<p>picking up new foreign language was something that I really wanted to do in college... and now I'm looking through the most rudimentary courses like Elemantary Spanish I or Elemantary Italian I and although there are no prerequisites, both of them are taught in their own language which kind of frustrates me. So I was just wondering how taking foreign language courses at Tufts is like when you have absolutely no background knowledge. thanks.</p>
<p>I took Italian 1-3 at Tufts with no prior knowledge of the language. I had taken French all through high school, and I think that did help me a little bit though. For the most part, I think with the language requirement being as extensive as it is, the departments try very hard to make the courses accessible and doable to everyone. Italian 1 was conducted mostly in English, but the professors do try to speak Italian as much as possible to give you a lot of exposure to the language. From what I remember, they were very helpful and went out of their way to make sure everyone understood what they were trying to convey.</p>
<p>An intro level course will probably be taught at least partly in English, but it might help you pick up the language quicker if it's taught in the language.</p>
<p>Don't worry, they'll start out in English, but the professor will try to speak as much of the language as possible as early as possible. And by the end of the semester, you can get by without English relatively well, and my Spanish 1 professor, at least, was pretty good about letting us resort to English when we needed it.</p>