Enrollment in Spanish classes surging
Enrollment in Spanish classes is up because of increased world interest, some professors said.
By Joi Harris
Staff Reporter

Classes available through the department of Spanish and Latin American Studies are filled to capacity this semester since almost 15 percent of TCU students are taking Spanish classes.

Because of the United States’ enormous trade relations with Latin America and the nation’s growing Hispanic population, Bonnie Frederick, director of the department of Spanish and Latin American studies, said being skilled in the language and culture will put students from any major on an upward track.

Frederick said most people believe the majority of Hispanics live in the Southwest. However, she said there is not a voting district in the United States that does not have someone of Hispanic heritage in it.

Frederick also said if people plan to have any contact with the public in their career, they need to know Spanish.
“It’s a real gesture of courtesy and strengthens the relationship,” she said.

Erin Gillespie, a senior biology major, is from Kansas. In Hugoton, her hometown, she said a great deal of the population is Hispanic.

“I want to be a doctor in my hometown and if I can’t speak Spanish I won’t be much good there,” Gillespie said.

Chris Mattingly, a junior international finance and accounting major, said even though the United States is only a little more than 200 years old, Americans believe the world should conform to their views. However, since many businesses are becoming contact clients from all over the world, the nation cannot afford to be ethnocentric anymore.

“Because of the prevailing winds of the economy and business, students must understand other cultures and languages,” Mattingly said.

Karen Martin, a Spanish instructor, said being bilingual or having a good knowledge of the Spanish language will make students more marketable.

Meredith Holbert, a junior Spanish major, wants to be a lawyer either in South Texas, where she’s from, or somewhere abroad. Both of her parents are attorneys, she said, but neither speaks Spanish.

“My mom has to have someone translate for her,” Holbert said. “I just don’t want to have to deal with such a language barrier.”

Since immersion is the best way to truly understand a culture, Frederick said her department has started recommending students take a semester in a Spanish-speaking country.

In the last four years, the study abroad program has seen a 14 percent increase in enrollment of students studying in Spanish speaking countries.

“I learned more in six weeks (in Mexico), than I had in six months in the classroom,” said Gillespie, who studied at TCU-En-Mexico last summer.

Mattingly, who fell in love with the Spanish culture in Spain, said he shares Gillespie’s sentiments.

“Anything that would give me the opportunity to further my knowledge of the culture I love is beneficial,” he said.