About the Department
The Department of Modern Languages prepares students as citizens of a global community by means of innovative methodologies, with a firm anchoring in a Christian perspective and academic excellence. Knowledge of foreign language has always been the mark of an educated person and is recognized by APU as an integral part of a liberal arts education. The Department of Modern Languages offers a Bachelor of Arts degree and minor in Spanish and course work in Chinese, French, German, and Japanese. Study of these languages provides students with the opportunity to simultaneously develop basic language skills and gain valuable insight into foreign cultures. This insight allows students to better understand themselves, their language, and their cultural traditions. Students also become more sensitive to and tolerant of the differences of ideas, communication styles, and cultural and economic networks connecting diverse peoples and regions. The study of foreign languages can open unimagined doors to new experiences and challenging careers.
The department assists students in acquiring a level of practical language proficiency, intercultural sensitivity, and cultural knowledge (including geography, family system, history, religion, and literature) through which students gain an appreciation of the national thought, communication, and cultural contributions of ethnic groups; attractively commend the Gospel among speakers of other languages who have no allegiance to Jesus Christ; and work, as the Holy Spirit leads, through business, trade, civil service, education, medicine and health, social services, law, agriculture, etc., to create among those populations a social order more agreeable to God.
Majors and minors in the Department of Modern Languages must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 in all university course work.
Department Mission Statement
The Department of Modern Languages seeks to guide student conversational development in a language other than English, develop reading and compositional skills, heighten cultural sensitivity, encourage creative and reflective thought, and introduce literary, historical, linguistic and pedagogical data, all with respect to the needs of the individual student, that service to God may be enhanced through service to others.
Department Overview
Knowledge of a foreign language has always been the mark of an educated person and is recognized by APU as an integral part of a liberal arts education. The Department of Modern Languages prepares students as citizens of a global community, with a firm anchoring in a Christian perspective and academic excellence. Both a major and a minor in Spanish are offered, as well as introductory study in the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and American Sign Language. Study of a foreign language provides students with the opportunity to simultaneously develop basic language skills and gain valuable insight into foreign cultures. The ability to speak a second or third language can open unimagined doors to new experiences and challenging careers as well as afford the pure enjoyment of speaking with people from other countries.
Academic advising may help a student to select the language study most suited to his/her major. For example; music majors (especially those emphasizing vocal performance) may benefit most by studying French or Italian, history and religion majors may choose German, and nursing and social work majors might select Spanish. Art majors who hope to study in Italy or France would find Italian or French study advantageous; and business majors who plan to interact internationally may opt for Russian, German, Japanese, or Chinese. A student’s major advisor, and the Department of Modern Languages’ faculty, should be consulted for further specifics.
