The Language Requirement

Beginning with this year's entering class (Class of 2026), all students must fulfill the Language Requirement through one or more courses taken at Dartmouth. It is no longer possible to gain an exemption from the language requirement on the basis of prior knowledge or high-school study. 

In talking with your advisees about their plans for first-year courses, please encourage them to reflect on the benefits of studying a language at the college level:

• Access to other cultures and ways of thinking
• Practical utility of language abilities for careers and travel
• Analytical skills from seeing how different languages work
• Dartmouth is a multilingual campus where they will often hear other languages spoken

How students can fulfill the requirement depends on the extent of their prior experience with languages other than English, as demonstrated by standardized test scores (SAT, AP, IB) or by a local placement test (LP). Please review your advisee's placement record with them to determine what options are open to them, as follows:

Other points to note:

1. Students are eligible to satisfy their Language Requirement only in the ways indicated by their own placement record. For example, a student whose record shows CHIN 03 EX is not eligible to satisfy the requirement by taking CHIN 03, and a student whose record does not show the notation LANG 03.00 EX or LANG 03.xx EX is not eligible to satisfy the requirement by taking an LRP course.
2. If your advisee feels that their placement record is inaccurate or that important information is missing, they should contact the relevant department right away. An incorrect placement might not be easy to correct later in their Dartmouth career, with the result that they wind up taking unnecessary courses or courses not appropriate to their needs.
3. For many languages, there is a good option to fulfill the Language Requirement through  an Off-Campus Program; i.e. by study abroad (LSA or FSP). Students can get more information from the relevant department or from the Guarini Institute website.
4. A student who wants to start a new language and is fairly confident of their ability may be able to progress more rapidly by taking an accelerated course. For example, ITAL 11 covers the equivalent of ITAL 1 + ITAL 2, and ARAB 1.20 covers the equivalent of ARAB 1 + ARAB 2. Thus, if the placement record says SPAN 03 EX, the student could fulfill their requirement in one term either with SPAN 08 or with ARAB 1.20.
5. A student who has documentation for a language learning disability should consult with Student Accessibility Services about appropriate accommodations.
6. Regardless of how they are placed, students need to fulfill their language requirement by the end of their seventh term of study. Waiting too long to start language study can cause them to miss good opportunities or even delay graduation.

Advising Tips for Languages

• Students should have a clear plan about how they are going to fulfill the Language Requirement, even if they are not going to study that language in the first or second term on campus.
• First-year students who have placed out of some but not all of an introductory language sequence should be advised to complete the needed courses as soon as possible. The longer they wait to pick it up, the rustier they will be, and the more difficulty they will have. Putting it off will frequently result in problems later on.
• Students should consider early on whether or not they want to do foreign study, and when. They should avoid taking the last prerequisite more than two terms before going on the LSA (+). When the latter condition cannot be met, the student should consult with the department to identify strategies (drill attendance or other) to keep up with the language.
• Encourage students to consider foreign study (LSA or LSA+) associated with the language with which they will fulfill the requirement. A student need not major in the language, and these programs are often some of the most important a student will participate in while at Dartmouth.
• Students must earn a B- or better in the 1-2 sequences to go on the LSAs to Germany, Russia, and Spain. Students must earn a B or better in the 1-2 sequences to go on the LSA or LSA+ programs in France and Italy.

LSA and LSA+ Offerings and Prerequisites