Welcome to the Critical Languages Program! The Critical Languages Program (CLP) is a self-instructional language program which follows the recommended format of the National Association of Self-Instructional Language Programs (NASILP), an association which promotes the study of the less-commonly taught languages. Over one hundred colleges and universities are members of NASILP.

Students in the CLP are responsible for their own learning and are required, therefore, to be highly self-motivated and disciplined. In addition to rigorous daily work with texts, multimedia and other instructional materials, the students meet with a student native-speaker of the language in regularly scheduled tutorial sessions. These sessions are devoted to language use and reinforcement, not to presentation of material, grammatical explanations, or discussions in English. Language learning is time-intensive and practice is essential in preparing for classes which are performance-based and highly interactive.

The CLP offers students a wonderful opportunity to begin the study of a language otherwise not available to them. Over the thirty years that the CLP has been supporting the less-commonly taught languages, hundreds of Hamilton students have been very successful and have found the self-instructional format a rewarding experience.