Students who have had two or more years of a foreign language in high school must take Purdue's placement exam before they can enroll in a class in that language at Purdue. There is no charge for taking an exam. If students have taken the foreign language Advance Placement (AP) exam, their score will indicate placement into the proper Purdue language course and they don't need to take Purdue's placement exam. The Office of Admissions website has information about how AP exam scores translate into Purdue courses and credit.

NOTE: Native speakers are not eligible to be tested in their native language. Also, students who have college credit in a foreign language on their transcript may not take the placement exam in that language.

Click on any of the links below for more information about the following placement exams:

• French, German, Japanese, Latin, Russian and Spanish*

• Chinese*

• Chinese Heritage Language Speakers* -- students who attended high school in English but who grew up in families/households where Chinese was spoken.

• Other Languages Taught at Purdue* (Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Korean and Portuguese)

• American Sign Language (ASL)

• Other Languages NOT Taught at Purdue

*For more information about these placement exams, visit the Foreign Language Placement Exam Schedule webpage and/or contact the Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures at (765) 494-3828.

The Chinese Placement Exam is generally given at least once each semester. Contact Prof. Daniel Hsieh (dhsieh@purdue.edu) for more information.

Heritage Speakers are students who have acquired some oral language skills from home or other sources, but have graduated from a secondary school where the main language of instruction was English.

• Chinese Heritage Speakers - contact Prof. Daniel Hsieh (dhsieh@purdue.edu) or Prof. Wei Hong (hongwei@purdue.edu).

Other Languages Taught at Purdue

• Arabic - contact the Arabic Language Coordinator, Prof. A. Idrissi Alami (aidrissi@purdue.edu).

• Greek (Ancient), Hebrew (Biblical and Modern), Italian, Korean & Portuguese - placement exams in these languages are available during Fall and Spring semesters. Contact the Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures at (765) 494-3828 for more information or to arrange an exam.

The ASL Challenge Test for placement in Purdue ASL classes is generally given at least once each Fall & Spring semester. Contact Raymond Olson, Challenge Test Coordinator (rcolson@purdue.edu) for more information.

Other Languages NOT Taught at Purdue

Students who are proficient in languages that are not taught at Purdue may be able to receive Purdue credit and/or have certain degree requirements met depending on the college/school they CODO into when they leave USP. As an example, the College of Science gives students the opportunity to fulfill all or part of its "Language and Culture" requirement by taking a test in Hindi. For more information, contact an academic advisor in a specific Purdue college/school.

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