In addition, the center provides instruction in a variety of other languages in a nontraditional format that involves self-instruction. Currently those languages are Arabic, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, modern Greek, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Sanskrit, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese. The University of Alabama is a member of the National Association of Self-Instructional Language Programs, and can thus provide the opportunity to study almost any major language spoken in the world today. Native speakers must be available to serve as tutors.
Tutors are primarily responsible for conducting regular drill sessions.
For those languages that do not use the Roman alphabet, tutors are also responsible for introducing the written script. At the end of each semester, outside examiners are invited to the campus to administer final oral examinations for determining course grades. Each student has a private final oral examination. The Critical Languages Center offers four years of classroom instruction in both Chinese and Japanese language. Students may minor in either of these languages.