Language Courses
Languages Offered
Find all foreign language courses offered at UC San Diego and link to course descriptions and departments or programs offering the courses.
- Note that some courses may have prerequisites or may limit enrollment. (For example, some classes may be limited to Heritage Language learners, declared majors, and/or graduate students.)
- Not all courses are available every quarter, and some are not scheduled each year. To find course offerings for upcoming quarters, you should:
- Check the schedule of classes and the department's website for anticipated course offerings.
- Questions? Submit them via the Virtual Advising Center
- Enrollment: Contact the department, program, or school offering the course
- Using the course for degree requirements: Contact your college advisor for GEs, and your department advisor for major/minor questions.
*Bolded Courses - Language Skills: The primary focus for these courses is on language skills such as speaking, listening, reading, writing, or signing
Italicized Courses - Language Component: These courses offer language instruction in the context of the culture of another society. They are often taught in the original language and have prerequisite language requirements, but they may include literature in translation or films with English subtitles.
Directed Language Study (Independent Study)
Linguistics' Directed Language Study (LIDS 19) is a course that allows students to learn basic conversation in one of over 65 languages. Under the supervision of a linguist, students work independently using self-instructional materials. The focus of LIDS 19 is on conversation - not grammar, reading or writing. All materials and/or access to materials are provided. LIDS 19 does not satisfy major or college language requirements. Visit the Linguistics Language Program website for the most updated offerings.
Examples of past languages offered:
- Albanian
- Amharic
- Arabic
- Armenian (Eastern)
- Bengali
- Bulgarian
- Burmese
- Cambodian
- Catalan
- Chinese (Cantonese)
- Chinese (Mandarin)
- Chinyanja
- Cree
- Croatian
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- Esperanto
- Farsi
- Finnish
- French
- Fula
- German
- Greek (Modern)
- Haitian Creole
- Hausa
- Hawaiian
- Hebrew (Modern)
- Hindi-Urdu
- Hungarian
- Igbo (Ibo)
- Indonesian
- Irish
- Italian
- Japanese
- Kannada
- Kituba
- Korean
- Latin
- Latvian
- Lithuanian
- Malay
- Navajo
- New Guinea Pidgin
- Norwegian
- Persian
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Russian
- Serbo Croatian
- Slovenian
- Spanish
- Swahili
- Swedish
- Tagalog
- Taiwanese
- Telugu
- Thai
- Tibetan
- Turkish
- Twi
- Vietnamese
- Yoruba
Transfer Courses
UC San Diego students may participate in distance learning/online courses offered by other colleges and universities.
UC Online
UC Online offers UC students the opportunity to take remote courses offered by another UC campus. Several online courses have been offered through UC Online, including Amharic, Arabic, Dutch, Filipino, German, Igbo, Italian, Judeo-Spanish, Korean, Polish, Punjabi, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Ukrainian, and Yiddish. All courses taken through UC Online are transferable for credit. Students should consult their academic advisor(s) at UC San Diego for how the courses will apply toward their degree requirements.
Community College
California Virtual Campus (cvc.edu) allows students to search for online courses offered at California Community Colleges. To determine UC-transferability of courses offered at community colleges, use assist.org.
AP/IB Credit
- For information about AP credit, see AP Chart (PDF)
- For information about IB credit, see IB Chart (PDF)
Note: If you received credit through an AP or IB exam, you will not be given credit for repeating the equivalent course, or for taking a lower level course.
Exams
Proficiency Exam
Fluent? Have significant experience in a language? Hoping to test out? Take the proficiency exam.
Placement Exam
Have some prior knowledge in a language and want to continue studying it? Take the placement exam.