Hi everyone!
This year, I am a freshman taking AP Chinese (required by my school because I was enrolled in Chinese as a second language [CSL]) and originally planned to do French 1 next year; however, because of scheduling issues, I am unable to take it.
That leaves me the following choices:
- Spanish 1: A typical introductory language course
- Chinese Multimedia: Studying China by having debates, investigations, and discussions on current political and social issues in China as reported in media
Some background about me:
- Speaks Cantonese and English at home
- In terms of writing, English > Chinese
- Studied Mandarin for nearly ten years but was never challenged much because I was always in CSL
- No prior Spanish knowledge/background
Can someone please give me some direction on which one to pick? Which one would be more applicable in the future? Also, if I opt to take the Chinese class, will colleges think that those classes are easier than AP Chinese? (please don’t yell at me for caring too much about what colleges think, these two choices are equal in my mind)
In my mind, the question would be what offerings are available after Chinese Multimedia. If your HS offers 3 years of post-AP Chinese, that might be an option. If it doesn’t, I would go with Spanish.
If your HS considers Chinese Multimedia as advanced class, they will list it as such on the school profile, so colleges, if they are not familiar with your HS, can easily see that.
After AP Chinese, there are five classes that can be taken in any order - drama, reading & writing, multimedia, culture & customs, and literature. Only literature is rated as an Honors class, and our school profile doesn’t seem to list the Chinese courses in order of difficulty.
For Spanish, there are three years of regular classes (Spanish 1-3) and AP Spanish (which I can’t take unless I /somehow/ manage to pass an entrance exam to skip a year).
Then it’s really up to you, IMO.
Will colleges assume that I am proficient at Mandarin because I have a Chinese last name and speak Cantonese?
Sounds like the classes after AP Chinese are more culturally involved, not continuing learning the language? I would take the Spanish. Maybe you can do one year over a summer. You’re a freshmen, you still have time.
Most post-AP language classes and most post-4th semester college language classes shift focus from pure language instruction, to literature/culture/arts with reinforcement of grammar points taught in earlier courses. So, not a deal-breaker one way or the other.
Understandable, most schools near me stop after AP. But, how much would you really learn after that? I guess what I’m trying to say is I feel that starting another language might be more beneficial in my opinion. However, they are both great options.
Thanks for all your advice! I chose to take Chinese because I feel that on the long run, becoming fluent in Mandarin will be extremely helpful in real life – more so than learning a completely new language for three years.
Good choice, especially if you are passionate with it! 