Starting Fall 2018 Foreign Language Requirement
Students in Arts and Letters are required to reach intermediate proficiency in a foreign language. Normally 4 courses must be taken to fulfill this proficiency. The foreign language requirement may be satisfied through the study of any modern or classical language offered at the University. Students who choose to continue the language they have previously studied will be able to place out of lower-level language courses but must take at least one language course at the appropriate level during their undergraduate career at Notre Dame.
Students without Advanced Placement or SAT II credit but who come with some background in the language they elect to study will be placed according to examinations given during Welcome Weekend and prior to spring preregistration. These departmental placement exams are not credit bearing. Students may receive up to 8 hours of credit based on their scores on the AP and SAT II tests. If more than 8 hours of credit appear on a transcript, the credits beyond eight will not be counted and will be manually subtracted from the total number of degree credits calculated for graduation.
Descriptions of the levels of proficiency expected at the end of the 4th semester are here:
Arabic
Chinese
Creole
French
German
Greek
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latin
LCTLS (Bengali, Swahili, Turkish, Vietnamese)
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Check with the specific language department or the assistant deans in 104 O’Shaughnessy Hall to determine which courses fulfill the requirements.