This intensive foreign study usually occurs during the junior year. For students interested in French, the institute has permanent centers in Paris, Nantes, and Dijon, France. The college offers a Language Learning Center and individual language houses for students of French, German, and Spanish. The French house provides an opportunity for students of French to surround themselves with many elements of the culture during a year of residence. They share meals and spend time with a native speaker who helps them develop their French speaking skills.
Residents also enjoy special language-related activities.
All students with a French major or minor are eligible to live in the French house after their first year. The Language Learning Center has a wide variety of audio and video language-learning tapes, receives signals from four satellite dishes for international television 24 hours a day, and houses 14 Macintosh computers for the exclusive use of those studying languages. This facility, open approximately 60 hours per week, complements students' exposure to language and culture provided by the French house as well as related classes. Luther was one of the first schools in the Upper Midwest to make use of computers in language learning. Now with specially designed programs, all students of languages at Luther are able to utilize this motivating and effective learning tool in their studies.