Foreign Language Difficulty

<p>I'm especially concerned about French. I have been told that French 1/2 classes tend to have a B+ average, but from French 63 on, the grading is much harsher, with only a few As per class. Can I have more insight to this, and perhaps details to why this may be true?</p>

<p>If no one takes those two remaining spots in Math 104, then this would be my schedule:</p>

<p><a href="http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b8d805b3127cce98548ae147a600000047100BbuGzJy3bMY%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b8d805b3127cce98548ae147a600000047100BbuGzJy3bMY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Without looking at it, I'm taking</p>

<p>Russian 1
French 63
Math 104
Music 49S</p>

<p>I had three years of very bad high school French. The suggested placement would be French 2. However, I decided to take a MOCK SAT II French test. I got roughly a 620. The suggested placement would be French 76 (but I'm very close to French 100+, but heck no).</p>

<p>I have a really hard time in French listening and understanding. I also have a hard time speaking idiomatically correct French. Despite this, I absolutely love the language and spend much of my free time studying French (though most of it doesn't stick). Am I alone in my listening/speaking problems if I do end up taking French 63?</p>

<p>Oh, and Russian stories would be nice too. Thanks.</p>

<p>Take a look at this thread about foreign languages in the same forum:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/524724-starting-brand-new-language-indian-taking-chinese-lol.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/524724-starting-brand-new-language-indian-taking-chinese-lol.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>My D took Russian and as I mentioned in the post on the other thread - the problem is that many students with Eastern European origins sign up for beginning Russian. They all disclaim any knowledge of the language, but they all seem to be able to speak it quite fluently.</p>

<p>As a result the beginning Russian class moves very, very quickly and if you know no Russian at all you will be at a disadvantage.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>I did read through that thread several times. However, I am still looking for a specific response on especially the details and variability of difficulty within the higher French classes and compared to the lower ones.</p>

<p>As I stated, I'm concerned about my listening and speaking abilities. The SAT only tests reading, and I happened to score high enough that they recommend me to take French 76 and almost a 100+ level class, but my point is... am I ready? I especially ask this because I'm sure listening/speaking skills may traditionally be significantly weaker than reading/writing. Thus, I'm hoping someone will have personal experiences about this.</p>

<p>If you are not comfortable, you are better off starting with French 63 since there is a lot of review of high school French. 76 is more of a continuation of 63 and unless you are advanced enough to go right into harder materal with just a little review, you should start with 63. I would avoid the 1/2 level if possible because it's 5 days per week. I didn't find 63 or 76 hard in terms of material or grading, but it might depend on your professor. The professor you have for 63 is one of the better ones if you keep that schedule.</p>

<p>Many of the under 100 French courses include some listening and speaking, but most of the grade is still grammar and writing. The higher French courses (over 100) are mostly writing and speaking with no tests or specific listening grades (you still have to understand the discussions). You have to have much more advanced writing ability so I would stay away from those until you have taken earlier ones.</p>

<p>Thank you. That was most helpful.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, I had to switch to a different class period because the Math class at the Tu Th time slot was full.</p>

<p>Do you or anyone else have experience with Eric Halicki and Shannon D Halicki? I could choose either of them (I'm guessing they're related) and so far has chosen Eric because his class is closer to the bus stop (my music seminar is twenty minutes after the French class and is located all the way back in East Campus).</p>

<p>Is Sandra Lynn Valnes considerably awesome enough to merit switching my French 3:05-4:05 time slot to 8:45-9:45 in the morning? Waking up early seems difficult, but if her teaching is refreshing (further accentuating my love for the French language), I could make that sacrifice. That way, I also don't have to rush to my music class.</p>