Northwestern UniversityWeinberg College of Arts and Sciences
Program of African and Asian Languages
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Welcome to the Program of African and Asian Languages

The Program of African and Asian Languages (PAAL) consists of nine different language programs in Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Swahili and Turkish, which regularly offer two year-levels of instruction.

All PAAL languages may be studied, among other reasons, to satisfy the two years' study or the equivalent foreign language proficiency requirements of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, or the School of Communication's Bachelor of Arts degree track within most of its departments. PAAL's programs in Chinese, Hindi, and Korean offer alternative tracks for "heritage" learners--students who have some proficiency in the language and so are not true beginners, but who typically have not had formal instruction in it.

Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, and Swahili all have a third-year courses in their regularly-offered curricula; these 200-level courses could be described generally as introductory surveys of the literature in the language. Additionally, Chinese and Japanese regularly offer a 300-level fourth-year course sequence, which is also part of a PAAL minor available in the language and culture of those two programs. Fourth-year Arabic, Hebrew, and Swahili are also available on demand.

PAAL faculty in Chinese, Japanese, and Swahili also regularly offer courses in literature in translation in cooperation with the Program in Comparative Literary Studies (CLS). The CLS offerings in introductory surveys of Chinese and Japanese literature in translation also constitute required courses for the PAAL minors in Chinese or Japanese Language and Civilization.


Licheng Gu, Ph. D.
Chinese Language and Literature
Program Director, African & Asian Languages

 
PAAL
 
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