News

Too often, foreign language classes fail to meet the needs of "heritage speakers"—students who come from homes where the language is spoken and who may have some basic listening comprehension as well as cultural background in the language.

To better serve those students, Portland State is launching the region's first Heritage Language Initiative this fall, offering heritage language courses in its Spanish, Russian, Persian, and Arabic language programs, as well as courses in three new languages: Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Urdu. These classes target current PSU students who, already fluent in English, have the potential to be truly bilingual. There is a strong, unmet demand for English speakers bilingual and bicultural in these languages from business and government agencies.

The Heritage Language Initiative represents the University's commitment to internationalization with an emphasis on nations in the Pacific Rim region, such as Vietnam and the Philippines, and will also help establish a cultural connection to some of the ethnic communities in this region; over half of Oregon's heritage language speakers live within commuting distance of the PSU campus.