Homepage - Critical Language Scholarship Program

The CLS Program is part of a U.S. government effort to expand dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. Students of diverse disciplines and majors are encouraged to apply. Participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship period, and later apply their critical language skills in their future professional careers.

Each summer, CLS provides rigorous academic instruction in fifteen languages that are critical to America's national security and economic prosperity. CLS participants are citizen ambassadors, sharing American values and promoting American influence abroad.

Why You Should Study Abroad with the CLS Program

Key Benefits

Develop Key Expertise

The CLS Program provides its scholars intensive language and cultural instruction in an environment designed to maximize their language gains at every level.

Career Ready Skills

Alumni apply their critical language skills in a variety of professional fields in public and private sectors as well as government, helping to support America’s competitiveness across the board.

Citizen Diplomacy

CLS scholars represent the breadth and diversity of the United States. Through personal engagement they help to spread American values and develop mutual understanding with the people of other countries.

Languages Offered

Arabic

Azerbaijani

Bangla

Chinese

Hindi

Indonesian

Japanese

Korean

Persian

Portuguese

Punjabi

Russian

Swahili

Turkish

Urdu

See the full list of languages offered by the CLS Program

Just having conversations with people and being open with them about what we did culturally where I’m from; I’ve always wanted to share that with people.
Marcus Dunn, Korean 2011
The CLS Program was instrumental in getting me to the proficiency level required for my career. My employer cited my language skills as one of the main traits that made me an outstanding candidate.
John Krzyzaniak, Persian 2016
Diplomatic representation of the monolith that is the United States military is very similar to the citizen diplomacy aspect of the CLS Program. You cannot begin to understand culture without the language component. With the CLS Program, you gain authenticity by learning the language.
Andrea Howard, Azerbaijani 2015
"The Persian language opens a door to a universe of wonders within the collective history of humankind."
Shabbir Abbas, Persian 2020

CLS News and Stories

Announcing finalists for the 2021 CLS Summer Program

We are pleased to announce the full list of scholars awarded with the Critical Language Scholarship this summer to participate in intensive summer language institutes in fifteen different languages critical to America's national security and economic prosperity.

The list of scholars for...

Posted by Andrew McCullough on June 16, 2021

Alumni Profile: Aarzu Maknojia

Reflecting on the ways in which her South Asian heritage intersected with her experience on the CLS Program, Aarzu Maknojia (Urdu 2018) said, “Learning Urdu in Lucknow as a heritage speaker was a challenging experience. There was a constant hum of being ‘too Indian’ to enjoy the benefits of an...

Posted by Liz Sinclair on May 20, 2021

Alumni Profile: Daniel Rothberg

Daniel Rothberg is an alumnus of the 2020 CLS Russian virtual institute hosted by National Research Lobachevsky University in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. He’s a 2020 graduate of Oberlin College with a bachelor’s degree in Russian and Eastern European studies, Russian language, and political...

Posted by Liz Sinclair on May 10, 2021

Alumni Profile: Imani Everett

Imani Everett is an alumna of the 2020 CLS Korean institute hosted by Chonnam National University in Gwangju, South Korea. She’s an undergraduate sociology major at Virginia Commonwealth University and will graduate in 2022. She also works as an Education Coach for ACE-IT in College at VCU, an...