Can you major in French if you've never taken it in high school?

College Majors
1

<p>Hello everyone.</p>

<p>I'm a Junior in high school, went to a private middle school that only taught a language I already speak (Hebrew), and started Spanish in high school just because it's the most popular language and I thought it would be easy.</p>

<p>I lived in Israel for 8 years so I speak, write, and read in Hebrew very well- I'm 100% fluent, with very good and sophisticated vocabulary.</p>

<p>OK, the deal is: I HATE SPANISH. First year was tolerable, but I hate it. It doesn't sound pretty (to me), the teachers absolutely suck (I absolutely hate my teacher), it's REALLY boring to me and I just despise it. My parents/counselor pretty much forced me to take Spanish 4 Honors next year (senior year) even though I wanted to take French 1.</p>

<p>Unlike Spanish which was out of the blue because I didn't know anything about languages, I adore the French language. I think it's so beautiful, in fact I've already started to learn a few phrases myself, that's how motivated I am to learn this language. My mom speaks it pretty well though she has forgotten a lot.</p>

<p>So question is, can you major/learn French in college in 4 years with study abroad? I know learning languages gets harder as you grow older so I'm just wondering... Also I will serve in the IDF probably for three years so that will be starting at age 21, with three years of not using spanish (which would not help because they are similar.)</p>

<p>Is it possible? Do you advise doing this? I think I'm going to major in International Relations.</p>

2

<p>Yes, you can major in French from scratch in college. However, you might have to take more total courses and cram many advanced courses into your junior and seniors years; some French departments assume that prospective majors have had the language before and structure the major requirements accordingly. For example, the French major at my college requires 12 courses after the 4-semester intro sequence. </p>

<p>Having so many core courses for the major in your junior and seniors years might make it tricky to study abroad. You might have to utilize summers, either to get through the introductory courses faster or as a stand-alone study abroad opportunity.</p>

3

<p>You can generally take accelerated language classes if you haven’t had prior experience in order to catch up to those who’ve taken the language in high school. I’d greatly recommend that if you intend to major in a language as long as your school offers it.</p>