<p>So let's say I'm from China, lived in U.S. for about 7 years, and planning to take a language course first semester of college/community college. Would I be able to take Chinese or will they not let me?</p>
<p>You can take a language course. Usually you are tested in languages to determine the level to start. If you are proficient in Chinese, a better option might be to take a CLEP test (the test center at your college can give you information) and get the credit without taking the class. There is a fee for the tests.</p>
<p>there are Chinese natives taking chinese courses in China…so, why not? It all depends on the level. My friend in Seton Hall teaches all levels of Chinese courses and he is a PHD in Chinese.</p>
<p>Many colleges offer courses for heritage speakers of a language, who may have grown up speaking a particular language but never really learned the grammar, writing, etc. I’ve seen these courses in Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Korean. Usually, such courses are only found at schools with a lot of students from a particular ethnic/language group.</p>
<p>I’ve also seen guidelines at some schools to prevent students who know a language as a heritage speaker from enrolling in a language course just to get an easy A. Usually, there’s a test to determine one’s prior level of knowledge of the language.</p>