Foreign Language Requirement
Proficiency in a foreign language is required for graduation under the A.B. program. Many undergraduates satisfy the foreign language requirement by demonstrating proficiency when they enter the University; proficiency may be demonstrated by achieving the requisite standard on AP tests or SAT Subject Tests, or on placement tests administered by academic departments at Princeton. Those tests can also determine whether a student is eligible to elect advanced courses (200 and 300 level). See the individual department entries for further information.Foreign language study is required through successful completion of courses numbered 107 (or 108) in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, modern or classical Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, or Turkish if taken at Princeton, or through demonstration of an equivalent level of competence. When an undergraduate begins a language at Princeton, three or four terms of study will usually be necessary. If continuing a language begun elsewhere, the student is placed at an appropriate level. At the end of any term beyond the first, a student may take a departmentally administered test and may thereby fulfill the language requirement. All A.B. candidates should begin meeting this requirement as soon as possible because students are expected to develop proficiency in a foreign language by the end of junior year.
Foreign language competence is usually necessary for any student who proposes to earn graduate degrees in arts and sciences. Certain professional schools also expect applicants to have ability in one or more foreign languages. There are also increasing opportunities to study a language in a country in which it is spoken through term-time and summer study abroad programs. For these reasons each student should anticipate language needs and plan a program of study accordingly. Many descriptions of departmental programs of study make reference to the languages appropriate for graduate study in that field.