<p>ITT tips about the best foreign language to learn, in terms of how good the teacher is, and easy A, and how well they teach and how much you retain and practicality, etc. </p>
<p>I read that Jansma is pretty good for French. Bui > Nguyen for Vietnamese. Chinese prof for native speaker is very nice, but competition is a *****. Chinese prof for nonnative speakers is very nice...to white people. </p>
<p>So... any advice, tips, anecdotes? :)</p>
<p>hibiscuspink,</p>
<p>You only want a language if you have an interest in it. Don't worry about "easy A's." If you enjoy the material, languages will almost always be an easy A.</p>
<p>Jansma... I think that it's if you do the higher level French's. Personally, I think her textbook sucks. Anyway, you have TAs. I got lucky this quarter and I have a really awesome one that I'm probably going to make the effort to keep for the rest of the year.</p>
<p>I hate learning languages, period :'(</p>
<p>Sad.</p>
<p>Do something closer to English, then.</p>
<p>i hate language placement.
i get placed into french 3, ok, fine, 1 quarter and i'd be done.
but french is a pointless language i intended to be done with in high school.
spanish will be much more practical for any career i'm considering.
but spanish 1 and 2 is not enough. must go through 3 to graduate. and i guess to even make it worthwhile lol.</p>
<p>has anyone here done the spanish intensive over the summer? is it worth the time/energy/money/shortening of summer? or is it better to take up 3 whole classes (which i can ill afford if i want to graduate in 4 years)? any thoughts? thankyous :)</p>
<p>Any tips? It's do or die. 12 units and one grade!!!! </p>
<p>French is not a pointless language. Think of the great works of literature and its series of references or phrases that could only be expressed in French. If you're getting into academia, French (and German) are often required languages to become semi-fluent with (reading, of course). It was (and still is?) a bastion of intellectualism that has been consistent over centuries. Great academics from the last few hundred years were versed in French and wrote journal articles in said language. Sure, it might seem useless here, but in Europe it has served its roll as a big weight in terms of academia, -isms, and generally, a certain cultural awareness within the Western Canon. ***Le fran</p>
<p>Emm, sometimes you are SUCH a yawner!</p>
<p>Maybe I'll take Latin.</p>
<p>I'm taking Latin 1 right now(don't think its offered next quarter). Be prepared to take a lot of flack from friends and family(and yourself sometimes), since its a dead language. Granted, its the root of all romance languages, and over half of english, but people would implore you to take 'useful' languages like arabic, chinese, or spanish--for someone like me who doesn't have knack for languages, especially ones that don't even use the roman alphabet, this would be killer(and taking <em>only</em> one year of any language won't be useful in the long run). Latin helps for law or med school, though.</p>
<p>You're right, it's offered once a year.</p>
<p>Perhaps I'll do it fall of next year, then. </p>
<p>How's the instructor(s)? And how would it be useful for law or med school? </p>
<p>Thanks for the input :D</p>
<p>Useful for law or medical school? Seriously, if you're so interested in learning Latin or Greek morphemes and expanding your vocabulary and breaking down law (and medical) terminology, just take a structure of English words class or study morphemes yourself rather than "wasting" an entire year with hopes of increasing your professional school chances while fooling around with a "useless, dead" language.</p>
<p>Just take Chinese.</p>
<p>Just take Chinese?! JUST TAKE CHINESE?!?! NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!</p>
<p>NOOOOOOOOOO!!!</p>
<p>NO MORE CHINESE</p>
<p>I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>just pick a romance language...same alphabet, just about everything is phonetic. italian and spanish are also easy to pronounce (easier to trill r's than making the guttural ones in french.....)</p>
<p>如果你不學中文，你是個笨蛋。</p>
<p>yes, mme-lin, french is pointless.
to me.
because NO ONE IN CALIFORNIA FRICKIN SPEAKS FRENCH!!!
ditto in oregon, if i move there after graduation to work in education.
because who goes to school?
kids who speak english. and spanish.
french is only useful in canada >.<</p>
<p>i wanted to learn chinese, but with a background in french, spanish would be an easier second language to learn, i guess.
so- anyone done the spanish intensive during summer?</p>
<p>Well okay, as far as the law/med school things goes, its almost going the other way for me--I can identify the latin word based on its english/romance counterpart.But, its something i've always wanted to do, and if its something you want to do, then just do it, and forget about what others say. I took three years of spanish in high school and today all I can do ask someone where the bathroom is in Buenos Aires. One of year of any language will not do you wonders in the future unless you become fluent in it--especially since as you age, you lose the faculty for picking up languages. All I can say is do what you feel comfortable doing. And hibiscuspink, Prof. Gurval is very amiable, very nice.</p>
<p>Oh, and for grad/law/med school, GPA does count for something, so killing yourself with chinese, hindi or whatever if you're not a linguistic maestro may end up hurting you in the long run.</p>
<p>
[quote]
如果你不學中文，你是個笨蛋。
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You have got to be kidding me. Is "ben dan" the best you can do? :rolleyes:</p>