I currently have an ESRC studentship to fund my PhD, but have never really looked into the research training grants which they make for studentship holders. Essentially what I'd like to do is learn French due to an absurd number of French articles on the subject I'm studying (something like 80% of the total I've found are in French). Do the ESRC offer language training grants like this? If so does anyone have any experience of getting one - i.e. are they quite lenient in terms of standards or is it strictly a "doing fieldwork in a foreign country" grant?

I've been going to classes by myself, but it would obviously be better if there was an ESRC funded course available (both financially and because it would probably be a lot better in terms of quality).

Learning french seems a bit time-consuming and long-winded. Couldn't you just get them translated?

As a lover of the French language and as someone who has spent some time with it, I think learning it well enough to grapple with academic pieces needs a substantially high amount of time and commitment, which could be as long as a couple of years at least.

I would still say if the purpose was fieldwork in a foreign country and you needed to learn a language for a 6 month stint, it would still be an idea worth considering. But learning to grasp intellectual pieces will take a huge amount of time, and is honestly, a project in itself.

Translation money may be available with universities, learning funds or councils. That is a better way to go about it.

Mais, bonne chance, c'est une langue tres belle et je vous souhaite beaucoup de succes!! (Can;t put the accents as my keyboard is malfunctioning)