Welcome to the Department of Modern Languages! We warmly invite you to visit our world by exploring our many course offerings, eight majors and nine minors, and other amazing opportunities to engage with the rich diversity of languages and cultures around us.

From beginning language study to advanced seminars such as “Podcasting en español,” “Topics in Arabic Media,” and “Russian Hackers,” our engaging, student-centered classes dive deeply into the cultures, arts, and histories of our eight language areas. For students interested in the how of language learning, our Second Language Acquisition courses explore theoretical, technological, cognitive, and policy issues, and discuss questions of bilingualism and multilingualism, language diversity and identity. Our offerings in English highlight a wide range of cultural production, from German Film to Japanese Anime, and Chinese TikTok to Gaming in French, as well as key topics of race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, human rights and social justice. Like our advanced language seminars, these courses use the lens of cultural studies to examine other societies and understand diverse perspectives, giving students the tools to think more critically about the world around them and their place in it. No wonder students consistently rate Modern Languages courses as among their best experiences at Carnegie Mellon!

More and more, the world needs truly global citizens with linguistic and cultural competencies to engage thoughtfully with people from all walks of life. You may choose to study abroad. You may choose to work in global companies. You may live in diverse communities. Perhaps all three.  Modern Languages courses are excellent introductions to the languages, histories, and cultures of your future classmates, colleagues, and neighbors. Our courses will give you the knowledge and the skills that employers are looking for —critical thinking, cross-cultural competence, global awareness—, but, honestly, I invite you to our Modern Languages community, courses, and programs, because you will find them inspiring, fascinating, and quite possibly life-changing. If you can’t take advantage of transformative learning experiences during these four years, when will you?

Anne Lambright
Professor and Head, Department of Modern Languages