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Language Proficiency Requirement


Students must attain or work toward fourth-semester proficiency in a natural language other than English (LOTE). For students with no prior language courses, this typically consists of completing four courses or a total of 12 credits. Hunter College currently offers the following languages to meet the LOTE requirement: Arabic (ARB), Chinese (CHIN), French (FREN), German (GERMN), Ancient Greek (GRK), Hebrew (HEBR), Italian (ITAL), Japanese (JPN), Latin (LAT), Polish (POL), Portuguese (PORT), Russian (RUSS), and Spanish (SPAN).

Students who have prior language proficiency, including in languages not offered at Hunter (common examples include American Sign Language, Korean, Turkish, Urdu), may be exempted from some or all of the requirement. An exemption from the language requirement does not yield any credit unless the exemption is based on successful completion of college courses.

 Exemption based on prior study

Students should present to the Admissions Office transcripts, diplomas, exam scores, and/or other evidence that they have done one of the following:

·      successfully completed four years of one LOTE in high school,

·      passed a language Advanced Placement Test of the College Board with a grade of 3 or higher,

·      Passed at least one advanced college language or literature course that has a 4th-semester level prerequisite in that language,

·      graduated from a high school outside the United States in which the language of instruction was other than English, or

·      completed one or more semesters of full-time study at a college or university outside of the United States in which the language of instruction was other than English, including a study-abroad program.

 Exemption based on proficiency exam

Students to whom the above conditions do not apply and who want to demonstrate proficiency may do so through a Hunter-approved proficiency examination. To arrange for an examination in a language taught at Hunter, contact the appropriate department office:

Department

Language

Classical & Oriental Studies

Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Latin, Polish, Russian

German

German

Romance Languages

French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish

For languages not listed above, please contact the Admissions Office.