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Matt Phillips loves pursuing his passion for culture and theatre as a French major and the Director of Public Relations for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. In addition to studies of French conversation and culture at Illinois State, Matt spent a semester in Angers, France living with a French family and taking courses at the Université Catholique de l'Ouest. Matt's college years have been rich with performance art and cultivating his international spirit. His ambitions are to continue his education and explore careers in Arts Administration, ideally employing his foreign language capabilities.
The Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures offers majors and minors in French, German and Spanish as well as minors in Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Latin. Students in this program receive the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the world by learning another language (or more) by taking courses in grammar, conversation, literature, culture, linguistics, composition and more.
Studying abroad is strongly recommended by the department in order for students to obtain the complete experience and knowledge when majoring or minoring in a language. Studying abroad will not only earn you course credit but will also enhance and strengthen your language abilities as well as build your confidence when speaking and listening. Students can study abroad for a summer, semester or a year through one of our excellent departmental programs. The Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures has specific study abroad destinations with which relationships have already been established in a dozen exciting locations such as Florence, Italy, Madrid, Spain and Freiburg, Germany.
By joining student organization on campus, students can enhance their college experience in multiple ways. Student organizations are a great way to meet other students in your major. We all know how important networking becomes when entering the job market and by becoming involved in more than just your courses you give yourself the opportunity to build on your own “network.” Clubs and organizations also give students opportunities to build on their resumes. By holding positions within or being involved with these groups you give yourself an extra edge when applying for jobs or graduate schools. The Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures offers students a wide range of groups with which to become involved.
A Master of Arts in Languages, Literatures, and Cultures will significantly enhance your ability to find a job that requires your language skills. It will increase your possibilities of acceptance into a Ph.D. program in some of the best graduate schools in the United States. All requirements of the program, including comprehensive exams, must be completed within 6years. See the Graduate Student Handbook for further detail.
If you qualify, the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures makes it possible for students to earn a B.A. and an M.A. in only 5 years The BA/MA program allows students to increase their chances of pursuing an exciting career in French or Spanish. The Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures will invite its best students with a 3.5 G.P.A. or higher to apply for the B.A./M.A. program during their sophomore year. If this is a program that you are interested in and qualify for you can learn more about this program at the B.A./M.A. page.
Each Language Discipline has their own specific Online Placement Tests. Click on the links below for your appropriate test.
Do you want to live in an environment totally committed to the promotion of academic diversity and international curricula? If so, check out the Living Center
