The Department of African American Studies in partnership with the Center for African Studies(link is external) supports the African language learning needs of students and faculty. Currently, we are offering courses(link is external) in Amharic, Igbo, and Kiswahili. Arabic(link is external)is available through the Department of Near Eastern Studies(link is external). Students from other UC campuses can enroll in courses through the UC Online Cross Campus Enrollment System(CCES). Some of the courses offered include:
Elementary Swahili
Intermediary Swahili
Advanced Swahili
Elementary Igbo
Elementary Amharic
Intermediary Amharic
They along with students from California State Universities, California community colleges and select other local higher education institutions may be eligible to enroll in other UC Berkeley courses through various programs(link is external). Members of the larger community can enroll through concurrent enrollment(link is external) via UC Extension.
The Center for African Studies offers Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships(link is external) in the academic year and summer that provide tuition and a stipend to students studying an African language and taking relevant African Studies courses(link is external). For eligibility, requirements and other details, visit the Center’s FLAS page(link is external).
Over the years, Berkeley students have also studied Afrikaans, Bamana, Lingala, Malagasy, Shona, Xhosa, Yoruba, and Zulu among other languages. While we are not offering these languages now, the Center for African Studies encourages Berkeley faculty, staff and students to indicate your ability to speak or interest in learning African languages by completing this online survey(link is external). There are also options to study these languages in the summer(link is external) at other Programs and with FLAS fellowships.
Contact the Center for African Studies(link is external) for more information on studying African languages: asc@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail).