Studying Foreign Languages at Houghton

 

The Foreign Language Department at Houghton is an academically challenging, two-year program grounding students in the fundamentals of their target language. Our first year program stresses comprehension and linguistic production from students, while the second year stresses a broadening understanding of vocabulary and essential grammatical concepts.

Houghton College currently offers majors in Spanish and French and minors in Spanish, French, and German. Beginning Greek and Hebrew are offered in the Religion Department, and Conversational Swahili in the Intercultural Studies Department. We provide opportunities for students to gain valuable experience and academic credit through service-learning and May term courses on site in Latin America, Europe, and French-speaking Africa. Our language majors are required to spend a semester studying abroad in countries such as France, Canada, Spain, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Germany/Austria and can complete this requirement through a variety of nationally recognized programs and institutions of Christian higher education including American Institute for Foreign Study (French & Spanish), Brethren Colleges Abroad (French & Spanish), Center for Cross-Cultural Study – Seville (Spanish), Central College Abroad (French & Spanish), Laval – Quebec (French), CCCU - LASP (Costa Rica) (Spanish), and Trinity in Spain (Spanish)

Students at Houghton also have the technological support for frequent and authentic contact in their target language. The Foreign Language satellite dish brings real time TV broadcasts from foreign nations, our students access journals, newspapers, and literature in foreign languages and from other nations online, and foreign language films are made available on request. Spanish and French clubs and mealtime language tables provide opportunities for our students to practice their conversation skills with faculty, with other language learners and with native speakers.

The Houghton College Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures equips and challenges its students to become international scholar-servants. Come grow with us!

For further information, contact Marlene Collins-Blair at marlene.collins@houghton.edu.