We recommend that 1st and 2nd years primarily focus on completing the majority of their GE and Special Subject Areas before they start on their major requirements. Generally speaking, Linguistics majors do not start on upper-division major requirements until the start of their junior (3rd) year.

In addition to completing all College of L&S GEs, all new students can prepare by:

  • Taking LING 20 or the equivalent (see Assist.org and the question "How do my transfer courses articulate?" below).
  • Getting started on the foreign languages required for the Linguistics major. This is the best way to get ahead.
    • Our major requires two years (6 quarters) of one foreign language and one year (3 quarters) of a second foreign language from a different language family (for example, taking both Spanish and Japanese is accepted, but not Spanish and Italian since they are both in the Romance family).
    • You can see more information about our requirements for foreign languages on our LING FAQ. 

If you are a freshman or sophomore, please refer to the above answer.

For transfer students, or any incoming new student who have completed the above, then we recommend you start with:

  • LING 106: Introduction to Phonetics [FALL ONLY]
    • LING 106 is a required or a prerequisite course for the most of our majors.
  • LING 101: Basic Elements of Linguistic Analysis [FALL ONLY]
    • While not a required course for most of our majors, we nonetheless recommend this course for foundation in addition to LING 106.
  • For other recommended courses, please refer to your major track's degree sheet.
    • See also: Course Planning / Course Scheduling

 

 

You may check to see how your transfer courses may articulate by using Assist.org

What is Assist.org? 

Assist.org is the official course transfer and articulation system for California colleges and universities. 

How to Use Assist.org? 

  1. Log in to Assist

  2. Use the box below

  4. Type in the name of the California community college, CSU, or UC (other then UCSB) under Institution 

  5. Type in "University of California, Santa Barbara" under Agreements with Other Institutions

  6. Click View Agreements 

  7. Select View Agreement by "Major"

  8. Select "Linguistics, B.A."

  9. Scroll down to "PREPARATION FOR THE MAJOR" and see if your course is equivalent to UCSB's "LING 20" or, if you are pursuing the Language, Culture, and Society major track, those course equivalents. 

 You may check to see how your transfer foreign language courses may articulate by using Assist.org

What is Assist.org? 

Assist.org is the official course transfer and articulation system for California colleges and universities. 

How to Use Assist.org? 

  1. Log in to Assist

  2. Use the box below

  4. Type in the name of the California community college, CSU, or UC (other then UCSB) under Institution 

  5. Type in "University of California, Santa Barbara" under Agreements with Other Institutions

  6. Click View Agreements 

  7. Select View Agreement by "General Education / Breadth" and select "College of Letters and Science"

  8. Select "Linguistics, B.A."

  9. Scroll down to "AREA B: Foreign Language" and see if you have taken the courses to fulfill this Area. If you have, then you have satisfied the "3rd quarters or equivalent of a foreign language" requirement. Note that this is not enough to complete the "6th quarters or equivalent of a foreign language" if your LING major track requires this.

See more on the Linguistics Foreign Language Requirements on the LING FAQ.

Please see our LING FAQ for additional information. The LING FAQ covers topics such as:

  • Major Requirements
  • Minor Requirements
  • Foreign Language Requirements
  • Course Planning & Add Codes
  • Petitioning Courses for LING Credit
  • LING Study Abroad / UCEAP
  • Honors / Independent Studies
  • Internships & Professional Development
  • Speech-Language Sciences & Disorders (SLDS) Resources