Modern Languages

"To learn a foreign language is to acquire a second soul" - Charlemagne

The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures houses and coordinates five different programs:

French

We are a small but vigorous program that combines the acquisition of language skills with a wide-ranging study of French culture. We look at France in the various stages of its development, as the "eldest daughter of the Church," the child of Marianne, and a dynamic member of the transnational community of the twenty-first century.

German

We offer an academically challenging and energetic course of studies in German language, literature and culture. Those who learn German gain access to an important intellectual, economic and culturally historic area of Central Europe.

Italian

The Italian language is not only a means of communication, but it also expresses the soul of a people, its roots, its history, its culture. In the modern world where globalization tends to level and homogenize different cultures, it is vital to keep alive, through the study of the Italian language, a culture that has always played a prominent role in the Western culture.

Spanish

UD's Spanish Program celebrates the splendor of the Hispanic World, of Hispanidad, concentrating on the grand, the heroic, the poetic, the creative, the artistic, the holy, the stoic and other admirable facets of the legacy and contemporary reality of Spain and Spanish America. The Program also offers an interdisciplinary approach to Hispanidad through courses in Spanish language, literature, history, linguistics, and art history. Finally, the courses examine the tension between the unity and the rich diversity within the Hispanic world.

Comparative Literary Traditions

Comparative Literature is dedicated to the study of literature in the broadest possible framework – interlinguistic, intercultural, and interdisciplinary. Defined broadly, it is the study of "literature without walls." So it’s about making comparisons and connections between all sorts of literary and cultural realism. For details on our major programs in French, German, Spanish, and Comparative Literary Traditions, click on the above links.

It is also possible to "concentrate" (i.e., minor) in a French, German, Italian, or Spanish in combination with any major. Alternatively, you can complete a Language-and-Literature Unit in French, German, or Spanish in combination with any major.
Please explore the links above. In particular, if you are a high school student, check out the departmental language scholarships, for which you may be eligible.
Contact person for Modern Languages: Dr. Jose Espericueta, Chair: jespericueta@udallas.edu

For courses Taught In English (and Open to All): go to CLT Courses.

"Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiss nichts von seiner eigenen." "Apprendre une langue, c'est vivre de nouveau." "Cada palabra tiene un alma."

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