Language Classes & Placement

ALTEC

The Anderson Language Technology Center (ALTEC) supports language learning for language students at the University of Colorado.

At ALTEC, students can improve their language skills by watching foreign films, listening to practice recordings, and more.

The ALTEC facilities include computers for foreign language students to write in their language, multi-media classrooms with state of the art equipment, and a library of over 3000 films from around the world.

For French and Italian faculty, instructors and TAs/GPTIs, ALTEC also offers workshops through the Foreign Language Technology Program.  The FLTP workshops provide CU language teachers with hands-on practice as well as pedagogical theory in the use of technology in the language classroom.  Search the workshop calendar.

University Language Requirements

For the College of Arts and Science, the language requirement comes from the MAPS and core competency requirements. Together, these requirements state that you must reach a competency in a foreign language equal to the third semester of our courses. For someone completely new to the foreign languages this would mean that you must take three semesters of a language. There are ways to fulfill the requirement without taking courses. First, if you have studied a language for three years in high school you have completed the requirement. Second, if you have spent at least two years in a high school outside of the US, you have fulfilled the requirement. Third, you may prove that you have the competency by testing out of a language. If you do not meet any of these requirements then plan on taking language classes at CU.

To complete the requirements you must successfully finish one of CU's the many third semester language courses. This may mean that you will need to start from the beginning or you may use foreign language skills you already have to take courses at a higher level. You can take one of the language placement tests provided by the language departments to determine your competency, and some languages departments require that you do so. These tests will not let you test out of the requirement, they are only for determining which courses you would be best suited in. It is important to take a course that you can succeed at while still challenging you.

If you take a placement test and need to register for a course, but do not already have the prerequesites, please send an email to frenital@colorado.edu along with a screenshot of your score, your student ID number, and the course number you wish to take.

AP Credit - Check out the University Catalog to find more information about transferring your AP Credits.