The Language Study Committee is responsible for certifying courses as meeting the language requirement. For further information, contact the Center for Language Study.

Language Designations

A first-term language course is designated L1 in the YCPS course listings under Subjects of Instruction; a second-term course is designated L2, a third-term course L3, and a fourth-term course L4. All language courses beyond the fourth term of study are designated L5. Courses that comprise the equivalent of more than one term of language study are designated with a range of levels, e.g., L1–L2 or L3–L4.

The Language Requirement

All Yale students are required to engage in study of a language, regardless of the range and level of study achieved prior to matriculation. Students who have not studied a language before arriving at Yale, and those whose prior language study does not qualify them for placement into a second-year course, are required to study a single language through three terms to fulfill the distributional requirement. Students who can place into the third term of a language program must successfully complete two terms of further study in that same language; those who can place into a fourth term must successfully complete one term of further study in that same language or successfully complete one or more courses in a different language at least through the level designated L3. Students who can demonstrate ability beyond the fourth term of language study, either by a score on an Advanced Placement test or by a score on a placement test at Yale, must either successfully complete one term of further study in that language or successfully complete one or more courses in a different language at least through the level designated L2. Students are also permitted to satisfy the language requirement by completing an approved study abroad program in lieu of intermediate or advanced language study at Yale. 

For more detailed information about the language requirement, see Requirements for the B.A. or B.S. Degree in the Academic Regulations.

For information about options for pursuing alternative language study, see Directed Independent Language Study (DILS) and Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTL).