College students interested in some of the less-commonly taught languages will be pleased to hear that the University of Washington has received a $16 million grant that will support about 140 language fellowships.

The Seattle Times reports that the grant will be used for students who major in Chinese, Arabic, Tagalog and nearly a dozen other politically important languages. The fellowships are scholarships for undergraduates and graduates. The money will cover study for an academic year and summer fellowships. It will pay for tuition and living expenses. The grants will be available over a four-year period.

Resat Kasaba, the director of UW's Jackson School for International Studies, told the Times that the languages that are considered "less-common" are any language other than French, German and Spanish.

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