Foreign Language Information

Placement Information
Spanish placement information is available in a handout; students should take COCC's free online Spanish Placement Test to determine their best placement.

For languages other than Spanish, a rough estimate to use for placement is: 2 years of high school language = 1 year of COCC language, assuming that the student peformed well (A's and B's) Factors that influence placement:

• It's been a long time since high school.
• The student wants review to feel more comfortable.
• The high school foreign language program was not strong.
• The student didn't do very well in high school language.

Admission requirement at Oregon universities
Students graduating from high school in 1997 or later must meet a foreign language requirement with either two years of high-school-level study in the same language or two quarter term courses of college-level study in the same language. If a student does not meet this requirement, the university may offer "conditional admission", which requires that the student take the foreign language courses prior to graduation.

Graduation requirement for a Bachelor of Arts degree at Oregon universities
Students must earn either a bachelor of arts degree (foreign language), or a bachelor of science degree (additional math/science/computer science, depending on the school). Some majors offer the option and some are aligned with one or the other.

In Oregon, the BA requirement requires that a student show proficiency of completing two years of the same foreign language at the college level. Student can complete the entire sequence, a portion of the sequence ending with a 203 course, or take a proficiency exam in some cases.

See individual college and university requirements for details.