Center for Language Studies

Why Languages?

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Why Languages?

Languages can take you anywhere. At CLS, we are convinced that learning languages serves your future goals while also providing you with unmatched experiences during your time at Brown. From studying and interning abroad to offering you a close-knit community here in Providence, we know how to make the local global.

Why learn languages? You'll develop the skills and emotional capability to succeed and excel in any job, profession or passion you choose to follow.  When first learning a new language, you learn to listen closely in order to understand and to speak deliberately to express your thoughts. You develop patience, camaraderie and solidarity and become a team player with those learning with you.

These learning conditions hone the traits of humility and patience and make multilingual speakers excellent at communicating and negotiating with compassion and persistence. These human traits are skills that employers want. At CLS, we know they are part of language learning! Still not convinced? Our students rave about taking language classes at Brown. Watch the video below!

What about the faculty?

Language faculty are amazing. Classes are small, usually fewer than 20 students!  You'll get a chance to know your faculty and they will know you.  Need a recommendation letter? They are the best faculty to ask!

Student Testimonials

Looking to learn a new language during your time at Brown? Interested but not sure which language to take or where to start? Listen as Brown students and alumni share their experiences with language courses at Brown, study abroad, and a multitude of other opportunities made possible by learning languages!
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Certificate in Intercultural Competence

Intercultural Competence defines the ability to apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes acquired through the study of languages and cultures in order to challenge prejudices, build alliances and create a just and peaceful world.
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Careers

Languages open doors! Alumni often report how important language classes were for their undergraduate experience and for their careers afterward. Explore this page to find out how languages can play a role in your pathways at Brown and beyond.
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My best friends are from first semester language class. None of us would have met if we hadn’t taken the French class together. You meet so many different people!

Language Ambassador

I like to think about languages as my second concentration broadly.

Biology Concentrator

With language apps I learned to talk like a robot. There are very nuanced things about learning a language and I think you need a professor to help you. Having a great professor that understands where you are coming from is key. Three weeks at Brown was much better than a whole semester diligently doing Rosetta Stone.

Undergraduate Polyglot