East Asian Studies Minor

Students must meet the following prerequisite prior to declaring the EALAC Minor:

  • Second-year level in one East Asian Language: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, or Vietnamese, or the proficiency equivalent to be demonstrated by placement examination). 

Third-year level in one East Asian language (typically two semesters of a Third-year level language) e.g. completion of the UN3005-UN3006 level in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean; TIBT UN3611-UN3612 level in Tibetan; VIET UN3101-UN3102 in Vietnamese), or the proficiency equivalent (to be demonstrated by placement examination). Students of Chinese may also complete UN3003-UN3004 to meet the third-year requirement.

Students who test out of a third-year level East Asian language must take an additional year of the same language, one year of a classical East Asian language, or one-year sequence* of a second East Asian language. Alternatively, a student who has tested out may also complete one semester of an approved classical language + one additional content elective to fulfill this requirement.
*e.g., First-Year I (5 points) and First-Year II (5 points) OR Introductory A (2.5 points), Introductory B (2.5 points), and First-Year II (5 points)

Language Courses Outside Columbia University

Language courses taken at other institutions (including Barnard College) do not automatically fulfill EALAC’s language requirement or serve as prerequisites for further study. Students with language coursework outside Columbia must take a placement examination to satisfy the requirement and/or determine their level for further study.

AHUM UN1400 “Colloquium on Major Texts” OR one of the following East Asian Civilization courses

  • ASCE UN1359 (China Civ)
  • ASCE UN1361 (Japan Civ)
  • ASCE UN1363 (Korea Civ)
  • ASCE UN1365 (Tibet Civ)
  • ASCE UN1367 (Vietnam Civ)

Two elective courses in East Asian studies at the 3000-level or above. One of these courses must be an EALAC course; the other may be an approved non-EALAC course focused on East Asia.

Using language courses as an elective:

  • A second East Asian language (1-year minimum) or one semester of a classical East Asian language may count for one elective course.

Please note that the following courses CANNOT be counted as an elective course. These courses can only be used to fulfill the EALAC language requirement:

  • Business Chinese I/II
  • Advanced Business Chinese I/II
  • Media Chinese I/II
  • Legal Chinese
  • Japanese Pop Culture I/II

However, the following courses are NOT categorized as language courses and CAN count as an elective course:

  • History of the Chinese Language
  • Acquisition of Chinese as a Second Language