Center for Language Studies

World Languages and Cultures ~ WLC

World Languages and Cultures (WLC) offers a variety of languages including American Sign Language, Arabic, English for International Teaching Assistants, Hindi, Nahuatl, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, Urdu and Yoruba. Meet our faculty and learn more below!

Languages Offered Through WLC

American Sign Language (ASL) is a visual-spatial language that utilizes “the shape, placement, and movement of the hands” along with non-manual markers (facial expressions, mouth morphemes, and body movement) to convey information and communicate complex ideas.
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Hindi is the second most widely spoken language of the world. You’ll be able to have a conversation with more than 700 million friends!
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Spoken by 1.7 million native speakers today, Nahuatl offers a window into the worldview and history of indigenous communities in Mexico and its diaspora, whose cultural heritage has survived centuries of colonization
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Persian is a thriving modern language spoken by over 110 million people across the Middle East and Central Asia. Once a language of high cultural prestige and the language of choice for many empires, it was a dominant lingua franca from Turkey in the West to India in the East until at least the 18th century.
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Swahili is important as a lingua franca in Africa and is spoken by over 140 million people. It is the national or official language of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and is spoken in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Comoro Islands, Malawi, east Zaire, southern Somalia, northern Mozambique, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Northern Zambia.
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Brown University is one of the few North American institutions to benefit from a Turkish program. The Turkish Program offers courses from elementary to advanced levels.
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World Language & Cultures Undergraduate Award

The Center for Language Studies and World Languages and Cultures (WLC) accepts submission every May for this annual awards of at least $250 each to encourage and support students who are pursuing a language taught by faculty in WLC.