AXLE & Asian Languages

The College of Arts & Science curriculum (called AXLE) requires all students to achieve basic proficiency in a foreign language in order to graduate. Completion of the entire first year of an Asian language will fulfill the AXLE foreign language requirement.

Students may also fulfill the AXLE foreign language requirement through other means. Certain scores on the AP will fulfill the AXLE requirement. Currently, Chinese AP score of 4 or 5 or Japanese AP score of 4 or 5 will satisfy the AXLE requirement. There are currently no AP Exams for Hindi-Urdu and Korean. 

Students who are native speakers of Asian languages may test out of the AXLE foreign language requirement; however, we do NOT administer the tests for Asian languages here at Vanderbilt.  

The tests are administered at the Tennessee Language Center (TLC), an organization established by the state of Tennessee and located in the Metrocenter area of Nashville.  Students interested in testing out of the AXLE requirement should call TLC at 615-741-7579 to arrange the testing.   Once the test is taken, TLC will send the results to the Arts & Science Registrar, who can authorize a variance.