Language classes — there for taking!

My request for suggestions last week yielded one that follows neatly on Friday’s post.  A blog reader asked about opportunities to audit or take language courses while at Fletcher.  The reader specifically asked about taking courses in a third language (in addition to the testing language and native language), but my answer about the policy would pertain to anyone, including folks who want to brush up before taking the language exam.

The answer is that YES, students definitely have the opportunity to take or audit classes.  MALD and MIB students can take two language classes for credit, following a simple request process.  A good number of students will go that route, particularly if the language is key to their future career goals.  Language courses can be taken at Tufts (super convenient!) or Harvard (not as convenient, but doable if you’re committed to it).  Tufts currently offers classes in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Auditing language classes is the route more commonly chosen.  The terms of the audit will be up to the instructor and some will ask for a significant investment of time — definitely something to discuss at the outset.  The advantage of auditing is that you don’t need to use a Fletcher credit for a language class.  While a student who tested in French but still wants to develop Arabic skills would see value in using a course credit to do so, most of our students arrive with language skills and would prefer to focus their course selections on the Fletcher curriculum.

Keep sending me suggestions via the survey and I’ll do my best to answer!