Students who have taken French, German, or Spanish classes in high school and want to continue study of that language at USI will be placed according to number of years they have studied the language.
| Years in High School | USI placement |
| 0-1 years | FRENCH, GERMAN, SPANISH, LATIN 101 |
| 2 year | FRENCH, GERMAN, SPANISH, LATIN 102 |
| 3 year | FRENCH, GERMAN, SPANISH, LATIN 203 |
| 4 year | FRENCH, GERMAN, SPANISH, LATIN 204 |
| Heritage/native speakers | FRENCH, GERMAN, SPANISH 306 |
If a student has taken any foreign language for college credit and received a grade of "C" or better in the class, they can take the next foreign language class in the sequence. They need to transfer those credits officially to USI.
Placement tests are available in French, German and Spanish in certain circumstances by appointment. Students who took Arabic, Chinese, Japanese or Latin in high school should contact the World Languages and Cultures department at 812/465-7026 to schedule an interview.
Students can earn PLA-Challenge Exam credit in a world language if advanced placement is recommended. The student must earn a grade of 'B' or better in the USI world language course into which they have been placed (ARAB, CHIN, FREN, GERM, JPN, LATN, or SPAN).
After completing the course with a 'B' or better, the student must visit the World Languages and Cultures department to initiate the World Languages & Cultures Departmental Challenge Exam form to receive credit for the lower-level language course(s). The challenge exam will incur a fee of $50 per credit hour for each course to be awarded as credit.
For more information, please contact Dr. David Hitchcock (812/461-5380), Chair, World Languages and Cultures.