BYU teaches courses in more foreign languages than any college in America
When Jake Jackson discovered he would be serving a Hmong-speaking mission in Minnesota for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he was confused. He had never heard of Hmong. Was it related to Mongolian? No. Even more surprisingly, he would learn that he had been living near a Hmong community while growing up in Delta, a small town in west-central Utah.
“My mom grew up with friends whose families had resettled in the area after the Vietnam War; essentially, there was a Hmong community in my backyard,” said Jackson, now a BYU junior studying International Relations. “I have since made friends with several Hmong families in Utah, and so these connections have come full circle.”
Jackson is pursuing Hmong studies at BYU. In addition to teaching Hmong 101, he works as a research assistant, translating interviews on Hmong culture and economy. His language skills have led him to become a certified interpreter for the U.S. Department of Justice and an interpreter for the Church of Jesus Christ’s General Conference. After graduation, his next step is to become an attorney.
Jackson is one of thousands of BYU students — more than 60% — who speak a second language. Remarkably, at least 121 languages are spoken on campus.
In BYU’s sesquicentennial year, it is timely to celebrate campus as a significant gathering place for world languages — a place where common ideals foster interactions across boundaries. Not unlike the way sport can function, bringing together languages and cultures for the 2026 Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup 2026.
A Prophetic Call for BYU to Become the Language Capital of the World
BYU’s language initiatives have accelerated since the 1975 centennial address statement by the twelfth president of the Church of Jesus Christ, Spencer W. Kimball: “BYU should become the acknowledged language capital of the world.”
Over the last 50 years, BYU has risen to this prophetic call. According to the most recent MLA survey, BYU ranks #1 in both language course offerings and advanced language enrollments. In addition, students benefit from exceptional opportunities to earn language certificates, gain immersive language experiences and collaborate with professors on first-class research.
This ongoing achievement is well-earned by many dedicated faculty and students, as well as BYU’s coordinating hub, the Center for Language Studies (CLS).
“We have an amazing team here,” said Ray Clifford, Director of CLS since 2004, and Associate Dean in the College of Humanities. “Our center supervises 80 teachers, and that is in addition to languages taught in the language departments; everybody puts forth so much effort.”
BYU Leads in Number of Languages Offered
As the membership of the Church of Jesus Christ has grown larger outside the United States than within it, BYU now offers an astounding 84 non-English language courses — higher than any other U.S. University. According to the MLA survey, Harvard ranks second with 78 languages, and Berkley ranks third with 59 languages. Among BYU’s offerings are some of the world’s rarer languages, including Hmong, Navajo, Kiribati, and several Central American indigenous languages.
When asked about why BYU focuses on minimally spoken languages, Jackson reflected on his experiences speaking Hmong and the service implications.
“It demonstrates the Christ-centered principle of reaching out to the one among the 100,” Jackson said. “My experience with communicating with Hmong individuals, and especially the elderly, is that if we can speak their language, it means the world to them; these relationships have enriched my life and seem to bring joy to the lives of those with whom I have interacted.”
BYU Leads in Advanced Enrollments and Language Certificates
BYU has the highest number of advanced enrollments in the U.S., with an average trend over the last decade that exceeds other universities by 50%.
Returned missionaries contribute to this high enrollment after having been immersed in worldwide languages and cultures for at least 18 months. Clifford explained that these returned missionaries are about halfway to becoming proficient in their mission languages. BYU helps them hone their skills and prepare for lifelong learning and service.
Any BYU student, regardless of their major, can demonstrate high language proficiency by earning a Language Certificate. These certificates, available in 24 languages, are awarded by the CLS based on completion of upper-level language courses and proficiency ratings certified by ACTFL, an internationally recognized language proficiency and testing organization. The CLS awards language certificates to over 500 BYU students each year from more than 120 majors across campus.
A Language Certificate is recognized on BYU transcripts and boosts the value of the university degree. While an advanced rating for a Language Certificate is impressive, many students earn the even higher “Superior” level of language proficiency, showing language abilities well beyond AI translation technology.
“AI communicates facts rather than communicates in a way that truly connects people,” said Josh Perkey, assistant dean of communications in the College of Humanities. “When our students are assessed at a superior level, they can understand sarcasm; they can read between the lines and connect to others in ways that the large language models have not been coded for.”
BYU Provides Abundant Immersion Programs
BYU uniquely offers year-round immersive housing for students who want to grow as confident and proficient world language speakers. Also, BYU coordinates 127 Study Abroad and internship programs through the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, such as past field school programs in Hmong communities around the world.
Fiona Bates (’24) studied French, Spanish, and Chinese at BYU. She highlighted her Study Abroad experiences as a way to learn about common humanity. As she served Alzheimer patients in France, interacted with people along the Camilla de Santiago pilgrimage route, and completed intensive Mandarin training in Taiwan, she learned to better appreciate cultural differences and similarities.
“I met so many amazing people from all over the world,” Bates said. “I’ve learned that there is so much we have in common with other people . . . I think [understanding that] is beautiful and what we need more of — seeking to understand differences; when we do that, I think that brings us closer together.”
These rich immersion experiences prepared Bates for her current work as a medical interpreter at a pediatric hospital.
BYU Engages in Rigorous Language Research
While BYU is known for taking language studies abroad, significant research about language and the brain is happening right on campus. The Language Sciences Laboratory is a dedicated research space equipped with high-tech research tools — fNIRS, EEG, eye-tracking devices, and sound isolation booths.
Linguistics professors are at the forefront of BYU’s language research, publishing in top-tier journals. In recent months, Jeff Green has published studies in Brain and Language on perception and American Sign Language, as well as an eye-tracking study on Chinese character processing in Language Awareness. In addition, Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching recently published Dan Dewey’s research examining heart rate variability and personality traits as predictors of Arabic language proficiency.
While most research is completed on campus, some professors are transporting the equipment for outreach. For example, Ellen Knell – Associate Director of BYU’s Center of Language Studies — and her graduate students are involving a local high school AP student and her Dual-Language Immersion class.
“The fNIRS technology is transportable — just like a cap you put on the head,” Knell said. “We take this technology into schools to learn about language proficiency and age, and to involve high school students in the research process.”
BYU Connects People for Employment
As a place where students attain “Advanced” and even the fully professional level of “Superior” language proficiency, BYU is a hotspot for job recruiters and those seeking to learn how to better teach languages.
“Various groups, delegates, and foreign dignitaries are consistently on campus to see how we are teaching and assessing language, and to recruit people with language skills,” Knell said.
Clifford remembers a thank-you note from a student that represents the broader marketability of a language-enhanced degree.
“We had a student graduate who had interviews from four international accounting firms, and he said he spent more time talking about his language skills than his accounting skills,” Clifford said. “He had his choice of offers.”
BYU Connects People for Service
On-campus cultural exchange is ongoing; BYU receives many international visitors each year, including diplomats and distinguished leaders of nations.
“I remember being in a conference room with a group of students who greeted the President of Kiribati and his wife in Kiribati, performed a local dance with cultural costumes, and presented them with student-written books for their elementary school children,” Knell said. “Communication and building relationships go hand-in-hand.”
Assistant Director of the Center for Language Studies, Molly McCall, shared about a recent lunch with students and a campus guest, the Armenian Ambassador to the United States.
“The ambassador explained Armenia’s relationship with the United States and talked about some amazing things that recently happened for his country,” McCall said. “As introductions were made around the table, his eyes lit up, and he got a big smile on his face when the students spoke in Armenian about places they had lived in his home country during their missions; they shared dialogue in his native language and he extended an invitation to them to attend the UN Biodiversity Conference Armenia is hosting later this year.”
The deeper cultural connections have led to meaningful service opportunities. For example, the Ukrainian class raised thousands of dollars to help refugee women and children after Ukraine was invaded. And the Haitian Creole professor informed the BYU humanities community about the recent crisis in Haiti and provided support to the local Haitian community.
Language and language learning are fundamentally about relationships, explained Christopher Oscarson, Dean of Humanities. In the relational process, individuals can change for the greater good.
“We form unique ties by communicating in another person’s native tongue, and additionally, we are ourselves changed by the experience of learning languages; language learners develop charity, patience, humility, perspective and gratitude as they extend the limits of their imagination to embrace others and their world views,” Oscarson said. “Simply put, learning languages can help us to be more Christlike and prepare us to serve others.”
A Prophetic Call for Worldwide Service
BYU, as the premier language university, aligns with continuing prophetic direction. Fifty years after President Kimball declared BYU “the language capital of the world,” President Dallin H. Oaks (eighteenth president of the Church) issued a call for worldwide service — a call that relies on cultural and linguistic proficiencies.
“Our ministry is a ministry of all the children of God on the face of the earth,” President Oaks said. “We pray for all. We seek to serve all. And we invoke the blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ upon all who seek to serve Him, to do so in worthiness and commitment and optimism. We do not have the answers to all the world’s problems. They have not been revealed. But what we do know is that we are all children of heavenly parents, and that we are called to serve all of the children of God.”
