Does anybody know anything about the Arabic program at Georgetown? Like how easy or hard it is to get into? Any help is appreciated!
You don’t “get into” the program. You can choose to do Arabic if you like. Georgetown’s program is regarded as one of the best Arabic programs around, but it is also considered an intensive language in that it is 6 credits instead of the normal 3. This means there are classes every day, and more work than usual.
I’d wager Arabic is the most popular language in the SFS (in competition with Chinese), and therefore the whole school. I can’t offer much help with the difficulty. It is intensive for three years (as opposed to two for most other languages), so it’s a huge credit load, but if it’s your major that doesn’t matter.
And intensive languages are not created equal. I took intensive Japanese and never had more than 30 minutes of homework each night, while my friends in the same level in Chinese had hours.
Spanish is by far the most popular language in the SFS, but Arabic has a lot of takers Freshman year. Afterwards, not so much because it is seriously hard and can destroy GPAs (Your average SFS student will never get below a B or B+ in a class. Tons of people get B-'s and C’s in Arabic). If you are good at Arabic, it can be worth it to take, but honestly, unless your heart is set on trying to get into the State Department or something (And that is crazy difficult as you will find out), you probably won’t find much use for it and its a ton of effort. The places that need Arabic speakers generally need native speakers, not people who barely pass the proficiency exam, which is already one of the easiest proficiency exams at Georgetown.
I would push back just a little bit on @hotair’s point. While it’s true that when it comes to Arabic speakers, there’s really a strong preference for native speakers due to the heavy differences in all the Arabic dialects, there are lots of positions that are almost entirely about reading Arabic, rather than listening or speaking. For those roles, learned proficiency is often adequate.
Thanks for replying! So right now Im currently taking Arabic and this year (my senior year) will be my fourth year. I am one of the best students in the class and have picked it up rather easily. So do you think it will be as difficult since I would have already taken four years? Yes, I understand that learning a language always gets more difficult and intense each year. Do any of you know how many students actually major in Arabic and don’t just take 101 classes? Thanks for all of the information you’ve provided! I really appreciate it.