If the idea of speaking in a secret code has ever seemed fascinating to you, you're gonna need to check out these colleges. From endangered Native American languages to fully fleshed out Norwegian programs, these colleges have some of the country's most unique foreign language programs.
The List(s)
When writing this list, we realized pretty quickly that we had too many options. Simply put, if there's a language you want to study, there's a place you can study it, but there are differences in the sorts of programs you can expect. To make this info a little bit easier to digest, we divided up this list into two parts: the first is schools with tons of language programs, and the second is schools with fewer but more specialized language programs.
Big Language Programs
Cornell University
As one of the nation's leading colleges, it's no surprise that Cornell University has a thriving foreign languages program, but what might surprise you is the stunning range of options you'll have. Of course, you have your old standbys like Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, and Arabic, but Cornell wanted to keep it going with classes in Indonesian, Khmer, Zulu, Hungarian, and Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian just to name a few. Cornell is all about a diversity of languages, and with such a variety to choose from, they're a language nerd's dream.
And here's the real kicker: Cornell offers classes in some real off-the-beaten-path ancient languages. They weren't happy with the usual Greek and Latin, so they offer courses in ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs as well Akkadian for those with the rare but admirable fascination with the Sumerians. Whether your language goals are to communicate with people from all over the world or to read an ancient text in its original language, Cornell has you covered.
Middlebury College
Secreted away in one of the country's most beautiful states, Vermont's Middlebury College has become famous for their rigorous and exceptional foreign language education. While their selection of languages isn't quite as vast as other, larger schools, they make up for it with a specialized and dedicated style of teaching. At Middlebury, they believe the best way to learn a language is through total immersion, and they offer immersion programs in many of the world's most widely spoken languages, such as Spanish, French, Arabic, and Portuguese, as well as the delightfully unique choice of Abenaki, a Native American language indigenous to the area.
With all of their immersion programs, students are expected not only to engage with the language but to learn the culture as well. Beyond the explicit language instruction, these immersion programs have additional courses and offerings tailored to each language's culture to get students more engaged. If you're serious about language learning, Middlebury is the place to be.
Harvard University
Another Ivy League with a robust language program, Harvard University distinguishes itself with its variety of choices. And when we say variety, we mean variety. If Cornell's smorgasbord of offerings had your mouth watering, Harvard's gargantuan list of possibilities will get you drooling. They cater to languages from all over the world, including severely endangered languages like Breton. Not only that, Harvard offers courses in several dead languages for those with more niche historical interests. Ever wanted to learn Old Church Slavonic? Well, we have good news…
Harvard is intent on providing as many language options as a student could want, and, as with their African language tutorials, they offer tutorial-style instruction in a host of languages for which they have no full program. If you know you want to study a foreign language but don't know which one, Harvard could be the place for you.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Much like the Ivy Leagues of the Northeast, University of Wisconsin-Madison wants to give their students a variety of languages to choose from, and by all accounts, they do it better than most. UW-Madison has almost too many languages to count, but we'll run through our favorites. Ready?
Yoruba, Yiddish, Quechua, Somali, Thai, Menominee, Pashto, Ojibwe, Hmong, Kazakh, Icelandic, Turkish, Filipino, Norwegian, Czech, Finnish, and Samí. And that's barely scratching the surface.
Beyond the smattering of global languages available for study, University of Wisconsin-Madison has committed itself to teaching the indigenous languages of Wisconsin and its neighbors in all directions. No other school on this list has offered such robust education in such a variety of indigenous languages, so if you want to help in the preservation of indigenous culture and language, get in touch with your Native American heritage, or simply just have a love for these diverse cultures, Wisconsin caters to your language needs.
Specialized Language Programs
University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, Hawaiian Language
As should be no surprise, Hawai'i takes the preservation of its unique culture very seriously, and the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Honolulu is doing its part to keep the island culture's language alive and thriving. With a robust Hawaiian language and culture program, this university takes a multifaceted approach to language education, offering multiple different programs at varying levels of engagement and intensity. With everything from an undergraduate certificate to a master's degree in Hawaiian, UHM is ready to get you engaged in the Hawaiian language at whatever level is right for you.
The UHM Hawai'inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge is also focused heavily on linguistic and cultural preservation beyond just teaching the language. They offer courses specifically on teaching Hawaiian through immersion programs and Hawaiian schools, and many of their faculty members conduct research on language revitalization, teaching through comprehensible input, and language education through traditional food. If you want to aid in the preservation of this culture or simply engage with a beautiful language, UHM might be the place for you.
St. Olaf College, Norwegian
Northfield, Minnesota's own St. Olaf College is rightly proud of its Norwegian heritage. Founded by Norwegian-Americans living in the familiarly cold climate of Minnesota and named after Norway's most celebrated king and saint Olaf II, this small liberal arts college celebrates its heritage by offering a full Norwegian language program as well as a Nordic Studies major.
And the college has been embraced by Norway's kings and queens a few times over, who have visited the cozy campus on three separate occasions to celebrate the history of the United States' Norwegian-Americans. In other words, this school is about as legit as it gets when it comes to studying Norwegian.
Union University, Jackson, Biblical Languages
While many schools and seminaries offer programs in biblical languages, we would be remiss not to mention Union University, Jackson's program. Their Biblical languages program offers both a major and a minor in the subject which both give students deep knowledge of Greek or Hebrew (or both if you're ambitious) to deepen their understanding of important religious texts.
Like Harvard's Old Church Slavonic and Cornell's Akkadian, these languages won't help you communicate in your daily life, but they'll bring you closer to an important slice of history. And while those other programs may give you an academic understanding of the ancient past, Union University's biblical language program will strengthen your relationship to the religious texts central to the school's spiritual foundation.
How College Rover Can Help
If this list teaches you anything, it's that you've got plenty of options, and not just when it comes to language programs. Let's face it: this process is stressful, there are oodles of factors to consider, and it can be hard to know what's the right school for you. That's why College Rover aims to simplify this process by allowing you to compare all your top colleges based on what matters to you and by giving you the information you need to be successful over the next four years.
