I took Chinese sophomore and freshman year, averaging to about an A- average. Does it matter if I change languages (I’ll be learning Korean through Rosetta Stone) during junior year? I’m doing this for 3 reasons:
I really want to learn Korean because I plan on staying in Seoul during my gap year to better connect with my culture.
The environment of my Chinese class is very stressing mentally because my teacher places emphasis on grades all of the time. My Chinese class alone makes up roughly 60% of my stress.
As a Korean-American, I never learned Korean and I really want to start learning now.
Please keep in mind that learning Korean is only available during junior and senior year at my school.
You say Chinese is stressful to you. There is something to be said about not getting overly stressed. But will Korean be equally stressful?
Looking at your grades and your SAT/ACT, what type of colleges are you thinking about? Look at their “admission requirements”.
For example, Princeton wants: “Four years of one foreign language”
Where as Rutgers, say, wants Foreign Language: None required for Engineering and Foreign Language: 2 years of one language for Humanities.
You can have your guidance counselor mention that Korean was only available as a Junior/Senior.
It can matter even for state flagships. UW-Madison requires some, but most successful applicants will have 4 years of HS level foreign language.
But- also look at university graduation requirements. Schools and colleges within a university may have different requirements. Letters and Sciences at UW, the college most will get their degree from, has different BA and BS requirements. Three years of HS same foreign language completes the college req for a BS, four for a BA (or three of one and two of a second language). Other states likely have rules that allow a student to fulfill the req with HS years.
Check your instate schools’ admission and graduation requirements. You can’t rely on getting into elite private schools regardless of your record, no matter how stellar.
All of the above said, you still need to consider your life for the next two years. You are in charge of your stress level, you do not need to incorporate anxiety over perfection in the class. You seem to be learning enough to be able to continue to do well. It is a life lesson to learn how to not let an outside force (a teacher) become internalized. This is a technique that will serve you well forever.
Rosetta Stone learning likely will not count for any classwork for any school. You may learn but will not get credit for it. Continuing your formal classroom Chinese will give you the four units/years that will help with any college/university admission.
Finally- have a discussion with your guidance counselor. S/he will be useful in deciding what to do.
Is Rosetta Stone in addition to classwork, or is it the official material that your school uses and will give you credit for? If the second is true, will your transcript indicate in any way that you learned with that particular online package, or will your transcript simply record Korean 1 and Korean 2?
Where do you think you might apply to college? What do you think you might want to major in there?
I am an ESL teacher, so my take on language-learning is different from some other people’s. If you are miserable in your Chinese class, ditching it after second year and then taking a language you like better makes perfect sense to me. Successful language acquisition depends on positive emotional relationships with the language itself, with the learning environment, with the instructor, etc. You don’t appear to have any of that now. I’m also concerned about your statement that Chinese is causing most of your study stress. That alone could be reason for stopping for a year (or more). Your stress levels (and study time) should be better distributed over all of your classes.
If you don’t take Chinese 3 in junior year, you would have the option to take it during your senior year if you find out that you absolutely need three years of a single language.
Since Korean is only available junior and senior years, I think a note from your guidance counselor to that effect would clear up any concerns that you were slacking on the language front.