About LCL
مرحباً, Bienvenue, 欢迎, Willkommen, καλως ΗΡΘΑΤΕ, ברוך הבא, Benvenuto, いらっしゃいませ, 환영, خوش آمدی, Bem-vindo, добро пожаловать, Bienvenido, Hoş geldin!
The Faculty of Literatures, Cultures, and Language Studies is a vibrant and diverse community dedicated to expanding minds, forming well-rounded global citizens, and advancing cultural understanding. True to the fusion of imagination, emotion, and intellect that underlies Jesuit education,the LCL prepares students for success on the international stage and for a lifetime of curiosity and humanist engagement.
In the 1950s, confronting the diplomatic challenges of a burgeoning Cold War, Georgetown created the Institute of Languages and Linguistics. That institute emphasized language learning for students considering service positions in the foreign service corps and other government agencies. Later, the Faculty expanded the study of spoken and written languages to focus on the cultural, historical, and political contexts of world languages. Today, the Faculty of Literatures, Cultures, and Language Studies (LCL) provides immersive and interdisciplinary grounding in a wide range of languages, rooted in literary, cultural, and linguistic studies. It is home to some of the world’s leading scholars in literary criticism, cultural studies, and linguistics. Our role is more vital than ever. Given the rise of global authoritarianism and mounting climate catastrophe, the fate of one people threatens to become the fate of all. It is essential that we as scholars place global cultures in conversation with one another – to connect our humanity and creativity for the furtherance and preservation of democracy. Against this backdrop, Georgetown’s considerable strength in the languages and in international studies has made it a leading hub for intercultural dialogue.
In addition to French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, we also teach Basque, Catalan, Modern Greek, Persian, Polish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Hebrew, Hindi, and Swahili. Our students can also access courses in American Sign Language, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Thai. We have run Language Interest Groups in Amharic, Dari, Georgian, and Ottoman Turkish, Amharic, several West African languages, and Sanskrit.