Linguistics in the UK

[TigerLily]

So I'm pretty sure I want to study French & Spanish at uni, and I heard they make you do placements in the country you're studying (ie if you're studying French you have to go take some time from your course and live and work in France). So qq, does anyone know how long these placements last?

[INFERNO]

At my university this doesn't happen. Then again, I'm on another continent. I don't exactly see the logic of going to university simply to be told to live and work elsewhere for 1 course. It could help you learn the language and appreciate the culture directly rather than from a book, however, it seems just odd to me that after you've enrolled, you're told to run off elsewhere. We have some courses that involve trips to various areas (i.e. 3rd year biology course [not taking this one next year] on Arctic Ecology).