Language Placement | Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Everyone who has some previous knowledge of a language, but is new to the program at Carolina, is required to take a placement test if you intend to take language classes.

If you only wish to satisfy the language requirement, please refer to the Global Languages website for information on all the options for how to do that.

For any other questions, see the FAQ.

The Arabic placement test has two parts; both are online and can be taken at any time. Click here for information and to take the test. Note that the test, although online, is human-graded, so the result will not be immediate.

Click here to sign up for the Chinese placement test.

Click here to sign up for the Hebrew placement test.

The Hindi-Urdu placement test can be taken online at any time. Click here for information and to take the test.

Click here to sign up for the Japanese test.

The Korean test has two parts, an online part you can take at any time, and then another part that will be given on Friday, January 6. Click here for information and to take the test.

Since early registration for fall is happening before most of these tests will be held, you are encouraged to go ahead and enroll for whatever language level you think might be right for you. To help you make that choice, there are self-assessment guides available in several languages:

(If you are enrolling in Persian, Turkish, or Vietnamese, we’re sorry there is not currently a self-assessment guide available. Take your best guess.)

This self-assessment is not a substitute for the formal placement test (which you should also sign up for), but will increase your chances of picking the right course, so that when you get your placement result, you’ll already be enrolled in the right class. If you are placed at a level other than what you had predicted, you’ll need to drop that class and switch to the correct level (which the department can help you with if needed).