I am an entering freshman and took Spanish in high school but decided to take Italian at VU to satisfy the 2 core requirements for language in CLAS. I just found out I have to take 4 semesters of Italian because I have to take it through the Intermediate level (same with Latin and the other romance languages). It’s too late for me to take a Spanish placement test because all the Spanish classes are full so I have to decide if I stay in Italian or switch to Irish (Gaelic) or a Critical language (Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Greek or Arabic) which I’d only have to take for two semesters through the Introductory level. Any advice about which language would be the best to take? Or which ones to be sure to avoid? All those languages seem like they’d be tough to learn. I think it all depends on the professors. My sister took 2 semesters of Chinese which was pretty easy at her school and she loved it but I know someone else who took Chinese at a different school and it was super hard. I would love to take the easiest possible language for two semesters that will be interesting and satisfies my core requirements.
If you have Spanish experience then the “easiest” languages to learn would be romance languages (French or Italian) due to the similarities in grammar, sentence structure, etc. Chinese is generally considered one of the more difficult languages because of the tonal and characters aspects. Although your sister could be a good resource to help you practice speaking and answer questions.
Japanese, Chinese and Arabic will involve learning a new alphabet which would be additional work and likely make them more difficult. I’d suspect that Irish, Russian or Greek would be the easier non-romance options although of course it depends on the prof. Look into which classes have good profs. If you have a good memory for symbols then Japanese isn’t too bad, but keep in mind in addition to its alphabet nature there are thousands of kanji which stand for certain words. However, I’ve found Japanese one of the more straightforward languages to learn.
If you’re planning on doing any international work/foreign policy/governmental work abroad then Chinese and Arabic might be particularly useful.
Also consider if you want to study abroad for a semester. If you do, then I’d recommend taking the language of the country you want to study in (regardless of whether or not VU requires it).
@schmoopiez There is no way of knowing how difficult a class will be at Villanova unless you know who is teaching it. To compare a class at Villanova to the same class at another university is impossible. Just focus on which language you think you can have the most success, even it means sucking it up for 4 semesters instead of 2. Don’t forget about the deadline to drop/add a class. You don’t want your final decision to be made for you. Good luck!