The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures offers majors in French, German, and Spanish designed to develop the student’s specialized knowledge of culture, literature, and language. The department also offers minors in French, German, Russian, Spanish, Comparative Studies in the Humanities, Foreign Languages, and Linguistics. The minors give students the opportunity to refine language skills, develop linguistic awareness, and acquire knowledge of a foreign culture and/or literature. Skills-development courses, which facilitate speaking, reading, writing, and understanding of a foreign language, are offered in these languages as well as in Arabic, Chinese, Italian, and Japanese. Courses in comparative studies in the humanities relate literatures to the other arts and general currents of culture and humanistic thought, while coursework in linguistics focuses on general concepts of linguistic structure and meaning and relates language development to other areas of human understanding. Additional study abroad is also encouraged. The Department also offers courses in Media Studies, which allow students to put into practice their theoretical studies in the humanities.