<p>Is it too much to try to learn some of a foreign language while studying engineering?</p>
<p>Most likely yes, especially if you’re learning a new language and want to become fluent in it. Nothing is impossible though.</p>
<p>The goal is not fluency. That is asking to much.</p>
<p>To become fluent? Probably not possible.</p>
<p>Just to take an intro class? Doable. I took italian last semester just for the hell of it.</p>
<p>Like I said. I am not even imagining fluency right now. I just have a lot of spaces in my schedule where I have already taken care of the core credits through AP exams. Would adding one language course per semester be THAT much of a drag in terms of the difficulty it would pose on top of Engineering? I am willing to take care of things at my local community college if I really need to free up more space in my schedule to do this. The languages I am interested in are German or Russian. I already have a fairly good knowledge of Spanish.</p>
<p>Check to see how often the classes meet. The ones I’ve seen are typically everyday or 4 days a week. That would be what I’d be concerned with the most.</p>
<p>In terms of fitting it into my schedule?</p>
<p>It would be doable… but if it takes up too much time and effort, I would say it may not be worth it. If that was the case, I would just say buy Rosetta Stone and learn it that way on your own time. haha</p>
<p>I fit a foreign language into my schedule (Japanese). Some students were really into studying the language and would go above and beyond. I never put that much effort into it, partly due to a lack of time (I’d rather study more important things or do something that’s fun). Regardless of this, I still managed to do fine. However, I’ve forgotten most of it by now. If you don’t use it regularly, you will forget it.</p>
<p>PurdueEE, why did you take it then? I am not aware of any engineering school that requires a foreign language course.</p>
<p>I have the same problem. I had an extra space in my schedule freshmen year so I took a course in Japanese but I have already fogotten much of it so taking Japanese II would mean alot of studying and review.</p>
<p>I took it because I thought it was interesting, which it was. But, I had no desire to go home and watch tons of anime in Japanese.</p>
<p>My Japanese class was full of otaku people. They were all so enthusiastic to learn japanese at first but ironically almost half of them ended up dropping the class because of its challenging nature.</p>
<p>Sounds exactly like my classes. Many of them would frequently ask questions that were more designed to flaunt their knowledge of Japanese culture than anything else. They would watch and discuss the latest anime. They would try to immerse themselves in the Japanese experience in various ways, like buying Japanese shirts. And then they’d fail the tests and I’d never hear from them again. I really didn’t miss them.</p>
<p>As far as making myself qualified for a job overseas, must I be absolutely fluent in the language or is the experience alone good enough for the employer?</p>
<p>I have quite a few friends doing a language-engineering double major, of course they stretched it out to 5 years, and it was a language they took in high school. I also have friends who are using language courses as their free electives just for fun and doing it pass/fail for some of the classes.</p>
<p>It depends on the job, as always. If some German company wants an engineer who will be able to work only in German and interact with coworkers in German, chances are you’re going to need to be fluent. However, if a company happens to be located in Germany but is fine with an English speaking employee then just taking classes will probably be OK. Or, if an American company is going to send someone overseas on a business trip or for a few months to work on some project, having a decent basic understanding of the language (college classes) is likely going to be sufficient.</p>
<p>Every engineer, every professional, should take 2-3 foreign language classes during undergrad. One only needs to pick up the basic writing, reading, and speech skills necessary to build fluency later. Most importantly, having more in-depth cultural knowledge is the key.</p>
<p>English-speakers are not required to learn another language because, obviously, English is the international business language; For non-English speakers is a different story. However, knowledge of two or more widely-used languages is always a plus in the business world.</p>
<p>I speak English and Spanish, currently learning French, and later on I will dabble in German. If I can manage Mandarin or Russian, I’ll be golden.</p>