Language opportunities at Fletcher

Some good stuff to share today about a variety of language acquisition, study, and practice opportunities at Fletcher. While foreign language proficiency is neither an admissions nor graduation requirement, it’s an area of competency that’s held in high esteem in our community, and many students are interested in gaining new language skills or building upon existing proficiency. There are lots of different options to fit a variety of needs. As has long been the case, Fletcher students have the option of taking language courses for credit via cross-registration with Tufts, or gaining classroom exposure via audit. Students also are able to test and formally document their proficiency levels via optional reading and oral exams offered during the semester. There are also language tables available in Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, and Farsi sponsored by the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies.

With a polite tip of the cap to the above, it’s the newer language-related programming that’s really exciting, and that merits a shout-out on this blog. The new Language Practice Matching Program connects students, faculty, and staff with partners and small groups who are interested in regular language practice in a variety of languages. Also new is a regular Language Conversation Hour, a drop-in event providing an opportunity for non-English conversation. Finally, a new “mini-grants” program has recently launched, which accepts applications for small amounts of funding to support language-based group activities such as meeting for coffee for conversational practice or attending a non-English-speaking event.

Whether you’re starting from scratch in a new tongue or documenting high-level proficiency, there’s a language study option for all needs!