The College offers courses in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Japanese, and Chinese. Students may also demonstrate proficiency in a language different from the above by arranging an interview and a test directly with the Department of Modern Languages. The language requirement may be fulfilled in one of the following ways:

• Successfully completing level 003 of any foreign language taught at Saint Mary's College.
• Completing 3 years of the same language in high school with a GPA of 3.0 (B) or higher.
• Scoring at least a 3 on the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) Exam in that language.
• Achieving a TOEFL score of 527 on the paper-based test or 71 on the internet-based test (for International students who are non-native speakers of English).   

The Department of Modern Languages does not accept online courses or placement exams as coursework in lower division classes or as a way to fulfill the proficiency requirement.

Students may take the placement exam only once during each academic year. Results are valid for one academic year. Students should print a copy of the exam results for their records.