Languages and Cultures Department
Languages and Cultures Department
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Languages and Cultures Department


The Languages and Cultures Department offers a full six-semester program in each of the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. The mission of the Languages and Cultures Department is to produce graduates who possess a fundamental understanding of foreign languages and societies from linguistic, literary, cultural, and geopolitical perspectives. The Department offers majors in Arabic, Chinese, and Foreign Area Studies, and minors in all seven languages taught at USNA.

Languages and Cultures faculty members have native fluency in the languages they teach, and engage in research in a number of different fields: anthropology, the literature of many cultures, including electronic literature, theoretical and applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, corpus linguistics, theatre and cinema, folklore, early book and manuscript transmission, conversational analysis and identity construction, gender studies, and proficiency assessment.

Midshipmen must prepare class assignments carefully in order to be able to participate effectively. Films, video clips, internet sites, online learning aids, PowerPoint presentations, YouTube videos, speed conversations, online chat groups, portfolios, and journals are among the teaching tools used.

Class sizes are small, so that midshipmen have frequent opportunities for participation. The department uses the communicative approach, maximizing language use in the classroom.

At all levels, classes are conducted and written work is done in the target language. Acquisition of language and culture is supported extensively by technologies like video and computer-based multimedia wherever appropriate.

Contact information


Languages and Cultures Department
105 Maryland Avenue, Room 327
United States Naval Academy
Annapolis, Maryland 21402-5030

Phone: 410-293-6351
Fax: 410-293-2729

E-Mail:  language@usna.eduThe Naval Academy DSN prefix is 281-

Midshipmen at the Mexican calendar stone
Translations of “United States Naval Academy”
Arabic
Chinese
French
German
Japanese
Russian
Spanish

United States Naval Academy
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