Foreign Languages & Literatures
Through language we penetrate from the mind and heart of one people to another, from one civilization to another, from the wisdom of one literature to that of another. By learning a foreign language, students become familiar with the literature, history, philosophy, art, and the economic and social conditions of the people who speak that language. Seven-eighths of the world’s people do not speak English. Languages provide the keys for access to these other cultures and countries. Learning a foreign language helps grasp the nature, function, and social importance of one’s own native tongue. Language learning, therefore, becomes the bridge between the peoples and cultures of the world.
About The Program
Virginia Wesleyan’s programs in French studies, German studies, and Hispanic studies are designed to prepare students for meaningful interna tional and intercultural exchange in a competitive, globalized world. Sudents pursuing one of these majors will acquire a multidisciplinary and comprehensive understanding of the target culture, its language, and its impact on the world at large. In the ever-changing world, where contact with a variety of languages and peoples is both desirable and inevitable, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures strongly believes in the teaching of languages in their contexts as the means to overcome obstacles to intercultural and international contact and communication.
This major primes students for meaningful exchange in an increasingly complex, globalized, transnational, and multicultural world where interaction with non-English speaking people has become not just desirable, but unavoidable and where liberal arts graduates should have a sense of enlightened understanding of, appreciation for, and solidarity with other countries, nations, and peoples. Students are prepared for careers in education, diplomacy, business, communications, political science, and journalism, and for graduate study.