If a student has three years of Latin and two years of Greek, since both of these languages are in the Classics department, would this count for the four years of the foreign language requirement that so many of the top schools “strongly recommend” ?
Usually, it would count as whatever the highest level completed was. For example, Latin 3 + Greek 2 = “3 years”, while Latin 4 + Greek 2 = “4 years” (though the additional language would be seen as academic electives at least). But ask the college in question to be sure.
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I’m going to be a Senior next year and I can either take Organic Chemistry Post AP or Chinese AP
I have already taken the requirement amount of years for a language (3), but my school said it would look bad to not do a Foreign Language for 4 years.
What do you guys think? What looks more impressive?
I’d probably bomb the Chinese AP exam too…
I would also be taking Bio AP in addition to Organic Chemistry
I am fluent in French and I study Arabic at a high school in Jordan. Besides the SAT 2 for French, is there any way for me to prove my proficiency in Arabic?
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There are Arabic proficiency tests, but colleges will likely not ask you to “prove” proficiency. For that matter, and SAT2 (or an AP for that matter) will not prove proficiency in French; both test to a much lower level.
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@Anonymouseyebal You can create. ZeeMee page with videos of recitations and images of essays you have written in both languages. .
Hi all,
I’m currently a junior in high school planning to take Chinese IV next year. I’d say I’m better at Chinese than most of the other people in my class. I am learning in Chinese III, but my skills are improving quite slowly.
I was wondering, what are some ways I can improve my skills outside of the class, and are there any efficient methods you all use to memorize vocabulary? I want to take Chinese in college and eventually become fluent. I’m just hoping I can improve my skills and get ahead of the game before college.
Thanks
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Re: #87
Are any of your friends native or heritage speakers whom you can practice speaking with?
However, note that Chinese is more difficult for English speakers to learn than some other languages like Spanish, so that the same amount of instruction in school may not get as far with Chinese as Spanish. I.e. a student completing high school Spanish 3 is likely to be better at Spanish than a student completing high school Chinese 3 is at Chinese. Language courses in college and specialized language training schools tend to require for fluency more courses or hours of instruction for Chinese and other languages that are difficult for English speakers than for Spanish and other languages that are less difficult for English speakers.
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I’m interested, will only 2 years of foreign language would be a disadvantage. F ex. if child doesn’t want to learn language, but wants to double up on honors Math courses instead.
I have a question about foreign language as well: How much do colleges consider your grades in these classes? I’ve had a counselor tell me that they understand that language is not always an easy thing to grasp so they don’t consider it as much, while others have told me that they think it’s as important as math, english, or science. The reason I’m asking is because I have all As in all of my classes… except my Spanish class, in which I consistently get B+s (even when I try my hardest).
That would depend on the major/program you are applying to. If you intend to study literature, international relations, or something similar, colleges will wonder why your Spanish grade is lower than your other classes. If you’re going into a STEM field or one that has absolutely nothing to do with languages, a B+ in Spanish won’t hurt your application.
How does taking multiple high level language courses look? As of right now, I will have taken Honors Spanish III, French II & AP French Language (V), and this coming year Honors German V. Does that actually total to 13 years of language in all technicalities?
Re: #92
You will be seen as having level 5 in two languages and level 3 in a third language. That may be somewhat better than level 5 in one language, but it is not that rare for students to have multilingual proficiency due to a head start in one or more non-English languages at home.
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@tvpeople What @ucbalumnus stated is what the vast majority of posters on CC will state. It is not our experience, however. One of my children self-taught herself to fluency in one language and with a tutor to proficiency in a 2nd and had 4 yrs of Latin. Her languages were definitely seen as a strength on her application (she applied as an international business/IR/IS major). She was invited to interview for multiple competitive scholarships and at scholarship weekends she was repeatedly told that they were impressed by her love of learning and pursuing studies simply bc she wanted to learn, not bc she had to. (It is true. It is why she studied so many languages.).
So, it can be seen as a strength. 
@ucbalumnus Thank you for the reply! I do speak Spanish fluently however, as it’s what I speak at home. Should I and how would I go about demonstrating that I do technically exceed the “level 3 proficiency”?
@Mom2aphysicsgeek That’s very impressive! I took somewhat the same route, as I do love learning languages, so I decided to try out the other ones my school’s curriculum had to offer. I self-studied a good portion of French on my own, and now I’ve been studying all of German autonomously. I do concur that it can be viewed as strength, for that’s how I view it.
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For college purposes, SAT subject tests and AP tests are obvious ways to demonstrating some level of proficiency that is not otherwise shown by high school (or college) course work. An AP score of 5 indicates a level of proficiency high enough that it would not be useful to take a course in that language at most US high schools, though there will be more advanced college courses in that language.
However, if your reading and writing of Spanish is not as high level as your fluent speaking and listening skill (not that unusual among heritage speakers), then you may still benefit from high school or college Spanish courses (some high schools and colleges offer courses for heritage speakers that have a greater emphasis on reading and writing).
Yes, it can be more impressive that you reached a high level in French and German as a non-heritage speaker.
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@ucbalumnus I figured those would be my options. I learned Spanish both from my parents and at school in Mexico, so I think I’ll take the subject test in the interest of time! Thank you for your help.
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Hello! Sorry if such a topic has already been addressed here, but I couldn’t find an answer when skimming the thread.
I have taken two years of French in high school, but didn’t do French 3 in my junior year because I didn’t like the teacher’s methods (he taught French 1 content no matter your level). However, there is a particular college I’m interested in that requires three years of a foreign language.
I plan on taking a French proficiency certification exam this year, as well as the French SAT II. Would it be possible for my scores on either of these exams be evaluated by college admissions in place of the number of foreign language courses I took?
Depends on the college as to whether a sufficiently high score on such an exam would be considered fulfillment of the college’s foreign language requirement or recommendation. If it does not say, ask the college directly.
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