DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN

Language Proficiency Requirement

Global Competency and the WCAS Language Proficiency Requirement

It is the Universities goal that students be globally competitive by the time they graduate which includes being proficient in a language as expressed by the Foreign Language Proficiency Requirement.

The Foreign Language Proficiency Requirement insures a broad set of skills that include:

• the ability to speak and understand a foreign language;
• knowledge and understanding of the history and culture of the community or communities in which the foreign language is spoken;
• the ability to function in culturally-appropriate ways within a community or communities in which the foreign language is spoken.

Fulfilling the WCAS Language Proficiency Requirement

The level of proficiency required to show foreign language proficiency in WCAS (this may vary from school to school) is equivalent to two years of college-level language instruction. For German this means, that you will have to pass German 102-3 with a grade of C- or equivalent course work as outlined below.

All incoming freshmen or transfer students who intend to register for a German course (either to satisfy the WCAS Language Proficiency Requirement or to simply continue studying German), MUST take the online German Placement Exam unless they fall into one of the categories outlined below.

• If you had just one year of High School German or less or never learned any German before, you may place yourself into 101-1 Beginning German (Fall Quarter).
• If you began your studies in the Fall of 2018 and 2019: If you had an AP score of 5 in your AP German Exam, you  have satisfied the WCAS Language Proficiency Requirement in German. Congratulations. All others will have to take the online German Placement Test to be placed in an appropriate class.
• If you are beginning your studies in the Fall of 2020: or later,  you will need to take the online German Placement Test regardless of your AP score to be placed in an appropriate class. Students with an AP of 4 or 5 will need, most likely, only one more class (either 102-3 Intermediate German taught in the Spring, 205 Focus Writing, or 221-3 Introduction to German Literature)  to satisfy the WCAS Language Proficiency Requirement in German but check your placement exam results to find out.

If you have questions,  please schedule a zoom meeting with the Director of Undergraduate Studies Franziska Lys here.