The Department of Asian Languages and Cultures requires that students with any prior knowledge of the languages taught in our department (e.g. Chinese, Japanese and Korean), and who plan to enroll in our language classes, take a placement test before enrolling in a language course.
Important: Due to the COVID-19 emergency all placement tests will be offered virtually.
Prior Experience in an Asian Language
If you are a student with prior experience in an Asian language (e.g., self-taught, learned in elementary, middle or high school, or learned from family, relatives or friends, etc.), and seek advise about foreign language placement, or continuing with the language of your heritage please fill out this questionnaire in order to receive appropriate advising or guidance.
Chinese
Heritage Track: For students who have been exposed to Chinese language from home environments, who speak the language with family, or have exposure to hearing the language in the home, you may be able to enroll in our Heritage Chinese courses. An evaluation of your language skills is required. This will be conducted one-on-one via Zoom for roughly 20 min with our language faculty Please e-mail Dr. Tianlu Zhang (tianlu.zhang@wisc.edu) to register.
Non-heritage Track: For students who have had prior experience studying Chinese, a Chinese placement test will be administered online through Canvas. Students have 90 minutes to complete the test. Please contact Rachel Weiss (rweiss@wisc.edu) to register along with your UW net ID and ID#.
For further information on the Chinese placement test, please click here.
- Friday, September 18th, 12-1:30 pm CST
- Friday, October 16th, 12-1:30 pm CST
- Friday, November 20th, 12-1:30 pm CST
- Friday, December 18th, 12-1:30 pm CST
- Friday, January 15th, 12-1:30 pm CST
Hindi-Urdu
Students with prior experience in formally studying Hindi or Urdu must fill out this Background Questionnaire. Though your medium of instruction may have been English, please note the years (or standards) you studied Hindi or Urdu formally through schooling. It is also helpful to know what institution you studied at: ICSE/CBSE/IGCSE/IB/State Board.
If an enrolling student with some background in Hindi/Urdu cannot read or write, the student must automatically enroll in the first semester of Hindi/Urdu to learn the script, after which a placement test can be administered upon request by the course instructor for approval to enroll in a higher-level course.
Japanese
The Japanese placement will be given via Skype, and takes 30 minutes. Please contact Rachel Weiss to register along with your student ID#. For further information on the Japanese placement test, please read our FAQs.
Korean
The Korean placement test will be given via Skype and takes about 1 hr. The evaluation consists of an oral interview (20-25 minutes) and a short writing in Korean (25-30 minutes). Please contact Rachel Weiss to register along with your UW ID#.
For questions regarding the placement into other languages offered in the department. Please fill out the Background Questionnaire.