<p>I know I should have decided this earlier, but I'm just curious as to what you guys would recommend. I am in the Arts and Sciences, and I could either place in Latin and take a semester or start totally anew with a new language over 3 semesters (if I understand it correctly.) However, I'm kind of bored of Latin and have always been interested in learning German or Russian. Would taking one of these new languages prove to be much of a hindrance to my anticipated Math/Computer Science major? Is it feasible? Is either one harder? Am I understanding the system correctly?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>If you’re going to start a language, it’s going to be at least 4 credits for most beginner courses. The elementary Spanish course at Cornell meets four days a week. It has one lecture and a section that meets at the same time each of every four days. Introductory Russian on the other hand is six credits and consists of two courses. One is a four-credit seminar that meets every day and the other is a two-credit course that meets two days. At Cornell, a lot of languages have similar formats depending on their difficulty. As you can probably tell, Russian is a bit harder than Spanish because of its grammar and use of the Cyrillic alphabet. Your major won’t really matter much since all languages require a time commitment.</p>
<p>I started learning German at Cornell. I liked the program and actually completed the German Studies Minor. First-year language at Cornell is a time consumer. German meets 5 days a week and you have nightly homework (1-2 hours). I would say I learned about as much German my first year as in 6 years of French in middle/high school. That said, once you get through the intro courses and have your basic grammar/vocabulary, the rest of the courses have significantly less work. I think it’s worth it. While the workload can be tough at times, it’s also probably the closest you’ll get to a high school-type class at Cornell. The material is also pretty fun. The language classes are small and you can write essays about anything. With German the fairy tale unit is always fun where you literally have assignments like you had in elementary school to write 1-page story that can be absolutely ridiculous. So while you have a lot of work to do, you can often have fun with it and kind of get away from the intellectual discussions you’ll have in your other classes.</p>
<p>So… If I’m intellectually curious about either one of these languages and am willing to work hard, it will be worth it?</p>
<p>Learning a widely spoken language is definitely worth the effort. Spanish is spoken in most of South America, Spain, the U.S., and a few other parts of the world. Russian is known in much of eastern Europe and of course, Russia.</p>
<p>As far as utility, German is actually pretty useless. A lot of Germans have a functional knowledge of English. That said, it’s a fun, intellectual language with a lot of culture.</p>
<p>If you are interested in German or Russian, definitely take one of them! Language classes are definitely a lot of work, but most students find them fun and rewarding. Taking a more “popular” language like Spanish is less interesting, I think, especially when we’re lucky that Cornell has these other choices.</p>
<p>Why would it be a hinderance? Math/CS is easily doable in terms of picking classes (naturally, I’m not implying that the work itself is easy). Your primary consideration with language classes ought to be your interest level and the willingness to commit a bit of your time every day towards learning it.</p>
<p>Just curious here: I was trying to figure out how I would sign up for elementary Russian classes, and the wording on the site was ambiguous for me. There were very few courses listed on the Russian Fall 2011 course page (it is here: [Cornell</a> University Registrar: Course and Time Roster Fall 2011](<a href=“http://registrar.sas.cornell.edu/courses/roster/FA11/RUSSA/]Cornell”>http://registrar.sas.cornell.edu/courses/roster/FA11/RUSSA/) ) I was curious whether the first course for an absolute beginner would be RUSSA 1121 - Elementary Russian through Film. It would seem to be so, since there is a corresponding course 1122 (of the same name) for which it is required, and 1122 is required for 2000 level classes. I’m really trying not to make a mistake here, so I’d just like to verify that, to make sure I’m not accidentally taking a film course. Thanks.</p>
<p>1121 and 1103 are fall only while 1122 and 1104 are the spring exclusive continuations. It’s basically a sequence of two sets of courses. That’s typically how beginning language classes work.</p>
<p>You can just add the two courses during pre-enrollment I think. I don’t see anything about need permission on the student center.</p>
<p>But if I only take 1121 and 1122 I’ll be on my way to completing the language requirement?</p>
<p>That’s 8 credits if you complete both. I feel as if with you should probably take 1103 and 1104 as well though since you’ll need as much practice as you can get. That’s just my personal opinion from taking another tricky language (Mandarin).</p>
<p>Edit: If the Arts requirement (I’m not in CAS so I’m not sure) is three semesters, then you would have to take a second year of Russian anyway. Do you want to just fulfill the requirement or actually get a decent fluency in the language?</p>
<p>@Islander4 what was your experience taking mandarin? how difficult was it to balance that class among others (considering it’s six credits) and was the class fun at all? which professors did you have and did you like them? was the class very strict in terms of grammar or was culture discussed as well? how difficult were the classes in terms of hours spent on homework/studying a week?</p>
<p>I had work every day, but it didn’t/shouldn’t take more than three hours per day at worst. In some regards, Mandarin is a bit easier than English, but in most it’s a bit more tricky. All students in beginning Mandarin (CHIN 1101-1102) will have Stephanie Divo as the lecturer, and a section teacher depending on the time of the day. Even though the material itself was difficult I really liked how clear the class was and how helpful the teachers were. There isn’t much culture discussed although you do learn a few things as the class goes along. Grammar is definitely emphasized, but so too is proper pronunciation and writing. As a result, the grading can be a bit hard for sections, where you speak only in Mandarin.</p>
<p>For Mandarin there are two lectures (MW), and a section that meets every day. The only two spots for lectures are 9:05 and 1:25, but the sections have those two times and more (9:05 is the earliest). In order to get the time slots you want, you’ll have to email the appropriate person and get a permission code. It’s best to do that as soon as possible.</p>