<p>For any current NYU attendees, I was wondering what the "easiest" language is to take there. </p>
<p>Took Spanish last semester and realized it was a mistake. Apparently some counselors urge students not to take Spanish because the department is very weird, and I now realize why they say this. The Spanish department is very well the most unorganized and disastrous department I've seen at NYU by far...</p>
<p>My daughter said that the professors in the Department of Italian Studies are top notch and that the department is ranked #1 in the country for Italian Studies. They have a terrific study abroad program in Florence, Italy as well.</p>
<p>Sorry why is it unorganized? I’m an incoming freshman and want to major or minor in Spanish at NYU.</p>
<p>@eljamas</p>
<p>The grading is very unfair. They give you a set grading rubric in the beginning of the year but then they adjust by shifting around percentages it so the grades fit their standard which is like ~20% A’s (15 kids in a class). So basically, if the teacher doesn’t like you, then you are royally screwed.</p>
<p>Also, there are several “writing” sections on exams that are completely stupid. They subtract 0.5 points for every mistake you make. This means that the person who writes completely minimal sentences will succeed the most in this class, effectively destroying the ideals of advancing in a language.</p>
<p>Finally, the teachers are not that good. Literally all they do is read from a subpar textbook. This is all coming from lower tier Spanish classes so I cannot speak for majors. All I know is that I am never taking Spanish again.</p>
<p>take Chinese</p>
<p>“Sorry why is it unorganized? I’m an incoming freshman and want to major or minor in Spanish at NYU.”</p>
<p>I got A’s in both Intermediate Spanish I and II. It was a semi-breeze for me since I took four years of Spanish in high school. At times the classes seemed disorganized only because of the course coordinator (not course instructor) and the terrible syllabus he made; I have a feeling that perhaps it was his first time leading this course. (This is only what I felt for II, though.) My experience with Intermediate Spanish I was much better, and I actually enjoyed the class. It really depends on the course coordinator that gets assigned to planning and leading all the instructors, so it’s really a matter of hope. </p>
<p>I have a friend who’s a double Math/Spanish major in his third year now. He seems to be enjoying the Spanish major thoroughly. I’m going to guess that they probably take greater care in handling the advanced classes in the Spanish department since the class sizes are significantly smaller and these are majors/minors courses that are being dealt with. That’s just a guess, of course.</p>