Spanish is the second language spoken in the world (400 million in the Americas, Europe, and Africa). It is spoken in 23 countries of the Americas including the U.S., which is home to the 2nd largest Spanish-speaking population, only behind Mexico. Any career whether in the social sciences, humanities, health sciences, engineering, or the fields of agriculture will benefit from a major or minor in Spanish. A good command of Spanish can open windows for a Communication Science graduate who enters international marketing, or a speech pathologist who must work with children whose first language is Spanish. Spanish opens doors to people in government and international business. Latinos are the fastest growing portion of the population in the U.S., and so political scientists or anyone interested in government work may also consider this language for further study. Latin America also needs electrical engineers, civic engineers, and mechanical engineers working for a variety of industries. An important area of professional preparation is teaching. In fact, right now, Connecticut, along with many states, faces a real challenge in preparing the best teachers of Spanish for a multicultural world.

Once you are beginning to master Spanish with either 4 or 5 years of High School Spanish or SPAN 3178, you might consider abroad programs that can work with your major or give you the opportunity of a double major, or enhanced minor. Our current offering of UCONN Abroad programs includes 1) a UCONN program in the city of Granada, Spain, intended for majors and minors in Spanish where students can experience activities like seeing unique monuments from the Muslim world (The Alhambra), traveling to an olive oil factory, or hiking the 3,000+ meter mountains of the Sierra Nevada; 2) a Granada-Health program intended for Allied Health and Pre-Med majors with an internship; 3) A Global-Tech Engineering program with Valencia, intended for Engineering juniors also with an internship; and 4) a UCONN-Business Program in Madrid intended for students in the School of Business also with an internship.  See abroad.uconn.edu.  UCONN also offers other opportunities with Abroad programs to multiple countries in Latin America.