A certificate in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures offers evidence to prospective employers and graduate programs that a student has achieved competence in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, or Hebrew.
Students may earn a certificate in language and culture whether or not they are NES majors. Students wishing to receive one or more certificates in language and culture must email Mr. James LaRegina, the NES undergraduate administrator, at laregina@princeton.edu sometime during their senior year to verify that they have completed the requirements and arrange to receive the certificate.
To earn a certificate, students must:
- Study a Near Eastern language offered at Princeton—Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish—beyond the level required for completion of the University language requirements.
- Complete at least three NES courses in language, literature or culture that involve extensive use of the designated language at the third-year or higher level.
- Complete a substantial piece of independent research (i.e., a paper of 7,000 words or more). This requirement can be satisfied in one of several ways:
a) A paper growing out of one of the courses taken to fulfill the certificate requirements. This paper should be additional to the work required in the course.
b) A paper on a topic agreed upon with an instructor in the department.
c) With the agreement of the student’s home department and the Department of Near Eastern Studies, a student may be allowed to complete a piece of independent work that will satisfy the requirements of both the home department and the certificate. For example, a student could write a junior paper or senior thesis based in substantial part on Near Eastern language sources. The paper does not have to be based entirely on Near Eastern language sources, but its use of such sources should not be trivial or amount to mere window-dressing. In other words, the paper should demonstrate that the insights derived from Near Eastern language sources reach beyond those gained from other sources.
In addition to third-year-level language courses, more advanced language and literature courses may be used to satisfy the second requirement above.
Arabic: For the Arabic Certificate, applicable courses include ARA 301, 302, 401, as well as graduate courses open to qualified undergraduates, such as NES 529, Readings in Modern Arabic Literature, and NES 531/532, Readings in Classical Arabic Literature.
Hebrew: For the Hebrew certificate, applicable courses include HEB 301, 302, 403, and 405, as well as graduate courses open to qualified undergraduates, such as NES 523, Judeo-Arabic.
Persian: For the Persian certificate, applicable courses include PER 301, 302, and one-time only undergraduate courses as well as graduate courses open to qualified undergraduates, such as NES 539, Studies in Persian Literature.
Turkish: For the Turkish certificate, applicable courses include one-time only undergraduate courses in Turkish language and literature, as well as graduate courses open to undergraduates, such as NES 504, Introduction to Ottoman Turkish, and NES 541, Readings in Ottoman Turkish.
Besides these courses, any course in which the student arranges with the instructor to do substantial reading in his or her designated language may count toward the Certificate in Language and Culture. This includes all the literature in translation courses. These must be arranged on a case-by-case basis with an instructor.