Welcome to the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL). We are an organization that represents the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) within the US and around the world. NCOLCTL strives to address the communication and information needs of the individuals, organizations and institutions interested in the teaching and learning of the LCTLs.
Click to find out more about our membership benefits & options.
Welcome to the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL). We are an organization that represents the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) within the US and around the world. NCOLCTL strives to address the communication and information needs of the individuals, organizations and institutions interested in the teaching and learning of the LCTLs.
Click to find out more about our membership benefits & options.
Welcome to the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL). We are an organization that represents the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) within the US and around the world. NCOLCTL strives to address the communication and information needs of the individuals, organizations and institutions interested in the teaching and learning of the LCTLs.
Click to find out more about our membership benefits & options.
Welcome to the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL). We are an organization that represents the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) within the US and around the world. NCOLCTL strives to address the communication and information needs of the individuals, organizations and institutions interested in the teaching and learning of the LCTLs.
Click to find out more about our membership benefits & options.
Welcome to the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL). We are an organization that represents the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) within the US and around the world. NCOLCTL strives to address the communication and information needs of the individuals, organizations and institutions interested in the teaching and learning of the LCTLs.
Click to find out more about our membership benefits & options.
Welcome to the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL). We are an organization that represents the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) within the US and around the world. NCOLCTL strives to address the communication and information needs of the individuals, organizations and institutions interested in the teaching and learning of the LCTLs.
Click to find out more about our membership benefits & options.
Welcome to the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL). We are an organization that represents the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) within the US and around the world. NCOLCTL strives to address the communication and information needs of the individuals, organizations and institutions interested in the teaching and learning of the LCTLs.
Click to find out more about our membership benefits & options.

Welcome to the

National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages

Welcome

This is the website of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL). We are an organization that represents the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) in the United States. More specifically, this website is designed to address the communication and information needs of the members of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL), as well as those of other organizations, institutions, and individuals interested in the teaching and learning of the LCTLs in the United States.

Approximately ninety-one percent of Americans who study foreign languages in our schools, colleges, and universities choose French, German, Italian, or Spanish; while only nine percent choose languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese,Yoruba, Russian, Swahili and the other languages spoken by the overwhelming majority of people around the world.

While many of the less commonly taught languages are critically important to our national interest in the 21st century, the low level of current enrollments jeopardizes the very existence of the relatively few existing programs, and significantly restricts access to language learning opportunities for the large majority of students in the United States.

This website supports NCOLCTL in its efforts to address the issue of national capacity in the LCTLs by facilitating communications among member organizations and with the governmental, private, heritage, and overseas sectors of the language community. Its ultimate goal is to increase the collective impact of LCTL constituencies on America’s ability to communicate with peoples from all parts of the world.

Member Organizations

African Language Teachers Association (ALTA)

American Organization of Teachers of Portuguese (AOTP)

American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages (AATT)

American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ)

Avant Assessment

Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA-US)

The Less-Commonly-Taught Languages Center at the University of Pittsburgh

University of Chicago

PENN LANGUAGE CENTER at the University of Pennsylvania

Coalition of Community-Based Heritage Language Schools

Our Sponsors

English