We hope that all students will take advantage of the opportunity to study a modern or classical language at F&M. Competency in a foreign language helps students develop an informed and thoughtful awareness of language as a system and facilitates their exploration of other cultural worlds.

For some students this may mean continuing with a language that they have been studying in high school, and for others it may be the opportunity to start a new language. In all cases, as you contemplate your opportunities for language study, choose a language that complements your personal and academic goals. 

Languages at F&M

Explore Other Languages and Cultures

Things You Should Know

Language Studies Requirement

Goal: Acquire linguistic and cross-cultural competency through foreign language study

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Placement Information

For language placement information, please contact Gina Brown.

Contact Gina Brown

International Studies

The mission of the International Studies Program is to unite a cohort of students who will broaden the experience of their various major programs as they develop an international perspective and immerse themselves in the language and culture of a non-English-speaking country or region. 

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Study Abroad

Off-campus study helps students begin to understand how to negotiate cultural and linguistic differences, strengthening students' abilities to live and work successfully in our increasingly global society. 

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Language Fellowship Opportunities

Diversity and Inclusivity in Language Studies

The Departments of Classics, French and Francophone Studies, German and Russian, Italian, and Spanish and Linguistics, and the Programs in Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, and Japanese strongly support the College’s efforts to encourage diversity and inclusiveness on campus.

The languages have always had dialogue, inclusivity, and cross-cultural understanding as part of their mission, and our faculty contribute to this climate of inclusivity on campus in unique ways.

Our faculty are a diverse mosaic of cultural, national, and ethnic origins, and of linguistic, religious, and sexual identities.

Our language pedagogy encourages meaningful communication among individuals with very different life experiences.  

We partner with programs such as International Studies, Africana Studies, Comparative Literary Studies, Judaic Studies, and Women’s and Gender and Sexuality Studies, offering courses that challenge the idea of fixed identities.

The events and initiatives we bring to campus help create a spirit of dialogue and inclusiveness. Just a few examples are the Spanish Department's Spanglish celebration and their several CBL initiatives and partnerships and our fundraiser for refugee resettlement agencies in Lancaster; the upcoming visit by Algerian-Italian writer Amara Lakhous, co-sponsored by Italian, Africana Studies, Arabic, and French; the annual French- and Spanish-language film festivals, the Spring 2015 World Cup soccer tournament, or the multilingual readings of Homer's Iliad and Cervantes' Don Quixote in Fall 2015. 

We also recognize the need to always further our efforts. There remains work to be done, not only in our individual departments but also across the campus and in the larger Lancaster community. The language departments will continue to explore ways to foster diversity and inclusiveness in all aspects of our work, as teachers, as colleagues, and as citizens of our increasingly interconnected and pluralistic world.

 
Story 2/3/2023

Global Grad Earns Pickering Fellowship

F&M grad Paolo Caglioti '21 was recently named a Pickering Fellow, a competitive award that prepares graduates for foreign service careers in the U.S. Department of State.

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Story 1/10/2023

Making Connections: Unraveling Political and Social Upheaval...

Professor of French and Brooks College House Don Lisa Gasbarrone discusses her Connections Course “Les Misérables,” an in-depth reading and analysis of Victor Hugo’s renowned, 19th-century historical...

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Story 12/1/2022

Rouse Scholar Turns Adversity into Curiosity

Stricken with a mysterious illness in high school, sophomore Sara Beqiraj took adversity and spun it into curiosity. Meet the 2022 Rouse Scholar. 

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April 03
event 4/3/2023

Salomania and Oscar Wilde's Saucy Stateside Afterlife

Philadelphia Alumni Writers House

In the decades after Oscar Wilde’s death, his play Salome (1891) became a sensation. Its global...

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