Experience language
In our Borders & Languages program, you’ll get an immersive language learning experience. Rather than grammar and vocabulary, you will focus on immigration law, Latinx literature, gender studies, and other topics relevant to today’s world. By centering on Latin American culture and history, you’ll learn Spanish in the context of real lives and historical moments. Given how people experience the overlap and intersections of culture in today’s world, most courses focus on the notion of borders—political, regional, cultural, interpersonal, and philosophical.
To think in English and use a Spanish translater might get you by on a short trip, but to be genuinely fluent in Spanish means you need to think in Spanish. Mid and upper-level Borders & Languages coursework mirrors the courses students take at university in a Spanish-speaking country. You’ll study everything in the Spanish language, philosophy, literature, politics, and social issues, as they play out in Latinx societies.
Study abroad and internships
Become all in
As immersive as the coursework is, you’ll still need to experience the daily routines of life in the culture to get the full effect. For many students who major in Borders & Languages, this means a semester studying abroad in a Spanish-speaking country. For others, this could take place in a Spanish-speaking community within the U.S. For example, you could get this experience by taking on an internship working with asylum-seekers in Texas. Many students also arrange internships with organizations in and around Durango that serve our local Latinx population.
A Borders & Languages major is a straightforward decision for some students because it makes them bilingual. Other students want a Borders & Languages minor because it gives them specialization in their future career path. Often, students begin as minors and switch to a major in Borders & Languages. What path will you take?