Why Study Spanish

Helping you choose which major to study and ultimately jumpstarting your college career, SUU is here with the unbiased opinion on each of its majors. This video highlights what a Spanish or Spanish education student will experience in the classroom, what careers are available and what types of student excel from the perspective of SUU professor Junice Acosta Martinez.

More than 50 million people in the United States speak Spanish. Around the world, there are over 400 million Spanish speakers. As a result, no matter what kind of career you would like to pursue, most businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations welcome applicants who are competent in Spanish.

Spanish majors and minors at SUU gain proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking Spanish. They also learn about Hispanic peoples and their cultures through a wide variety of upper division courses, and gain knowledge and skills that can help them succeed in many different career fields.

Are you already majoring in another area? Consider a double major in Spanish. Employers and graduate schools see applicants with double majors as doubly prepared!

Are you already fluent in Spanish? If so, having a major or minor in Spanish on your transcript is proof of your skills and abilities.

Are you planning to go to graduate school, medical school, or law school? Studying Spanish will help you prepare! The Modern Language Association (MLA) states:

Did you know that studying a second language can improve your skills and grades in math and English and can improve entrance exam scores -- SATs, ACTs, GREs, MCATs, and LSATs? Research has shown that math and verbal SAT scores climb higher with each additional year of foreign language study, which means that the longer you study a foreign language, the stronger your skills become to succeed in school. Studying a foreign language can improve your analytic and interpretive capacities.

Are you interested in studying abroad? Virtually all courses taken at approved programs in Spanish speaking countries will apply to your Spanish major or minor at SUU.

The Spanish faculty at SUU hold doctorate degrees in varied areas of Hispanic Studies, such as linguistics, literature, film, and second language acquisition. We encourage you peruse their individual pages, or stop by their offices in the General Classrooms building to chat further about the advantages of studying Spanish.