Have any of you taken German? Is it incredibly hard?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>yeah, basically the same as the chinese thread. i want to take 3 years (or 6 semesters) worth of german language classes and hopefully go to germany during the summer after my junior year and maybe a semeseter. is german hard to learn? i know some basics, but it is like... really gnarly hard</p>

2

<p>oooh I'd like to know--I've taken two semesters in highschool...and it sucks really really bad. But I was curious as to how hard it was at cornell, as well. so, uh, in other words...BUMP</p>

3

<p>The three German classes I've taken (200, 202, and 301) have been by far my easiest at Cornell.</p>

4

<p>but have you learned? if you took 3 more classes do you think you would be good enough at german to live in germany (and supposedly speak in german) for a while?</p>

5

<p>probably. though i think they want you to take at least 4 semesters.</p>

6

<p>If you're taking language classes at the 200 level or above, you only need to take one semester if you're in Arts and Sciences--which I believe has the most stringent language requirements. </p>

<p>So I took more than necessary, and yes, I did get a lot better at German (particularly reading: 202 and 301 were literature classes).</p>

<p>But the grading was still extraordinarily lenient and anybody who did the work got at least an A- (I actually got an A+ in 301, which was a nice surprise).</p>

7

<p>I've taken 121, 122, and 123. Out of all the language departments I would say that the German department is the most laid back. As long as you do the work and improve, you will get at least a B+. The classes were really easy for me, there's just a lot of worksheets to do every night. The classes are pretty fun, there's a lot of talking involved, so if you are shy and don't like talking to the other people in the class, then you might do pretty badly. Participation is like half your grade. You take a placement test before classes start, so try to do good on it so you can skip the beginner classes (121-123) and take 200. You only need to take a 200-level class to satisfy the language requirement.</p>