American Councils for International Education: NSLI for Youth Recently Updated

National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) offers programs that immerse participants in the culture of the host community, giving them formal and informal language practice and sparking a lifetime interest in foreign languages and cultures. Participants live with a host family for all or part of the summer abroad program and participate in a variety of cultural activities.

The U.S. Department of State’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) is a merit-based scholarship program for U.S. high school students to study languages critical to U.S. national security and economic competitiveness.

This program is designed to foster international cooperation among American students as they gain the necessary cultural knowledge to communicate globally. Accepted students receive a scholarship to study a new language and culture overseas. NSLI-Y offers a variety of programs in many different locations around the world. Some of these destinations may include China, Latvia, South Korea, Indonesia, Morocco, and Turkey. The languages offered include Arabic, Mandarin, Indonesian, Korean, Persian, Russian, and Turkish. No previous knowledge or experience of the language is required to apply to a specific program.