Santa Clara University

Ahlan! !Bienvenue! Willkommen! Benvenuto! Yoo koso! ¡Bienvenido! Welcome!

The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures offers a broad spectrum of courses in leading languages of the world today. They include full major programs in French and Francophone Studies, German Studies, Italian Studies, and Spanish Studies, and a minor program in Japanese Studies. In addition, we offer course selections in Arabic and Chinese.

Students may pursue a major in a single language or choose to satisfy their second language requirement. Learning a second language can be one of the most satisfying and rewarding experiences of a liberal education. As the primary form of human communication, language is the key to understanding other cultures, whether those of ancient Greece and Rome or those of our diversive neighborhoods and communities in California, the United States, and abroad.

Knowledge of another language imparts a sensitivity to the differences that make each culture unique, as well as those experiences that bind us all together as members of the human family. Through its programs, the Department seeks to prepare students for a more informed, compassionate, productive and civic involvement in our increasingly diverse and global society.