The following areas are administered by this department: American Sign Language, Arabic, Asian Studies, Chinese, Classics, ESL, German, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Latin, Linguistics, Literature in Translation, Russian, Russian, and Post-Soviet Studies, and World Literature. Each language or area is listed alphabetically.

Associate Professor Krapp, Chairperson

Arabic (ARAB)

Associate Professor Krapp, Chairperson and Adviser

Asian Studies (ASST)

Professor Welch, Director of Asian Studies

The Asian Studies program is an interdisciplinary program designed to provide the student with a broad understanding of the traditional and modern civilizations of East Asia and Southeast Asia. The Asian Studies program offers both a major  and minor . Study of an Asian language is strongly recommended for all majors and minors, and language courses beyond level 4 may be counted toward the major requirements.

Chinese (CHIN)

Professor Zhou, Director of Chinese Program Studies

Classics

Professor Marchesi, Director of Classics Program

Comparative Literature (CLL)

Professors Donahue, Lekatsas, Leonard, Marchesi, Rifkin, Smith, Zhou
Associate Professors Gales

English as a Second Language (ESL)

Professors Wahba, Program Director

German (GERM)

Professor Donahue, Director of German Program​

Greek (Ancient) (GRK)

Professor Smith, Adviser

Hebrew, Modern (HEBR)

Associate Professor Krapp, Chairperson and Adviser

Japanese (JPAN)

Professor Welch, Director of Japanese Program

Latin (LAT)

Professor Marchesi, Advisor

Linguistics (LING)

Professor Leonard, Director of Linguistics Programs

Literature in Translation (LIT)

Literature in Translation courses are available under the prefix LIT, as well as in French (FRLT), Italian (ITLT), Romance Languages and Literatures (RLLT), and Spanish (SPLT). See Course Descriptions  for more information.

Modern Greek (MGRK)

Associate Professor Krapp, Chairperson and Adviser

Russian (RUS)

Professor Krapp, Chairperson and Adviser

Russian literature in translation courses can be found under the prefix LIT.

Swahili (SWAH) 

Professor Leonard, Adviser

Swahili is a major lingua franca in Africa with millions of speakers throughout the eastern part of the continent. A Bantu language of the Niger-Kordofanian family, Swahili has a typical, complex Bantu structure. It utilizes, for example, some 13 noun classes, the equivalent of a Romance language having 13 genders.

The Swahili course series introduces the student to the basics of speaking, understanding, reading, writing, and conversing. An important part of the curriculum is the culture of the Swahili people and of other speakers of the language. Readings on culture are supplemented with guest lecturers. Language lab is required.

World Literature

Associate Professor Krapp, Chairperson and Adviser