East Asian Studies Concentration

*Please Note* Only for students who entered Columbia in or before the 2023-2024 academic year.

For students already committed to another major discipline, the East Asia Studies concentration offers students an excellent way to gain valuable historical understanding of the East Asia region, as well as ‘located knowledge’ about specific countries in their cultural and social formations. Students choosing the concentration will, like our majors, devote three years to language study, but are required to take fewer foundational and elective courses.

Prerequisite

  • Students must meet the following prerequisite prior to declaring the EALAC concentration: Two years of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, or Vietnamese, or the proficiency equivalent (to be demonstrated by placement examination).

Language Requirement

  • Third-year Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, or Vietnamese (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 an additional East Asian language.

*e.g., First-Year I and First-Year II OR Introductory A, Introductory B, and First-Year II

Introductory Courses

  • AHUM UN1400 Colloquium on Major Texts
  • One of the following East Asian Civilization courses: ASCE UN1359 China Civ, ASCE UN1361 Japan Civ, ASCE UN1363 Korea Civ, ASCE UN1365 Tibet Civ,  or ASCE UN1367 Vietnam Civ

Electives

  • Two East Asia-related courses in EALAC or any other department at Columbia or Barnard at the 3000- or 4000-level, subject to approval by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

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

For questions regarding the concentration in East Asian Languages and Culture, please contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies.