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Northwestern University

Standard Ways to Fulfill the Language Requirement

NOTE: Students who start taking classes at Northwestern after Spring 2023 should refer to the relevant language proficiency table. The information below pertains to students who started at Northwestern Spring 2023 or earlier.

This table shows ways to fulfill the Weinberg Language Proficiency Requirement by taking Northwestern courses or by doing sufficiently well on an AP or Northwestern exam.

IMPORTANT NOTE: All courses used to attain Weinberg language proficiency must be taken for a letter grade; they cannot be taken P/N.

Language proficiency
Language Department Course completed with a C- or Better AP Score Other
Arabic MENA Languages Program ARABIC 121-3 none Program Test and Interview
Chinese Asian Lang. & Cultures CHINESE 121-3 or 125-3 or above none Dept. Test and Interview
French French & Italian FRENCH 121-3 or 125-3 or 201-0 5*, but take dept test if continuing in French  Dept. Test and Interview
German German GERMAN 102-3, 205-1, 205-2, 221-1, -2, or -3 none** Dept. Test and Interview
Ancient Greek Classics GREEK 201-3 none Dept. Test
Hebrew MENA Languages Program HEBREW 121-3 none Center Test
Hindi Asian Lang. & Cultures HIND-URD 121-3; 125-2 or 210-0 and above none Dept. Test and Interview ***
Italian French & Italian ITALIAN 102-3, or 133/134-3 4 or better Dept. Test and Interview
Japanese Asian Lang. & Cultures JAPANESE 121-3 or 211-1 or above; course required depends on placement none Dept. Test and Interview
Korean Asian Lang. & Cultures KOREAN 121-3; 125-2 (if taken in 2016-17 through 2023-24) or 125-3; or 211-1 or above. Course required depends on placement. none Dept. Test and Interview
Latin Classics LATIN 201-3 5 Dept. Test
Persian (Farsi) MENA Languages Program PERSIAN 121-3 none Program Test and Interview
Polish Slavic Lang. & Literature

POLISH 208-3, 358-1, 358-2 (Before Fall 2019: SLAVIC 208-3, 358)

none Dept. Test and Interview
Portuguese Spanish and Portuguese PORT 121-3 or PORT 115-2 none Dept. Test and Interview
Russian Slavic Lang. & Literature

RUSSIAN 102-3 or above. (Before Fall 2019: SLAVIC 102-3 or above)

none Dept. Test and Interview
Spanish Spanish and Portuguese

SPANISH 121-3, SPANISH 125-0, or SPANISH 127

4 or better on Lang. and/or Lit. exam Dept. Test and Interview
Swahili Program of African Studies SWAHILI 121-3 none Program Test and Interview
Turkish MENA Languages Program TURKISH 121-3 none Program Test and Interview
Urdu Asian Lang. & Cultures HIND URD 121-3 or 210-0 and above none Dept. Test and Interview ***

* French - For students entering prior to Fall 2014, the language requirement in French could also be satisfied with an AP score of 4.

** German - For students entering prior to Fall 2018, the language requirement in German could also be satisfied with an AP score of 4. For students entering prior to Fall 2020, the language requirement in German could be satisfied with an AP score of 5.

*** Hindi-Urdu - Or IB test score of 5 or above and 10th- or 12th-grade Indian Board Exam (including GCE and IGCSE) results of 70% or above. Students with a Hindi or Urdu IB score of 5, 6, or 7 have satisfied the foreign language requirement.

Updated 6/5/20

NOTE: Students who start taking classes at Northwestern after Spring 2023 should refer to the relevant language proficiency table. The information above pertains to students who started at Northwestern Spring 2023 or earlier.

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