OVERVIEW

Hispanic Languages and Literatures at Pitt

The study of a foreign language, literature, and culture like Spanish traditionally has been one of the central components of an undergraduate education in the humanities.

Today there is an added practical dimension to this. With economic and cultural globalization, our links as a nation with Spain and Latin America have become much closer. At the same time, Spanish is not only a foreign language for us; it has become—much like French in Canada—a de facto second language in the United States.

With a Hispanic population of 37 million, the United States itself is the fifth largest country of the Spanish-speaking world. Spanish is the fastest growing field in the humanities today (more than 50 percent of enrollments in language classes in the United States are in Spanish). As a result, there is a growing demand for persons trained in Spanish (and also Portuguese) in many fields, especially education, where there is a shortage of new teachers of Spanish language and literature.

The Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures is especially noted for its faculty strengths in the area of Latin American literature and culture, including Brazil, but we also cover Spain and U.S. Latino culture and areas of Hispanic linguistics.

The department works in close cooperation with the University of Pittsburgh Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), and many students choose as a related area the CLAS undergraduate or graduate certificate program. We also have strong ties to the Film Studies Program, West European Studies, and the Graduate Program in Cultural Studies.