<p>it's 6 semesters right? how easy is it to place out of some of that? I'm in Spanish 4 right now, how does that help me?</p>
<p>6 languages are required only for the IR program and you only need to demonstrate the level of proficiency. If you learned your language in high school well, you can cut back considerably (if all) of the foreign language requirement. There is a placement test when you first matriculate. For non-IR majors you have the option of doing what I wrote above, or learning two languages with 3 semesters of proficiency, or one language with 3 semesters of proficiency AND 3 courses that go under a "cultural requirement." This is a very broad definition but I took three courses - Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven - to count as my germanic cultures requirement even though they were all from the music department. I took two french courses to satisfy the requirement up to French 3 as I placed out of 1. Each semester of language is generally worth up to one year of high school language as it's very accelerated.</p>