<p>My son will be a member of the class of 2014 and must make a decision about which foreign language to study. He studied Spanish in high school, but would really like a change. He is considering Japanese and Arabic. Has anyone heard about the Japanese or Arabic programs? They sound like daunting languages.</p>
<p>Japanese and Arabic programs are pretty good. Both of them are not easy, but I think I have heard people note the toughness of Arabic more (but that doesn’t mean anything). There is also a great study abroad program for Japanese learners/majors. Carleton has some other good language departments too – Russian, Chinese, and Hebrew come to mind.</p>
<p>My roommate is the Arabic program. She really likes it, but it really does take a lot of energy…it’s a difficult language.</p>
<p>Perhaps he already knows this, but he can take a placement test for Spanish and possibly test out of some or all of the language requirement.</p>