Spanish Degrees

Whether you are interested in a language-intensive career (such as a translator, interpreter, teacher or professor of languages, regional area specialist, or international businessperson) or whether you are looking to enhance your career portfolio with language skills and cultural awareness, the undergraduate coursework in Spanish that you receive at Mansfield University will make you a more attractive candidate. Since there are 430 million native speakers of Spanish (making Spanish the third most commonly spoken language in the world) and over 36 million Hispanics live in the United States (making it our nation’s second language), Spanish is an important asset to have. Knowing Spanish will enhance your marketability.

The English and Modern Languages Department at Mansfield University offers two programs of study in Spanish, the B.A. and B.S.E, as well as the possibility of acquiring a minor or double major in Spanish. Both programs of study include courses in structure, phonetics and pronunciation, culture and civilization, and literature.

By graduation, our students will have taken at least 36 semester hours in their Spanish major and will have been encouraged to seek opportunities to communicate in Spanish outside the classroom, to make contact with the growing Hispanic-American cultures, and to have traveled and studied abroad.

We have found that these experiences are beneficial to both professional and educational candidates. And we have seen that students seeking these opportunities tend to achieve a better understanding of the many Spanish speaking cultures and find themselves in much stronger positions in their career pursuits. To date, our students have taken part in exchange programs in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, and Spain.

While studying Spanish at Mansfield University, students find themselves learning in classrooms superiorly equipped with modern teaching technology —technology that enhances their learning graphically, acoustically, and interactively. And, throughout their program of study, students have access to the Modern Language Center. On a daily basis, students are able to practice their communication skills in a comfortable 30 seat language center that is outfitted with high-end PCs and a T1 line internet connection. Indeed, the center’s webpage and student staff are conveniently available to guide students in their learning process, whether this means help increasing informational literacy or becoming more proficient with language-based software, the digitized audio materials of the Virtual Language Lab, and/or other media/web resources.

All Spanish majors must take the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview and reach a minimum of Advanced Low before they graduate.