The aim of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures is to develop and encourage a critical understanding of language and cultural diversity in a global context. It offers language courses in Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French and Spanish in addition to courses on literature, cinema, theater, language for business purposes and translation. It also offers courses on general linguistics and semiotics with a focus on interdisciplinarity.

The mandate of the Department includes the provision of liberal studies courses for the Ryerson student community at large, as part of the tripartite curriculum. We believe that language and culture studies should form an integral part of any post-secondary learning program and, in our opinion, the courses we offer our students function as a great complement to any degree.  Instead of perceiving differences as something that must be challenged, we think that it is by embracing these differences in by trying to understand them that we can reach a better understanding of today’s global society.

From a professional perspective, our courses are an added value to any career. In addition, students who are thinking about pursuing graduate studies will find that the ability to access resource materials written in languages other than English will provide them with a variety of vantage points from which to consider issues they intend to work on in the future.

The faculty members of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures hail from all over the world. In addition, Ryerson is without a doubt one of the most diverse universities in Canada, if not the world, and what we are offering students is an opportunity to become acquainted with the rest of the world while studying right here, in Toronto.

Course Enrolment Procedures

In addition to our language courses, we offer a limited number of courses taught in English, for which the pre-enrolment fluency assessment test is not required.

If you are thinking about starting to study a language at Ryerson, the process is the same for all four languages. Admission is by an online fluency assessment test and/or by an interview during specific periods in the year. Students should visit the Website of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures to find out about the online fluency assessment test. Admission is granted on a first-come, first-served basis and late registrants are normally not accepted.

The wide diversity of students' educational backgrounds at Ryerson makes pre-admission assessment necessary: it allows faculty to counsel students accurately as to which course or courses are appropriate and it ensures a uniform level of language skills in each class.

Students who have never taken language courses at Ryerson University are therefore required to have their fluency assessed to ensure that they are placed in the appropriate level. Please note that students who willfully or inadvertently enroll in the wrong course(s) may be forced to re-enroll at the Instructor’s discretion, or drop the course(s).