Language Placement

Guidelines for Language Placement

Please check out our Summer Advising - AY 2023-2024 Guidelines for Language Placement. If you have questions about your placement into classes, contact your Language Advisor.

Experienced Speakers of a Language

First-year courses in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages are designed for students with minimal or no previous exposure to the target language. Students enrolling in second-year courses should have no more than foundational knowledge, equivalent to the first year. Students having previous experience with the language, such as attending junior high school, high school, community or technical college, or university in which the language in question was the primary language of instruction, may be required to begin study at a more appropriate level, if available. The decision will be left to the discretion of the instructor and the language department.

If a student feels the level of placement is inappropriate, help from the instructor should be sought early in the quarter.  Every effort will be made to place a student in the appropriate level.  Students with unusual cases (extended stays in a foreign country, bilingual background, etc.) should always seek the advice of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages in correct placement.