All students must fulfill Austin College’s Foreign Language Competency requirement in order to graduate. To determine your placement in a language, please follow the guidelines below. (International Students or students with fluency in a language not listed in option one, two, or three must see the Chair of the Classical and Modern Languages Department, Dr. Lourdes Bueno, about the possibility of a waiver of the Language Competency Requirement.)
For Students interested in French, German, Greek, Latin, Japanese, or Spanish:
| OPTION ONE No previous experience, or ONE year of a language in high school |
OPTION TWO Students who have taken TWO years of a language in high school |
OPTION THREE Students who have taken THREE OR MORE years of a language in high school or who speak the language at home |
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| French | Register FR 101 | Register FR 102 | Placement Test |
| German | Register GER 101 | Register GER 102 | Placement Interview |
| Greek | Register GRK 101 | Register GRK 102 | Placement Interview |
| Latin | Register LATN 101 | Register LATN 102 | Latin Placement Survey |
| Japanese | Register JAPN 101 | Register JAPN 102 | Placement Interview |
| Spanish | Register SPAN 101 | Register SPAN 102 | Placement Test |
| Other Language | See the Chair of CML, Dr. Lourdes Bueno, about the possibility of a waiver of the Language Competency Requirement. |
OPTION ONE:
- Students who have NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE in a language or wish TO BEGIN A NEW LANGUAGE, different from the one that they have previously studied in high school, are not required to take a placement test. They simply register for level 101 in the language they wish to take.
- Students who have taken ONE YEAR (in high school) in any of the languages mentioned above should enter that same language at the 101 level.
OPTION TWO:
- Students who have taken TWO YEARS (in high school) in any of the languages mentioned above should enter that same language at the 102 level.
OPTION THREE:
- Students who have taken THREE OR MORE YEARS (in high school) in any of the languages mentioned above MUST take the placement test to be placed at the appropriate level.
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- Note: If any change in level needs to be made, the student should talk to his/her language instructor. The change will be at the instructor’s discretion, based on the student’s best interest.
French
Required placement testing is available online. The placement exam must be completed before registering for a course in the language. (Austin College username and password are required to access the placement test.)
- Dr. Colin Foss, Assistant Professor of French
German
Required placement assessment will be conducted by phone or Zoom for students who want to take German. Please contact the faculty member for a five to ten-minute conversation about your background in the language in order to determine which course will best serve your needs. The placement exam must be completed before registering for a course in the language. Please contact:
- Dr. Ruth Cape, Associate Professor of German
- Dr. Wolfgang Lueckel, Associate Professor of German
Greek/Latin
Required placement assessment for Latin is available online: Latin Placement Survey. Required placement assessment for Greek will be conducted by phone or Zoom. Please contact the faculty member for a five to ten-minute conversation about your background in the language in order to determine which course will best serve your needs. The placement interview must be completed before registering for a course in the language. Please contact:
- Dr. Robert Cape, Professor of Classics
Japanese
Required placement assessment for Japanese will be conducted by phone or Zoom. Students who have already studied Japanese need to contact the faculty member responsible for placement in that language for a five to ten-minute conversation about your background in the language and your interest for future study. Through this conversation, they will determine which course will best serve your needs. The placement interview must be completed before registering for a course in the language. Please contact:
- Dr. Scott Langton, Associate Professor of East Asian Studies
Chinese
Austin College no longer offers instruction in introductory Chinese. For students seeking placement in third semester, offered for the final time in Fall 2020, a required placement assessment will be conducted by phone or Zoom. The placement interview must be completed before registering for a course in the language. Please contact:
- Dr. Jennifer T. Johnson-Cooper, Associate Professor of East Asian Studies
Spanish
Required placement test is available online: Spanish Placement Test. The placement exam must be completed before registering for a course in the language. Please contact:
- Dr. Lourdes Bueno, Professor of Spanish
ATTENTION:
International Students or students with fluency in a language not listed in any of the options mentioned above must see the Chair of CML about the possibility of a waiver of the Language Competency Requirement.
- Dr. Lourdes Bueno, Professor of Spanish, Classical and Modern Languages Department Chair