<p>I want to study three or four languages while in college. Brown is on my list of potential schools that I might want to apply to.</p>
<p>How are the Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, and German departments at Brown?
How many languages can a student take?</p>
<p>German is solid, particularly the first 4 semesters (Frau Sok is incredible). I’ve heard that the 5th and 6th semesters are fun but not very challenging. There is a huge gap between the 500/600 students and those in the next level, which to me suggests that those who take the upper level courses had substantial high school exposure. I’ve heard that much of the intro Arabic sequence is taught in English because of the substantial differences between the language, but my friend who took it did enjoy it. I have also heard that the expectations for lower level Russian courses are not very high, because students are seldom used to a language that is as inflected as Russian, Latin, or Greek.</p>
<p>A student can take as many languages as one wants while completing a concentration. In reality, 4-6 is probably an upper bound for the sake of your sanity (and so you can branch out and take other courses). I’ve studied 4 at Brown, and the semester where I had 3 on the same day was just overwhelming, even if the work wasn’t that much. I could take a fifth, but the grind of starting a new language (the class time is equal to taking 2 courses) or even continuing a language at the intermediate level (still extra class time) is draining. If you’re coming into the advanced level of most of these languages, though, that’s somewhat different and requires less time.</p>
<p>What about Italian?</p>
<p>Does anyone know much about French?</p>
<p>Italian uses a more intuitive and less grammatical approach than German (the teachers are native speakers, which has benefits, but they cannot explain some things like preposition choice). I found the exams easier but never got to the same level as in German.</p>
<p>Haven’t studied French here. Just on my own.</p>
<p>The Portuguese Dept at Brown has a great program.</p>
<p>I’ve taken a few French classes (started in 600, then moved into upper level courses). I think that the department is pretty goodmost of the professors are very passionate about literature and culture and are quite knowledgeable about the francophone world beyond France. I would echo what Uroogla said about the gap between 600 and upper level courses: upper level classes may have native speakers, people with substantial exposure in early years, etc. It shouldn’t be a problem, especially because professors tend to be aware of students’ backgrounds, but it’s certainly a disparity.</p>
<p>As a whole, I’ve been pleased with the program. My only complaint is that the courses are very literature-based (especially 17th or 18th century literature); for a school with such a strong IR program, I would expect courses about French business or French politics. But so it goes.</p>