Language and Culture

Learning for a borderless future

The mission of the Language and Culture Program (LCP) is to foster the development of the linguistic proficiency and cultural awareness that students will require to become well-educated global citizens. The underlying goals of the LCP are to build communicative competence within a structured context; to strive for excellence in instruction through an eclectic yet integrated variety of pedagogical methods, including the innovative use of technology; and to instill a broad cultural awareness that can expand the disciplinary options open to students.

With people, information, and capital crossing borders more freely than ever, the ability to engage in different cultures, to connect knowledge across different societies, and to understand and form connections with a variety of people globally has never been more important.

Our Language and Culture Program, with its dynamic coursework and co-curricular activities develops both linguistic proficiency and cultural flexibility, providing students with the skills needed to meet the demands of a rapidly changing global workforce.

Program structure

All undergraduates must complete at least four language courses, ensuring sustained and intensive engagement with their chosen target language and culture.

Our program offers a wide range of courses: foundational language instruction, which focuses on everyday communication use through practical vocabulary, interactive grammar, and hands-on activities; beginner courses, which strengthen linguistic competency through cultural content, and advanced courses which explore topics such as global issues, visual arts, creative writing, history, literature, and media studies in the target language.

With small class sizes and dedicated faculty, we emphasize personalized learning, active participation, and individualized support.

Explore our offerings

Catalog: View Language and Culture Courses

Buildings on either side of a river in Nanjing, China

Chinese

Students have study-abroad opportunities in mainland China

Chinese Language Program

French

Learn French while exploring diverse voices from around the world. From literature and philosophy to visual media and cultural traditions, our courses prepare you to study abroad and engage globally

French Language Program

Japanese

Students can attain university placements across Japan

Japanese Language Program

Spanish

Students can choose to study in Spain, Mexico, and other Latin American countries

Spanish Language Program

Chinese

Students have study-abroad opportunities in mainland China

Chinese Language Program

French

Learn French while exploring diverse voices from around the world. From literature and philosophy to visual media and cultural traditions, our courses prepare you to study abroad and engage globally

French Language Program

Japanese

Students can attain university placements across Japan

Japanese Language Program

Spanish

Students can choose to study in Spain, Mexico, and other Latin American countries

Spanish Language Program

The Study Abroad experience

The Language and Culture Program collaborates closely with the Study Abroad and International Programs Office to prepare students for their required semester-long study abroad that takes place in their junior year.

Upper-division courses are available for students with sufficient background in the target language and those returning from study abroad.

The rigorous requirement for language study and the integrated study abroad experience are essential to SUA’s mission of global learning—cultivating the ability to make and understand connections across the world’s diverse communities. The four languages offered—French, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese—are among the most widely spoken worldwide, and when combined with English, give SUA students access to much of the world’s population. But learning a foreign language is also a journey inward: as Montaigne once wrote, exposure to other cultures allows us to judge our own more wisely. At SUA, we work to ensure that language learning and study abroad deepen not only intercultural understanding but also students’ reflections on their own cultural values, forming a foundation for global citizenship.

Explore Study Abroad

Global Language and Culture Center

The Global Language and Culture Center is a dedicated campus space for foreign language learners, tutors, and instructors. The GLCC hosts a variety of exciting cultural events and student-led activities to encourage active participation and promote intercultural appreciation.

GLCC Website

The company of other people is wonderfully suited to learning, as is visiting foreign countries — to bring back the temperaments and customs of these nations, and to test and hone our minds against those of others.

— Montaigne, “On Educating Children”

Support services

To enhance language acquisition, our Language and Culture Program offers:

Tutoring

Mandatory for students in introductory-level language courses and provided by multilingual Soka student employees to encourage casual conversation in target languages as well as to provide grammatical support.

Language testing

At Soka, we administer language tests for first-year students to determine appropriate course placement and, for all students, to assess language proficiency before and after their study abroad experience.