<p>Well, so after taking 3 years of HS Spanish I want to take Mandarin. While I don't know Mandarin I am Chinese-American so I was wondering if I still had to take a placement test (and obviously, fail it). I had signed up for the Spanish test before...</p>
<p>I am completely illiterate in Chinese but I can understand some Mandarin when someone says it since I am fluent in Cantonese, which makes things quite interesting...</p>
<p>i took 4 years of (IB) spanish in high school, but switched to mandarin in college. </p>
<p>i'd recommend you take the Chinese regular series, which is mostly filled with cantonese people and non-asians who dont know anything about chinese, not the "A" series, which is taught in mandarin and meant for native speakers. (e.g. take Chinese 1 instead of Chinese 1A). you'll be okay. </p>
<p>just go fail the exam. that's what i did. except i'm crazy and took the A series even though i speak cantonese -_-</p>
<p>What if I'm Mandarin, and I already know how to speak/write some already? Someone from UCLA called me before, and I asked them about placement exams for that. The person wasn't too sure, and all I know is that I'll have to take it when the fall quarter starts. By the way, is the A series hard?</p>
<p>if you already know how to speak/write some already, then take the placement test. you'll probably be placed somewhere between chinese 1A to 3A, although a few good ones pass out of foreign language entirely (or get placed into 4A or above if they want to take intermediate chinese). </p>
<p>the placement exam is during zero week (the week you move in). see the schedule of classes for more details... i think they posted the test date already. </p>
<p>A series isn't too hard. if you have yao laoshi (or professor yao for those who dunno chinese yet), you're gonna have a good time in class. she's really funny and really effective as a teacher. there's a good workload, and vocab and grammar get progressively harder, as does the skills that you're tested if you're in the A-series (speeches and skits fall and winter quarter, essays during winter quarter, debating during spring quarter), and the midterm/finals are crazy, if you dont have a fluent grasp of the material, youre def. not gonna finish haha. oh yea, vocab quizzes EVERY lecture. </p>
<p>but dont let that fool you or scare you. it's not HARD, just requires consistent effort. well, most non-native speakers (the ones taking the regular series) would die after hearing all you have to do cuz their pace is slowwwwww compared to A-series (we finished 23 chapters plus more material compared to their 15 chapters). but if you're a native speaker, you'll pick things up fast enough for you to handle the course relatively easily. overall, chinese in college has been enjoyable, nothing like those old days of chinese school. again, it's not hard, just requires effort and interest in the subject. you're probably not gonna get a bad grade either, well at least for yao laoshi, she really wanted us to learn something, so learning was more important than the grade. anyway, i got an A- all 3 quarters and i'm not even a native speaker of mandarin. i'm sure most of the native speakers get A's.</p>
<p>hmm ok, sorry for asking so many questions, but if you pass a placement/proficiency test, do you get credits for the classes you test out of? Or does passing the test only allow you to move up to higher level classes?</p>
<p>how many quarters/classes are required at ucla to satisfy the foreign language requirement?
ive taken spanish for 3 yrs but im not that interested in it, would it be ok to try a language you have abosolutely no knowledge about but find interesting?
thanks.</p>
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if you pass a placement/proficiency test, do you get credits for the classes you test out of? Or does passing the test only allow you to move up to higher level classes?
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<p>you don't get credit for the classes. you only move up to higher level classes. if your level is beyond level 3, you will have fulfilled the foreign language requirement though. </p>
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how many quarters/classes are required at ucla to satisfy the foreign language requirement?
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<p>3 quarters, or equivalent with a placement score or by passing the AP exam</p>
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would it be ok to try a language you have abosolutely no knowledge about but find interesting?
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<p>absolutely. UCLA's foreign language offerings is very diverse (!!), and this is probably the last chance for most people to learn a foreign language in a classroom setting.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice kfc4u.</p>
<p>Is it okay to complete level 3 in junior or senior year or does it really need to be done by the end of the second year?</p>
<p>you can complete it whenever u want. i had several seniors in my language class. </p>
<p>just make sure you get in the class! most languages are offered only sequentially (level 1 in the fall, level 2 in the winter, level 3 in the spring) so you need to make sure you enter in whereever you're supposed to enter in. the really really popular languages (spanish, french) have all levels offered every quarter.</p>
<p>is it common for people to take more than one language? and how about continuing say, mandarin, after the 3 required quarters..without majoring in chinese?</p>
<p>so..if we don't know any chinese, do we still have to take the placement test?</p>
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is it common for people to take more than one language?
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<p>not common, but i know some people who do it. </p>
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and how about continuing say, mandarin, after the 3 required quarters..without majoring in chinese?
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<p>not common either, but some people are interested enough or see the benefits of doing it. also, chinese isn't the only major that requires students to take up to level 6, so there are some non-chinese majors taking it for their major too </p>
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so..if we don't know any chinese, do we still have to take the placement test?
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<p>i dont think you do, but i suggest going to the chinese placement exam so the prof. can give you further instructions on enrollment. if i remember correctly, you just get a PTE number from the prof. on the first day of class and that's how you enroll</p>
<p>thanks kfc4u!</p>
<p>when do we sign up to take the chinese placement exam?</p>
<p>will only 3quarters/1 year of chinese allow me to be proficient in the language? can i read a chinese book that is not for kids?</p>
<p>The Chinese placement exam is on Sept 26, 2006 (tues). @ 9am. There's no need to sign up for it, just show up with your Bruincard and proof of enrollment. The location is TBA. I doubt one year of chinese will allow you to be proficient enough to read a chinese book that is not for kids though... for one, you'll need to learn A LOT of characters for that to happen, and that takes quite a while.</p>
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will only 3quarters/1 year of chinese allow me to be proficient in the language? can i read a chinese book that is not for kids?
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<p>nope. 1 year of chinese means you've finished basic chinese haha. you can take levels 4-6 for intermediate. when you finish that, then you're probably at a 'proficient' level (for resume purposes). finishing level 3 will probably place you in an 'intermediate level.' you probably can't read a chinese book that is not for kids (actually for one of our essays in chinese 3A, we had to write a children's story based on about 15 pages of drawings) and you probably can't read the chinese language newspapers well either (i sure can't). but after chinese 3, you for sure can have a daily conversastion in chinese, will have a much easier time traveling in chinese-speaking countries, can type chinese on a word processor, etc. and you probably could read almost any children's book out there, plus menus, store signs, diaries, short articles or arguments, etc., basically anything that is 'basic.' you'll see a pretty big improvement if you have only a limited or no chinese training/background. </p>
<p>but i'm just going by a resume definition of 'proficient,' which can mean different things for different people</p>
<p>I took four years of French in hs, including AP, but I didn't take the test. If I try to place out of the requirement, but I can't and somehow end up in a high level, can I petition to take a lower level French class?</p>
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If I try to place out of the requirement, but I can't and somehow end up in a high level, can I petition to take a lower level French class?
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<p>wait this isnt making sense to me. you mean what if you place into french 3 but want to take french 2 (or french 1)? well, then i guess you'll have to ask the instructor to see if you can take the lower level class. i dunno how strict they are on letting people do this.</p>
<p>i heard that if you are really crappy at the language you want to take classes in then you dont need to even take the placemtn exams. just take the elementary courses. and if those are too easy just drop and sign up for the intermediate courses? is this true?</p>
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i heard that if you are really crappy at the language you want to take classes in then you dont need to even take the placemtn exams. just take the elementary courses. and if those are too easy just drop and sign up for the intermediate courses? is this true?
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<p>well, if you're really crappy and dont want to take the placement exam, then yes you may still be able to enroll in level 1 of your language. but if you find out that level 1 of the language is actually easier than you thought, then NO you can NOT skip to an intermediate course. the only way to get to the language courses that are higher than level 1 is by either getting a sufficient score on the placement exam or by completing the level prior to whatever level you want to place in.</p>