Foreign Language Proficiency

Communicate Globally

Foreign language proficiency at an intermediate level is a keystone of the Global Scholars program. 

The Global Scholars program requires demonstrated oral proficiency at a minimum level in at least one language other than your native language. 

Proficiency refers to the tasks you can accomplish in a language, and is not measured or determined by taking a certain number of courses. Only a professional assessment will evaluate oral proficiency in a foreign language.

The Global Scholars program includes a foreign language requirement you can satisfy by taking a recognized language proficiency exam.

The College of Charleston uses the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages' (ACTFL) Oral Proficency Interview-Computer (OPIc) for Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Italian, Russian, and Spanish evaluations. 

The Department of German & Slavic Studies is an official testing center for the Goethe Institute. 

For proficiency tests in other languages, please see the department chairs where those languages are taught, or contact Joseph Weyers at weyersj@cofc.edu .

Scheduling Your Proficiency Exam

If you are a major in French or Spanish, you will take the OPIc in your final semester at the College of Charleston.

If you are not a language major, and need to schedule a test in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, or Arabic, you will take the OPIc on your own, using a web-based proctoring system. Total cost is $108. The test will take 20-30 minutes. 

Faculty & staff members may have taken an oral proficiency at some time in their studies or career. The result from that test may be used for Global Scholars designation.

Current Students: For more information on scheduling and taking your proficiency, visit the Global Scholars site in teh Hub.

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