Law library helps students build language skills with Rosetta Stone software

The H. Laddie Montague Jr. Law Library is now offering Penn State law and SIA students Rosetta Stone software to help build language skills. The TOTALe software uses text, pictures, video, and games to teach each language and can be accessed on computers, tablets, and smartphones. Sixty-two students are using the software to build their language capacities.

Students have twelve languages from which to choose: Spanish (Latin America), French, Arabic, Russian, German, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian, Hindi, Spanish (Spain), Korean, and Chinese (Mandarin).

Legal writing professor Barbara Brunner has a background in Spanish language and literature; prior to law school she was chair of a college Spanish department.

“The ability to speak a second or third language is a great asset for any law student,” said Brunner. “This program will help build skills that will increase students’ marketability.”  

One student using the Rosetta Stone software is Yingchuan Mo, a first-year J.D. student from China. She chose Penn State Law to study corporate and securities law because of the school’s good reputation. Mo is studying French to help her with a career in corporate law at a large international law firm.

“I hope to become a corporate lawyer in the future, dealing with cross-border transactions,” said Mo. “Learning French will help me manage deals subject to the French civil law.”

Students who are interested the program should contact Associate Dean for Library and Information Services, Steven Hinckley.