The Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures has a thriving community of undergraduates who participate in study abroad, join student organization (see below), and even organize conferences to support their research.
The Department maintains the following lists of resources relevant to undergraduate. For resources specific to individual units, please visit the program’s page.
For more information on advising, visit the Advising Page.
Note: A complete description of the Honors Option program can be found on the Honors College website.
An Honors Options consists of an intensive project of high quality that results in a written paper or multi-media product. Students wishing to complete an Honors Option should talk to their instructors early in the semester. Once a project is decided on, the instructor will get approval from the associate chair. Once the project is approved, students may access the appropriate form by selecting “Student-Instructor Forms” from the Students Resources menu on the Registrar’s Office website. This should be done as early in the semester as possible but no later than the middle of the semester.
Honors Options are available in all department courses except for first and second-year language courses. Students must earn a minimum grade of 3.0 in the course, in addition to satisfactory completion of the H-Option project, in order to be eligible for the H-Option designation.
Graduate student instructors may oversee the Honors Option under the supervision of a department faculty member. Graduate-level courses will automatically count as an honors course with no additional work required.
Instructors are encouraged to include Honors Option information on their syllabi.
Students can find more information on job and internship opportunities through MSU’s Excel Network. The Excel Network establishes and supports a holistic approach to experiential learning, career education, student advising, and alumni networking in the College of Arts & Letters to chart successful paths to meaningful careers. Through six career communities based around distinct industries, you can expect unique online content such as events, internship and career opportunities, alumni spotlights, and experiential learning opportunities from each.
MSU’s Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA) offers a number of opportunities to learn languages and engage with cultures beyond the classroom. At CeLTA you can:
Please visit the following sites and/or email the designated individuals for further information regarding language placement testing.
- African Languages – Contact Professor Sibanda – sibanda1@msu.edu
- Arabic – Contact Professor Issa – sissa@msu.edu
- Chinese – Visit the Chinese Program’s placement testing page
- German – Visit CELTA’s language placement page
- Hebrew – Contact Professor Kedem – ykedem@msu.edu
- Japanese – Visit the Japanese Program’s placement testing page
- Korean – Visit the Korean Program’s placement testing page
- Russian – Contact Professor Merrill – merril25@msu.edu
- Placement Testing Information for languages not listed here and Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs)
- MSU Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel (Hebrew language study, see flyer)
- US Department of Education: Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships Program (FLAS – African languages only)
- Critical Language Scholarships
- Gilman International Scholarship Program
- The Fulbright Program for US Students
- Rotary International: Ambassadorial Scholarships
- MSU Scholarships and Grants Information Page
- Freeman ASIA Program Overview
- International Education Programs Service
- List of Study Abroad Scholarships and Financial Aid
- NSEP Boren Scholarships
- MSU College of Arts & Letters (majors only)
- Office of Education Abroad Scholarships
- Blakemore Freeman Fellowship (Asian Language Study)
See our page for Student Clubs & Organizations
MSU has a long history of international engagement and has led the nation in study abroad participation among public universities for the last six years. We administer over 275 programs taking place in more than 60 countries around the world. Each year, close to 3,000 students are transformed by their educational experiences outside of the United States and can be found in classrooms, research labs, field stations, and internships sites throughout the world.