CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) -- Students who can't speak French or Spanish might find themselves at a loss for words inside the University of Cincinnati's Valentine House.That is, unless somebody takes pity on them and translates."We are allowed to speak English to guests who don't understand, but the rest of the time we are supposed to speak in French or Spanish, and sometimes you forget that not everyone understands," said Jeff Dapo, a Spanish major from Columbus.Dapo is one of 22 students living at the university's language house -- one of the newest examples of language immersion that is growing more popular at colleges and universities around the country.Teachers and students say that increasing globalization, with more Internet and television access to news and businesses around the world, has fueled increased enrollment in foreign language courses.The Modern Language Association's most recent survey of foreign language enrollments at 2,769 two-year and four-year colleges and universities showed a 17 percent increase to about 1.4 million enrollments, compared with about 1.2 million in 1998. The 2002 enrollment total was the highest since the beginning of the MLA surveys in 1958.Julie Hollyday, a journalism major and French minor from Toledo at Valentine House, believes constant exposure to the French language will help her chances of working in Paris."With the Internet, the Iraq war and businesses that operate worldwide, people see that the world is getting smaller in so many ways and knowledge of other languages becomes more important," she said.More schools are requiring or recommending immersion as part of a foreign language degree, and language houses and dorms provide an alternative for students who can't afford to study abroad."When we started about five years ago in two separate wings of a dormitory floor, we had to recruit people and couldn't fill the areas," said Catherine Jones, an associate professor of French at the University of Georgia. "This year, we have 18 students in each language and more that we couldn't take because we didn't have the room."The Thatcher Language House, established 10 years ago in a dormitory at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has grown from four languages to include areas for French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese and German. The house usually has 30 to 40 students on waiting lists, said director Therese Pasquale.Ohio State University set up a German house about eight years ago. Bernd Fischer, chairman of the German department, said the school receives calls every year from universities wanting information on how to set up their own programs."It definitely seems to be a growing trend that is spreading beyond the big universities to smaller universities and colleges," said Annie Smart, a professor of French at Saint Louis University, where German, French and Spanish houses were established in 1999.Students in Valentine House sign a contract agreeing to speak the language as much as possible, and they could be asked to leave if they don't try. They meet weekly with their French and Spanish housemates to practice conversation and learn about the countries where those languages are spoken.A recent viewing of the 1950s French movie "And God Created Woman" on the house's large-screen TV even drew some of the house's Spanish students."I understood more of it than I expected," said Dapo, who often strums his Spanish guitar while his roommate adds to the beat with Spanish-style drums in their room decorated with posters from Costa Rica.The house's 11 French students live on one floor and the 11 Spanish students on another. Each floor is supervised by a resident assistant -- a native speaker who encourages the students to speak in the required language, answers questions and instructs them in French- and Spanish-speaking countries' history and culture.The University of Cincinnati students are allowed to speak English with guests in the first floor commons areas but are expected to abide by the no-English rule on the upper floors."Of course there are exceptions," Lowanne Jones, head of University of Cincinnati's Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, said, laughing. "They are allowed to yell 'fire' in English."Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.