American Sign Language

American Sign Language Icon
Department: 
Communication Disorders and Sciences Department
Number of Users Worldwide: 
250,000 - 500,000
Offerings: 
Levels 100-300
ASL is offered as a two year language sequence and meets the second language requirement for the University bachelor of arts requirement. In addition, ASL 301 - American Deaf Culture fulfills a multicultural course requirement in Identity, Pluralism, and Tolerance (IP).

French

French Icon
Department: 
Romance Languages
Number of Users Worldwide: 
220 Million
Offerings: 
Levels 100-600, SLAT, Minor, BA, Master’s, PhD in Romance Languages
French is spoken in more than 50 countries worldwide, is an official language in 29 countries, and maintains its status as a major language of culture, diplomacy, and economics. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, established in 1970 and usually referred to as “La Francophonie,” includes 53 member states on several continents. French is a passport to much of the world! In the French sector in the Department of Romance Languages, we teach courses ranging from beginning language instruction through graduate seminars designed for Masters and Ph.D. students. Our language courses emphasize real-world proficiency as well as the history and culture of the Francophone world.

Ichishkíin

Ichishkiin Icon
Department: 
Northwest Indian Language Institute (NILI)
Number of Users Worldwide: 
100 - 125
Offerings: 
ICH 101-103: 1st Yr Ichishkíin, ICH 201-203: 2nd Yr Ichishkíin
Ichishkíin (Sahaptin) is offered through the Department of Linguistics with support from the Northwest Indian Language Institute. The focus of this course is on learning Ichishkíin and learning the culture and history of the Ichishkíin (Sahaptin) peoples. Ichishkíin is currently spoken on the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Portuguese

Portuguese Icon
Department: 
Department of Romance Languages
Number of Users Worldwide: 
262 million
Offerings: 
Levels 100-300
From a small 12th-century kingdom in the far-western corner of Europe called Portugal, the Portuguese language spread to all corners of the globe (Brazil, Africa, Asia, and North America) during the Age of Exploration (15th-16th centuries). Portuguese, the unifying sound of Lusophone identity, is the sixth most spoken language in the world with a total of 236 million speakers. It is used in more than 34 countries and is the official language of eight nation-states in three continents (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe). Brazil alone has more than 190 million speakers (700,000 of which live in the United States).

Spanish

Spanish
Department: 
Department of Romance Languages
Number of Users Worldwide: 
570 million
Offerings: 
Levels 100-600, SLAT, Minor, BA, Master's, Ph.D.
Spanish is the official language of over twenty countries in the world, and it is the de facto second language of the United States. After Chinese and English is the third most spoken language in the world with over 570 million native and non-native speakers. In the Spanish sector of the Romance Languages Department, we provide classes that help students develop linguistic abilities in the language, with an emphasis on real-world proficiency, as well as introduce students to the major historical and cultural phenomena that characterize the Spanish-speaking world.

Spanish Heritage Program

Spanish Heritage Icon
Department: 
Romance Languages
Number of Users Worldwide: 
570 million
Offerings: 
Levels 100-400
Spanish Heritage Language program (SHL) program is designed for students who grew up in a Spanish-speaking household or community in a country where Spanish is not the dominant language, such as the United States. SHL offers a variety of classes to meet students’ needs as heritage learners. Students with Spanish-language heritage will explore topics related to their cultural background, and coursework is designed to help them recover and/or develop their heritage linguistic abilities. For more information about the SHL program please email: herencia@uoregon.edu