The thriving metropolis of Atlanta offers plenty of opportunities for Oglethorpe students in every field, and Spanish is no exception; Atlanta is home to a vibrant Spanish-speaking community, giving students more ways to interact with native speakers, hone their language skills, and discover Hispanic and Latin American culture.

• Prepare for the adventure of a lifetime! After reaching basic proficiency in the language, every Spanish major is required to study abroad in a Spanish-speaking country for a semester. Oglethorpe’s partner institutions include Universidad de Belgrano (Argentina), the Universidad de San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador), and the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (Spain). (If you have another destination in mind, there are more options available; your advisers can help.) These study abroad experiences are a perfect way to foster international connections and discover another culture face-to-face… while benefiting from unparalleled immersion into the language.

• You can put your expanding language skills to work, or simply broaden your knowledge base, through an internship with a local organization, such as Atlanta’s Latin American Association.

• Oglethorpe’s Liberal Arts and Sciences Symposium is a beloved tradition, offering high-achieving students a chance to showcase their research projects in their fields. Spanish students have recently impressed their audiences with presentations such as “Latin American Literature and Politics;” “Literature of the Southern Cone;” “Argentine, Chilean, and Uruguayan Dictatorship in Fiction;” “Spanish-Moroccan Connections in Literature;” and “The Literature of the Island of Hispaniola.”

With more than 38 million speakers in the United States today, Spanish is America’s second most popular language by a wide margin. Fluency in Spanish, and familiarity with Spanish-speaking cultures, will enhance your career prospects and expand your options.

• Spanish graduates can pursue work as interpreters or translators. Some find their calling in education, or use their expertise to offer consulting to companies, organizations, and governments. Others find public-facing roles where their language fluency enables them to work with Spanish-speaking populations.

• Oglethorpe’s Spanish program is excellent preparation for additional academic work. Many Spanish students go on to pursue graduate studies, especially in fields such as comparative literature, cultural studies, linguistics, Spanish language and literature, or International Relations.

See degree requirements and course descriptions in the University Bulletin.