The following modern languages may be taken as compulsory subjects in the baccalauréat général:

• for the compulsory Modern Language 1 tests: 
  Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Modern Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese;
• for tests in compulsory Modern Language 2 or 3, foreign or regional:
  Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Basque, Breton, Catalan, Corsican, Creole, Melanesian languages, Occitan-langue d'oc, Tahitian, Wallisian and Futunan.

However, the reform of the lycées has made it compulsory in the first year of lycée to choose only the first, second or third modern language taught at the learner’s school, or at the Centre National d'Enseignement à Distance (CNED). As a result, the wide range of languages on offer in 2016 has been narrowed down in most schools (English, Spanish, Italian, German), although some lycées do offer Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew and Polish. Learners can also choose to follow CNED courses, as follows:

• Modern language 1 or 2: 
  German, English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish.
• Modern language 3: 
  German, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese. For the full regulated class (i.e. full schooling via the CNED, for reasons of health, high-level sporting or artistic achievement, etc.) only: regional languages (Basque, Breton, Corsican, langue d'Oc).

As a result, learners taking the general or technological baccalaureat can only very exceptionally use their home languages in the exam, which has a particularly adverse effect on the progress of  newly arriving learners whose first language is not French.

"The regulations stipulate that candidates for the baccalauréat général or baccalauréat technologique who have been educated for less than two years immediately prior to their final year in a country other than France where modern language B [2] is not compulsory, can also be exempted, at their request, from presenting their results in modern language B [2] for the final year. These candidates are, however, authorised to take an optional modern language C [3], provided that this language is not on the list of languages that can be chosen as a compulsory modern language A or B. As a reminder, the texts set out a list of modern languages that may be studied as modern languages A, B and C, and require learners to have followed a course in the chosen language in a public or private school under contract to or at the CNED in order to be able to sit the baccalauréat examination.” (Direction Générale des Affaires Scolaires, Académie de Nantes).