Supplementary Language Training

Associated forms: 2008 Language Training Survey Results

Demonstrating competency in languages other than English is an important element of graduate education. Accessing scholarship and contributing to scholarly debate is now a global enterprise. Many fields of study have their origins in remote places and periods, and understanding the foundations of one’s field is a critical part of understanding how it can move forward. The need to be well-versed in the very latest techniques and results of advanced research and scholarship from around the world is particularly pressing for graduate students. It is you who are most directly engaged in the process of generating new knowledge, helping define new fields, and redefining old ones.

Language competency also represents a crucial connecting point for students’ research and the rest of world, especially for those who do international research as part of their course of study. Being able to communicate effectively with subjects in field surveys and experiments, negotiate with foreign governments about access to people or places, and present findings to the widest possible range of constituencies are important ways in which research can intersect with a wider world (to say nothing of getting through customs or finding a place to eat in a far-flung country). The Graduate School supports students from all disciplines in their language training – and we encourage students to think about new ways to make their research matter in locations outside of the U.S.  

In the winter of 2008, the Graduate School surveyed all current students to determine the best ways in which to support their needs for language training. The results demonstrate that the need for support in traditional languages – French, German, Spanish, and Latin – remains a top priority. We will continue to deliver support for training in these languages in the summer. As a result of the survey, the Graduate School has also begun meeting with the Center for Language Studies, the Sheridan Center, and the office of Summer and Continuing Studies to discuss new models for expanding the training we offer in additional languages, and in instruction at other times of the year.