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About

​​Majors are available in Arabic Studies, Chinese Studies, French, German, Italian, Japanese Studies and Spanish. Language majors consist of advanced language courses at the 200 and 300 levels. Language Studies majors consist of six to eight, 200 and 300 level advanced language courses and 5~7 courses taught in English about the target-language culture, history, and society. Majors in this department do not include beginner (101-103) and intermediate (104-106, 114-115, 124-126) courses, which students must complete if their prior linguistic training is insufficient to take advanced courses. Minor programs are available for all languages.

All students are strongly encouraged to participate in DePaul's study abroad programs in Austria, China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain and other locations. Consult the Study Abroad office for current offerings.

Our Advising FAQs webpage and study abroad/degree progress video can help students better understand how to apply study abroad credit to degree requirements. Our Language Resource pages include information about students who major/minor in a language, what students can do with a language program, employment opportunities for language major/minor students and financial support for language studies.

Typical Language Course Sequence

  • 101 fall (ITA 101 is often offered every quarter, excluding summer)
  • 102 winter (per student interest, ITA 102 is occasionally offered fall or spring, in addition to winter)
  • 103 spring (per student interest, ITA 103 is occasionally offered fall or winter, in addition to spring)
  • Spanish 101, 102, 103 typically offered every summer (listed as SPN 101S and SPN 103S, with 102 content covered between 101S and 103S at 6 credits per course) Other first-year beginner language 101S and 103S courses are offered when there is sufficient enrollment.
  • 104 fall
  • 105 winter
  • 106 spring (FCH and SPN 106 also available in the fall - Many students who completed 4 years of high school French/Spanish place into 106, hence this "off-sequence" 106 section in the fall. This section is typically filled with incoming first-year students.)

Intermediate Spanish for Heritage Learners (Students who want to study Spanish and who place into heritage Spanish courses are required to take Spanish heritage courses.)

  • 114 fall (equivalent to 104 - course repeat policy applies - students with SPN 104/105 AP credit should not take 114/115)
  • 115 winter (equivalent to 105 - course repeat policy applies)
  • 200 spring (equivalent to 106 - course repeat policy applies)

Intermediate experiential learning Spanish (satisfies experiential learning requirement):

  • 124 fall (equivalent to 104 - course repeat policy applies - students with SPN 104/105 AP credit should not take SPN 124/125)
  • 125 winter (equivalent to 105 - course repeat policy applies)
  • 126 spring (equivalent to 106 - course repeat policy applies)

Latin 113 fall (poetry), 114 winter (prose), 115 spring (prose composition) and Greek (ancient) 104 fall, 105 winter, 106 spring may be offered if there is sufficient interest. Latin 113-115 may be completed in any order.

  • 201 fall
  • 202 winter
  • 203 spring

SPN 201, 202, 203 typically available every quarter fall/winter/spring

Advanced Spanish for Heritage Learners (Students who want to study Spanish and who place into Spanish heritage courses are required to take Spanish heritage courses.)

  • 205 fall (equivalent to 201 - course repeat policy applies)
  • 206 winter (equivalent to 202 - course repeat policy applies)
  • 207 spring (equivalent to 203 - course repeat policy applies)

In addition to the 201-203/205-207 advanced communication courses, Spanish also offers many 200-level SPN courses in areas such as commercial Spanish, law, linguistics, medical professions and translation. Before students take SPN 220 or above at the 200 level, they should take one of the following (or the equivalent): 201, 202, 205 or 206.

French, Italian, German and Spanish 201-203/205-207 advanced communication courses may be taken in any order.

German 201-203 courses may be taken concurrently with German 300-level courses and do not have to be taken in sequence, even though students completing these courses in order will notice an arc within them across the academic year. 

Italian 201-203 courses may be taken concurrently with Italian 300-level courses.

For French and Spanish, the completion of at least one 200-level course is highly recommended before beginning the 300 level.

Arabic, Chinese and Japanese must be taken in sequence and before the 300 level.

ARB 201 focuses on reading, ARB 202 focuses on writing, ARB 203 focuses on speaking/presentations.

Students may take any RUS 200- or 300- level course in any sequence per Russian 200-level test placement or by instructor permission.

These courses are typically non-sequential.
 
Arabic, Chinese and Japanese students should complete ARB/CHN/JPN 201-203 prior to registering in a ARB/CHN/JPN 300-level course unless otherwise determined by the language program director per student proficiency.
 
For French, students generally perform better in FCH 300-level courses after the completion of at least one FCH 200-level course. Students who studied French prior to DePaul and complete FCH 106 fall quarter as new students are generally able to successfully proceed to the 300 level after 106.
 
For German and Italian, students may take any GER/ITA 200- and 300-level course concurrently after 106.
 
For Japanese, the JPN 301-303 sequence (4th year) begins fall quarter odd years and the 311-313 sequence begins fall quarter even years. These courses should be taken in sequence after completing 201-203 (3rd year JPN). JPN 342, 343, 344 (5th year JPN) should be taken after JPN 303 or 313. JPN 395: FLAC Japanese (2 credits) concurrently offered with a Japanese Studies course, such as REL or HST. The course is designed for a 4th year or higher level student (after JPN 203). 
 
For Spanish, before students take SPN 300-level courses, they should take one of the following (or the equivalent): 201, 202, 205, or 206.

For Russian, students may take any RUS 200- or 300- level course in any sequence per Russian 200-level test placement or by instructor permission.
 
For individual student recommendations, please consult with the language program director.
 
  • ASL = Ms. Dana Demeter, ddemeter@depaul.edu
  • Arabic = Dr. Nesreen Akhtarkhavari, nakhtark@depaul.edu
  • Chinese = Dr. Li Jin, ljin2@depaul.edu
  • Classical Studies = Dr. Anna Souchuk, asouchuk@depaul.edu
  • French = Dr. Polly Mangerson, polly.mangerson@depaul.edu
  • German = Mr. Eugene Sampson, esampso2@depaul.edu
  • Italian = Dr. Caterina Mongiat-Farina, cmongiat@depaul.edu
  • Japanese = Dr. Nobuko Chikamatsu, nchikama@depaul.edu
  • Spanish = Dr. Glen Carman, gcarman@depaul.edu
  • Russian = Dr. Anna Souchuk, asouchuk@depaul.edu
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