septime édition revue et augmentée, Paris, les éditions Stock, 1995; www.livredepoche.com ISBN : 2-253-06394-0

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: None

Other academic years
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• 2005-2006 Fall and Spring
• 2007-2008 Fall and Spring
• 2009-2010 Fall and Spring
• 2010-2011 Fall and Spring
• 2011-2012 Fall and Spring
• 2012-2013 Fall and Spring

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