Languages @ Cornell

Over 50 languages are offered at Cornell. All language programs are located in eight departments/programs within the College of Arts & Sciences. Some courses are taught through the Shared Course Initiative, an agreement with Columbia and Yale to share instruction in the less commonly taught languages using videoconference technology. Courses that are received through the Shared Course Initiative are denoted with * below.

All languages offered at Cornell count toward the Arts & Sciences language requirement except for the ones marked with ° below. Confirm details with the departmental undergraduate coordinator and your advising dean. Levels of instruction are indicated in parentheses after each language (E = elementary, I = intermediate, A = advanced).

To view course offerings, visit the Class Roster.

Africana Studies and Research Center
Swahili (E,I,A)
°Twi (E)
*Wolof (E,I,A)
Yoruba (E,I,A)
*Zulu (E,I,A)

Department of Asian Studies
Bengali (E,I,A)
Burmese (E,I,A)
°Chinese - Classical (E)
Chinese - Mandarin (E,I,A)
Hindi (E,I,A)
Indonesian (E,I,A)
Japanese (E,I,A)
°Kannada (E)
Khmer (E,I,A)
Korean (E,I,A)
Nepali (E,I,A)
°Pali (E)
*Punjabi (E,I)
Sanskrit (E,I,A)
Sinhala (E,I,A)
Tagalog / Filipino (E,I,A)
*Tamil (E,I)
Thai (E,I,A)
*Tibetan - Classical (E,I,A)
*Tibetan - Modern (E,I,A)
Urdu (E,I,A)
Vietnamese (E,I,A)

Department of Classics
Greek - Ancient (E,I)
Latin (E,I,A)

Department of Comparative Literature
*Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian (BCS) (E,I,A)
*Finnish (E,I)
Russian (E,I,A)
​*Ukrainian (E,I,A)

Department of German Studies
*Dutch (E,I,A)
German (E,I,A)
*Swedish (E,I)

Department of Linguistics
American Sign Language (E,I)
°Cayuga (E)
°Old Norse (E)

Department of Near Eastern Studies
°Akkadian (E)
Arabic (E,I,A)
°Arabic - Quranic (E)
°Hebrew - Biblical (E)
Hebrew - Modern (E,I,A)
°Hieroglyphic Egyptian (E)
Persian / Farsi (E,I)
°Sumerian (E)
Turkish (E,I,A)
°Ugaritic (E)
Yiddish (E,I)

Department of Romance Studies
*Czech (E,I)
French (E,I,A)
*Hungarian (E,I,A)
Italian (E,I,A)
Polish (E,I,A)
Portuguese (E,I,A)
Spanish (E,I,A)

Current as of 8/1/2023
Subject to change
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