Welcome to NCOLCTL, the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages. As an organization, we represent the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) in the US and around the world. Our primary goal is to address the communication and information needs of individuals, organizations, and institutions interested in teaching and learning these languages.

With approximately 91% of Americans choosing to study languages like French, German, Italian, or Spanish, only 9% opt for languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Yoruba, Russian, and Swahili, which are spoken by the majority of people globally. This disparity in language learning has led to limited accessibility and jeopardizes the survival of existing LCTL programs. Through our website, we facilitate communication among member organizations and the governmental, private, heritage, and overseas sectors of the language community.

Our aim is to increase the collective impact of LCTL constituencies on America's ability to communicate with people from all corners of the world. Explore our membership benefits and options to become a part of our mission to promote and support the teaching and learning of less commonly taught languages