Understanding at least one other language and culture besides your own is essential for developing your capacity to understand and appreciate both your world and the wider world around you. Modern language study improves performance in many areas: communication, reading, cultural enrichment, creativity, and self-awareness. It also develops practical language skills that can be used in community service, in travel, and in a job market that every day becomes more international and interdependent in scope.

Erskine College’s modern language majors emphasize language acquisition and the study of culture, civilization, literature, and literary analysis. Students who complete majors in French or Spanish will spend at least one semester in an approved international program. Erskine overseas programs provide students with total immersion in a foreign culture and help them gain fluency in the language.

Graduates majoring in a modern language may enter teaching careers or, more commonly, combine a degree in language study with another major to create a variety of career options. The satisfactory completion of either modern language major should enable students to meet the language and literature requirements for teaching and for graduate study in language or other appropriate disciplines, or to satisfy standards for acceptance into the training programs of the government, social agencies, and business enterprises.