Salve! ¡Bienvenidos! Bienvenue! Huanying! Those four words all mean “Welcome” in the languages that are taught here at John Bapst: Latin, Spanish, French, and Chinese. We offer a wide variety of offerings within our department of Modern and Classical Languages. Students may take four-year sequences in Chinese, Latin, French, and Spanish.

For modern languages, the goal is to develop proficiency in the communicative skills that will allow our students to acquire a life skill for today’s global market. With the use of readings, dialogues, authentic online materials, and listening CD’s/DVD’s of native speakers, the emphasis in our classrooms is the promotion of these real-world listening, speaking, reading, and writing capacities. Adding a layer of richness and fun is the exposure to cultures that contribute to a well-rounded global education. John Bapst is fortunate to have international students among its student body; students interact with speakers of other languages daily.

We encourage our students to take all four years of their chosen language. Many double up and take a second language as well.
In addition to our in class cultural experiences, trips are organized to places where the foreign languages are being spoken. Within the past five years student groups have gone to Costa Rica, Quebec City, Italy, Mexico, France, Spain, and elsewhere.