Linguistic and cultural studies is a section of linguoculturology that considers the characteristics of the country of the language being studied in their linguistic expression, the vector of which is determined by the professional orientation of the researcher. Linguo-cultural studies (ethnolinguistics, linguistic anthropology) detached from cultural studies (philosophy) in the 60-s of the XX century. It took the form of an independent discipline after the publication of a special issue of the American journal “Ethnography of Speech” (1964) with articles by a number of well-known researchers, among whom were V. Labov, E.T. Hall, D.H. Hymes. The authors stated the urgent need to unite the efforts of several scholastic disciplines (linguistics, history, anthropology, ethnography, sociology) in the context of the discovery of the enormous potential of the human language. It should be noted that the concept of sociocultural determinism of the phenomena of the human language did not originate from a scratch. It was prepared by the works of European scholars of the past ‒ K.W. Humboldt in Germany, A. Meillet and E. Benvebiste in France, A.A. Potebnia in Russia. Later, the famous Russian scholars A.F. Losev, M.M. Bakhtin, Y.M. Lotman, D.S. Likhachev, R.A. Budagov studied several areas of connection between languages and cultures. “France Today”, the program for III-IV year MGIMO students, prepared by the Department of the French Language at MGIMO-University is an example of the professional orientation of linguistic and cultural studies. It is designed for students of various specialties ‒ international affairs, lawyers, economists, journalists. The program includes 30 topics, from which the lecturer selects those that have the desired focus. Russian-French and French-Russian ties, political parties of France, the state structure of the country will be relevant for the faculty of “International Relations”. Labor law, science, education, transport, and health care are suitable for students of economic specialties. As far as the students of the International Journalism faculty are concerned, it would be better for them to concentrate on French media, the traditions and customs of the country, the demographic characteristics of society (population, family, youth).