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Welcome to the Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures at NIU!
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We currently offer courses in fourteen languages and undergraduate majors in French, German, and Spanish. Majors in French, German, and Spanish may also pursue teacher certification. The Major in Russian was recently deleted. Minors are available in French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. Students who wish to pursue further specialization in French or Spanish can enroll in a graduate program leading to the degree of Master of Arts. While Foreign Languages & Literatures is a strong teaching department with many award-winning teachers, our faculty members also maintain active research agendas in areas of linguistics, literature, and culture.

In our state-of-the-art Multimedia Learning Center students can expand their exposure to languages. Students with interest in educational technology can pursue the Foreign Language Instructional Technology Graduate Certificate Program.

Founded in 1972, our Foreign Language Residence Program is one of the oldest in the United States. Students joining this language-immersion program live together with native speakers on a Foreign Language Floor in Douglas Residence Hall. Many of our students also take the opportunity to study abroad, some with support from three competitive departmental scholarships.

Students have the opportunity to participate in a number of interdisciplinary minors in which the Department is involved: Classical Studies, Comparative Literature, Latino/Latin American studies, Linguistics, Japanese/Chinese Studies, and Southeast Asian Studies.

For more information about your specific language interests, please visit your language area in the menu above.  For other contact information, please click on Contacts below. If you are a new student and have more general inquiries about our department, please email us at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .