Award Description
The Critical Language Scholarship funds students to study one of 12 less commonly taught languages for 8-10 weeks over the summer. Critical Language Scholarship recipients travel abroad to a country that speaks their target language and attend language immersion classes and cultural excursions for the duration of the program. There is also a virtual version of this scholarship titled CLS Spark, where students can participate in online language learning over the summer in beginner Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Korean, and Japanese.
Most languages offered by the CLS Program do not require applicants to have any experience studying critical languages. The CLS Program seeks participants with varied interests, and from a wide range of fields of study and career paths, with the purpose of representing the full breadth of the United States. Participants are selected based on their commitment to language learning and plans to apply their language skills to their future academic or professional pursuits.
Upon completion of the program, students will have one year's worth of proficiency in their language.


CLS (in-person program) Languages:
- Arabic*
- Chinese*
- Hindi
- Indonesian
- Japanese*
- Korean*
- Persian
- Portuguese
- Russian*
- Swahili
- Turkish
- Urdu
*These languages require 1 or 2 years prior experience before participating in the in-person CLS program.
CLS Spark (virtual program) Languages:
- Arabic
- Chinese
- Japanese
- Korean
- Russian
These languages require no prior experience before participating in the CLS Spark program.
Award Details
Awarded for 8-10 weeks fully-funded virtual or overseas foreign language instruction and cultural enrichment experience in 12 critical need languages for US students in higher education.
- Overseas CLS Program: Offers in-person language study at host institutes abroad to undergraduate and graduate students in a dozen critical languages: Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, and Urdu.
- CLS SPARK: Provides virtual beginner-level virtual instruction to undergraduate students in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Russian, as well as advanced beginner-level Japanese. Preference is given to students whose home campuses do not offer their Spark language. Students who complete CLS Spark can apply for a funded overseas CLS experience the following summer and will be considered automatic semifinalists.
Eligibility
- U.S. citizenship
- Be enrolled in an accredited U.S. degree-granting program at the undergraduate (associate, bachelor's) or graduate (master's, doctoral, professional degree) level at the time of application.* Students who are graduating seniors at the time of application and students enrolled in one-year master’s programs are eligible to apply.
- More information on eligibility
*CLS Spark applicants must be undergraduates only. The overseas CLS program is available for both graduates and undergraduates.
Application Timeline
- Deadline: November annually for language institute the following summer.
- Scholars are notified in March annually.
Get Started
Contact LeAnn Adam or Becca Otto in National and Global Scholarships Advising to talk about how to begin your application!
Critical Language Scholars from OSU
Camryn Lau (2024) | CLS Spark- Arabic |
Hargobind Khalsa (2019) | Punjabi |
Miriam Lipton (2019) | Russian |
Brian Erickson (2019) | Swahili |
Chris Foertsch (2015) | Indonesian |
Camille Violet (2014, 2013) | Bangla |
Kimberly Kenny (2014) | Chinese |
Jenna Albert (2010) | Korean |
Sara Haines (2007) | Arabic |
Megan Rioux-Forker (2007) | Arabic |