<p>Which should I do next year?
I am leaning toward Chinese but I hear it is extremely hard...</p>
<p>Coming from an English background, languages like Spanish, French are definitely much easier.</p>
<p>I’m taking French now and I don’t like it all, I want to try something new and take advantage of the opportunity of taking a different language</p>
<p>I LOVED the classical languages. Since I see you’re at Exeter and my high school latin & greek teacher is going to exeter I HIGHLY recommend taking them…</p>
<p>Classics…10char</p>
<p>Well, I am taking Latin right now and am planning on taking it at Exeter, but I have been wondering if I should take a modern langauage sometime soon just because classic langauges don’t really get to have food (stupid reason) and I want to be able to talk (well at least be able to try) to someone in a foreign country. However, if you don’t like French, I would say classics as I have never really seen the point of Chinese.</p>
<p>I think I am taking Greek(:</p>
<p>you lucky duck! Im currently trying to self study greek but my school doesn’t have it = (
But here’s a difficulty-level chart thingy to give you another perspective:
[Wikibooks:Language</a> Learning Difficulty for English Speakers - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks](<a href=“http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Language_Learning_Difficulty_for_English_Speakers]Wikibooks:Language”>Wikibooks:Language Learning Difficulty for English Speakers - Wikibooks, open books for an open world)
<em>~CELEBRATES 200th POST~</em></p>
<p>I took 4 years of Latin in high school and the equivalent of 5 years of French; took Greek and Polish in college. I would recommend Mandarin. I took Mandarin as an adult and my son was able to take two years in middle school. Arabic and Chinese are both hot right now. China has an exploding economy, and if you are thinking of entering business in the near future, it might serve you better. I heard an Arabic professor from Yale who said that the world is your oyster if you can become quickly fluent in Arabic given all the unrest in the Middle East. If you are leaning toward a career in medicine, Latin would be invaluable.</p>
<p>Medicine is something I am definitely leaning towards as well as other science related jobs, so the classic languages would be more helpful to me in my perspective in the future.</p>
<p>I notice that you can take a condensed, one-year course in Italian at Exeter after you’ve taken a few years of Latin (can’t remember how many). That might be a good classical/modern compromise–I think Italian would be a breeze after Latin. Probably not as useful as Chinese or Arabic–but a great place to vacation :)</p>
<p>Here are a couple older threads on the topic of choosing a language in high school:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/511215-schools-substituting-languages.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/511215-schools-substituting-languages.html</a> </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/509719-language-take.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/509719-language-take.html</a></p>
<p>i may be a little biased since my native language is chinese…but it is extremely difficult for native english speakers to even grasp the basic concepts of chinese in a few years (i have friends who have taken mandarin for 2 yrs and all they can say is “hello”, “how are you”, etc.)…but again, you will be exposed to a totally different and beautiful culture~</p>
<p>if you are leaning towards medicine, then latin is more useful - it all depends on what you are looking for</p>
<p>Classical mama: that is actually my plan…at least for now. (:</p>
<p>You can’t be serious…you never saw the “point” of Chinese? You know, that makes perfect sense, considering how Chinese is literally the 2nd most commonly spoken language in the world, after English. Or, if you would prefer a number, nearly 2 billion people speak it. That’s no minority.
And on a pre-med track, classics might be more helpful, but don’t forget that being bilingual in a language that’s not dead will allow you to connect with a variety of patients, like House.</p>
<p>I have to admit that Chinese is really hard. I’m so grateful that I was born here! (PM me if you need help with your Chinese)</p>
<p>But it’s not impossible. I know some fluent speakers from the US who just spent a few months here. Chinese and English have similar grammar. Another good thing–we don’t have tenses, plural/singular form, masculine/feminine form, etc. </p>
<p>Also, Japanese, Korean, and other languages spoken in south and east Asia are very similar to Chinese. </p>
<p>Money wise, you’ll be making a lot of money here in China if you speak the language. </p>
<p>Well I guess Chinese now is like Japanese in the 1990s. But Americans aren’t seriously learning a new language.</p>
<p>to 5schoolapplicant- don’t hate on the classical languages. latin and greek were definitely benefical for me throughout high school and so far throughout my college career</p>
<p>Chinese will be a lot of work at Exeter. My sister toured your school last year and our tour guide, non American, said his fav. class was latin. Best to take an intro Chinese course during the summer. Less stress. Chinese is good to have under your belt at some point.</p>
<p>Classical languages (such as Greek or Latin) can be very helpful for someone who plans on majoring in English, Literature, or anything to do with words. As you probably know, most English words are derived from ancient Greek or Latin roots. So, if you’re interested in English, I would suggest you stick with classical languages.</p>
<p>Chinese is a more ‘practical’ language. It’s one of the most spoken languages in the world, so it opens up a lot of opportunities. Who knows? Maybe you’ll live in China one day. If you don’t plan on really emphasizing your education in the English department, then I’d suggest you go with Chinese.</p>
<p>I decided on Chinese, thanks for all the help guys(:</p>