About Us

The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures is the multicultural epicenter of the university. As a collective, it represents the traditions and languages of almost every corner of the planet: Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. The DMLL enables students to learn more about the world meaningfully through study abroad programs and by teaching them how to speak other languages and critically think about different cultural and socio-historic realities. Through acquiring language skills and cultural awareness, our students prepare for careers with an international dimension. The DMLL offers five different majors (in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish), seven different minors (in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish), and Arabic, Hebrew, and Portuguese classes. The department has strong interdisciplinary ties with the college’s programs in Asian Studies, Ethnic Studies, French and Francophone Studies, German Studies, International Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and World Literature. The DMLL professors lead various programs abroad: Cuba, France, Japan, Jordan, Italy, Spain, and Taiwan. Students in these programs participate in experiential learning activities, engage in events with local people, from academics to artists and writers, and research such topics as slavery in the Caribbean, the slow food movement in Italy, archeological sites in Petra, immigration, and poverty in Paris. Also, several students spend a whole semester in another country, learning a new language and culture and thus advancing their career preparation. Many modern language students are double majors, while others complete a minor in a language while majoring in another discipline. Undergraduates in any field can incorporate language study into their CWRU education. Besides the array of language, culture, and literature classes that the DMLL offers, students benefit from specialized courses on languages for the professions of health, business, law, engineering, and diplomacy. The DMLL faculty are very productive scholars, translators, creative writers, and dedicated and passionate teachers, mentors, and advisors. They work on various scholarly topics, from transatlantic studies to classical and contemporary Japanese literature and culture, from war and fiction in Germany to Latin American cinema, from 19th-century French authors to contemporary dystopian narratives.