Group Language

Overview

Students interested in the study of more than one foreign language from the perspectives of literature or linguistics may combine two languages or one language and linguistics into a Group Language major.

Requirements

A total of eleven courses is required for the Group Language major: five courses for each half of the major and one course emphasizing methods or theory. Additionally, students will complete a senior comprehensive project.

Major

Course requirements for each half of the Group Language major are listed below. Only two of the five courses for each half may be taken outside the Occidental language departments, including study abroad.

Chinese (5 courses)

CHIN 202 and above (only one of which may be a course taught in English).

French (5 courses)

FREN 202 and four courses numbered 300 and above (only one of which may be a course taught in English).

German (5 courses)

GERM 202 and above.

Japanese (5 courses)

JAPN 202 and above (only one of which may be a course taught in English).

Linguistics (5 courses)

LING 301; a second course in linguistics; one semester of a foreign language from one of the following categories: 1) Greek or Latin, 2) Spanish or French, 3) German or Russian, 4) Arabic, Chinese, or Japanese (the course must be in addition to and in a different category from the language used to fulfill the Core language requirement); and two additional courses with a language focus (such as one more foreign language course, another course in linguistics, COGS 330, COMP 331, EDUC 205, or PHIL 344,).

LING 301 must be taken before the senior year.

Russian (5 courses)

RUSN 202 and above.

Spanish (5 courses)

SPAN 202 or SPAN 211 plus four courses numbered 300 and above. Two of these four courses must be in either literature/culture or linguistics. One must be numbered 340 or above. Only one course may be taken in English.

Methods or Theory Courses:

All courses taken outside of the Occidental language departments, including those taken on study abroad programs, must be approved in advance by the appropriate language department. Students combining a language with linguistics must take LING 301 before the senior year.

Honors in the Major

Group Language majors with an overall GPA of 3.25 and a 3.5 GPA for major courses may submit an honors research proposal at the end of the fall semester of the senior year. If the proposal is supported by faculty from both components of the major, the student will enroll in four units of Independent Studies in the spring, in which they will develop the comprehensive paper(s) from the fall into 20 additional pages.

Second-Stage Writing

Students majoring in Group Language will satisfy the second-stage writing requirement by receiving a grade of B- or higher in one of their 300-level courses for the major.

Comprehensive Requirement

Students will fulfill the Group Language comprehensive requirement in one of two ways:

(1) A student may choose to submit a 20-page paper on a senior research project on comparative literature and culture or linguistics, combining both halves of the major. The student should enroll in four units of Lang 497 in the fall of the senior year. In the spring semester of the senior year, the student will also give an oral presentation on the research project.

OR

(2) A student may conduct two separate research projects and do the following for each half of the Group Language major:

Chinese

A student will fulfill the Chinese portion of the comprehensives through: (1) a two-unit Independent Study in the fall semester of the senior year, in which the student will produce a 10-page paper on Chinese literature, culture, or linguistics that include texts written in Chinese; followed by (2) an oral presentation about the research project in the spring semester.

French

A student will fulfill the French portion of the comprehensives through: (1) a two-unit Independent Study in the fall semester of the senior year, in which the student will produce a 10-page paper on Francophone literature, culture, or linguistics that includes texts written in French; followed by (2) an oral presentation about the research project in the spring semester.

German

A student will fulfill the German portion of the comprehensives through: (1) a two-unit Independent Study in the fall semester of the senior year, in which the student will produce a 10-page paper on German literature, culture, or linguistics that includes texts written in German; followed by (2) an oral presentation about the research project in the spring semester.

Japanese

A student will fulfill the Japanese portion of the comprehensives through: (1) a two-unit Independent Study in the fall of the senior year, in which the student will produce a 10-page paper on Japanese literature, culture, or linguistics that include texts written in Japanese; followed by (2) an oral presentation about the research project in the spring semester.

Linguistics

A student will fulfill the Linguistics portion of the comprehensives through: (1) a two-unit Independent Study in the fall of the senior year, in which the student will produce a 10-page paper on a topic in linguistics; followed by (2) an oral presentation about the research project in the spring semester.

Russian

A student will fulfill the Russian portion of the comprehensives through: (1) a two-unit Independent Study in the fall of the senior year, in which the student will produce a 10-page paper on Russian literature, culture, or linguistics that include texts written in Russian; followed by (2) an oral presentation about the research project in the spring semester.

Spanish

A student will fulfill the Spanish portion of the comprehensives EITHER (1) by completing the Spanish Senior Seminar SPAN 490 which includes an oral presentation on a seminar theme; OR (2) by completing a two-unit Independent Study in the fall of the senior year, in which the student will produce a 10-page paper on Hispanic literature, culture, or linguistics that includes texts written in Spanish, and giving an oral presentation about the research project in the spring semester.

Honors in the Major

Transfer Credit Policies

The Group Language policy on transfer credit conforms to College policy. For all the languages listed for the major, only two of the five courses may be taken outside the Occidental language departments. All courses taken outside of the Occidental language departments, including those taken on study abroad programs, must be approved in advance by the appropriate language department. For languages within Group Language in which 201 or 202 are offered, students who earn a score of 4 on an AP Language examination will earn four units of credit and be placed into 201 in that language while those who earn a score of 5 will earn four units of credit and be placed in to 202 in that language. Students are not placed in language courses based on IB or A-level examinations. Students should reference the Transfer Credit section for more details.

Advising Information

Depending on the combination of languages, students may also need to register in an Independent Study to complete the Senior Seminar requirement. Students interested in linguistics should take LING 301 no later than their junior year.

Placement Information

Sample 4-Year Plans

Group Language with Spanish (starting at SPAN 101) and Linguistics

Group Language with Japanese (starting at JAPN 202) and French (starting at FREN 101)

Curricular Notes

• For Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Russian, students must take the 202-level course plus four additional courses numbered above 202. 

• For Chinese, only one course can be taught in English  

• For Japanese, only one course can be taught in English.

• For Linguistics, students must take LING 301 and a second linguistics course; one semester of a language that is categorically different from the language with which they satisfied the Core Language requirement; and two additional courses with a language focus. See Catalog for full details.

• For Spanish, students must take SPAN 202 or SPAN 211 plus four additional courses numbered 300 and above. Two of these courses must be in either literature or linguistics. One course must be numbered 340 or above. Only one course may be taken in English. 

• For Russian, two of the required courses can be in related areas such as history, art history, language learning/linguistics.

• Group Language majors must take one methods or theory course in addition to the courses taken for their two group areas: LING 301, SPAN 490, GERM 370, JAPN 273, CHIN 273.

Group Language Transfer Student Advice

Transfer Course Limit for Transfer Students: 3 courses/12 units

Designated Transfer Adviser

Expected preparation for transfer students wanting to major in Group Languages:

• Transfer students entering as Rising Juniors should be at the 202-level or higher in each language they intend to focus on for the major, and should have completed as many Core requirements as possible since the major requires 11 courses. 

General advice for transfer students wanting to major in Group Languages:

• The Senior Seminar (a course in one of the languages for the major numbered 490), and any independent study for the comprehensive requirement must be taken at Occidental. 

• Rising Juniors starting in the spring should strongly consider the feasibility of majoring if they are not already at the 202-level and still have several Core requirements already fulfilled.

• Transfer students should complete the languages at the 202-level as soon as possible, because it serves as the prerequisite for almost all the other courses in the major.

• Online courses in language will not transfer and count toward the major.

What courses should a transfer student take during their first semester at Occidental?

• Rising Junior transfer students starting Occidental should enroll in the 202-level of the language(s) they intend to focus on for the major in their first semester if not already completed, otherwise they should enroll in a 300-level course. In addition, for Group Language with Linguistics they should enroll in LING 301 in their first semester. They should also make sure to complete all their Core requirements as soon as possible while taking courses to progress through the major.

• Students starting as sophomores or mid way through their sophomore year should continue in their language study at the level appropriate given their prior coursework. For Group Language with Linguistics they should enroll in LING 301 as soon as possible, and preferably in their first semester. They should also plan to enroll in courses that meet Core requirements to set them on a path to have completed all Core requirements that cannot be met with courses in the major by the end of the sophomore year.

Courses

Chinese Courses

French Courses

German Courses

Japanese Courses

Linguistics Courses

Russian Courses

Spanish Courses

Faculty