Spanish Major

There are 40 million Spanish speakers in the United States, and the Spanish-speaking population is growing rapidly. With over 400 million speakers, Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language in the world. Spanish is an official language on four continents and is a native language in 21 countries, including the United States.

About the Major

As a Spanish major at Ohio Wesleyan, you will acquire the ability to read, write, and converse in Spanish at a proficient level, while also gaining an understanding and appreciation of the diverse cultures that make up the Hispanic world. At the advanced level, you will have the opportunity to take courses that delve deeper into a variety of topics related to the Spanish language, cultures, literatures, and cinemas, in their specific sociohistorical and geographical contexts, and in dialogue with other languages spoken in Latin America and Spain.

In some courses you will learn to analyze and interpret authentic cultural materials with an awareness of the sociocultural, historical and political contexts in which cultural and artistic productions take place. In other courses, you have the chance to think about language scientifically as you study topics in linguistics ranging from the sounds and structures of Spanish to language acquisition and bilingualism.