Mathematics French Exam
The French exam is one way to partially fulfill the math department's language requirement. The student must demonstrate the ability to read and understand a mathematical text written in French. This entails knowledge of some basic grammar and ordinary vocabulary of French, as well as a knowledge of basic mathematical vocabulary in French. The exam itself consists of the translation (into English) of about one page of French mathematical writing, chosen by the examiner, without the use of a dictionary or other aids. It generally takes less than a half-hour; the current examiner is Daniel Ruberman.If you know a bit of French, then probably the best preparation is to read a paper or chapter from a French textbook. Try to choose something that's relevant to your own work, so you have the advantage of being able to guess what the author is saying. (Besides, you might learn something useful this way!) You might also want to read a bit outside of your field, because the exam is unlikely to be on familiar material. If you know no French at all, then you will probably want to get hold of an elementary textbook to get started. Finding a source for the specialized vocabulary of modern mathematics is a little harder. Here are a few sources; if you find any more, then please pass them on to the French examiner.
- A scanned list of mathematical vocabulary, in pdf format.
- http://chanoir.math.siu.edu/frvocanswers.html (French mathematical vocabulary in quiz format)
- http://french.about.com/library/vocab/bl-math.htm (Vocabulary from elementary mathematics)
- http://paquito.amposta.free.fr/ (A French-French dictionary of mathematical words)