Why is It Important to Learn a Foreign Language?
We are committed to educating engaged citizens of the world, students who are prepared for deeper scholarship or for the competitive job market they face. The interconnectedness of the world increasingly demands that citizens be multi-lingual. World-wide, 66% of the population is bilingual; in the United States that number is one in four and growing.
Lesley offers classes and self-directed programs that enable students to speak, write, read and do research in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Mandarin and Portuguese. We take our language students beyond the word, to the world, setting language into context within historic and cultural landscapes, through literature, current events and the arts.
Featured Course
CLANG 3200 Postcolonial Dialogues in Hispanic Literature: Spain,
Latin America and Modernism
This course will look at representative texts written at
crucial moments in the negotiations and redefinitions of modernity in different
parts of the Spanish-speaking world. These include poetry, fiction and non-fiction prose from Latin America
and Spain, written from the turn of the twentieth century to the 1950s. This course is bilingual.
Faculty Speak
“Our growing language program is an essential part of a Lesley education. It is crucial for students embarking on Liberal Arts majors, as we offer them a window into other cultures and worldviews. Furthermore, foreign language training has become a must for students who wish to compete as professionals in the US and the global economies.”
– Dr. Clara Ronderos,
Assistant Professor of Spanish and Foreign Language Coordinator