The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at San Francisco State University is home to programs in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Russian and Spanish.

The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at San Francisco State University offers a comprehensive curriculum designed to help students develop the linguistic and cultural knowledge and skills necessary to contribute to a multilingual, international society.

Students majoring or minoring in a Modern language will become proficient in the target language, understand elements of the target culture, acquire knowledge of literature, and be able to analyze language structure.

An ever increasing Spanish-speaking population has made Spanish the second most spoken language in the state of California and in other states of the Union. The study and knowledge of this language, therefore, offers career alternatives in practically all fields of work and is definitely an asset when seeking employment.

The Spanish major consists of 30 units of upper division coursework. Up to 16 units of prerequisite coursework or demonstrated language proficiency is required to begin the major. All upper division courses are conducted in Spanish, and students are expected to use Spanish in their speaking, reading, and writing.