<p>I have a Freshman who hates Spanish. He decided to continue with it in high school, against his better judgment, because his Spanish teacher in 8th grade talked him into it. </p>
<p>He would like to change to another language next year, preferably Latin. He would then take three years of Latin.</p>
<p>How does this tend to look to colleges, or does it make any difference at all?</p>
<p>Thanks for the input.</p>
<p>I can't see having a kid take three more years of a language he hates instead of starting a new language that interests him because of the way switching might look to college. The student would probably do better in the language he likes, and study will be more enjoyable and less torture. And if the student is, say, interested in classics or ancient history, taking up Latin will probably make him look better to colleges in terms of making academic decisions that nurture his passion. My kid stuck with a language she came to despise after a couple years of truly dreadful teachers, and it was not fun. During senior year, the language was dropped over the school's protests, and a different AP was substituted. Only then did we realize how the despised language class had cast a pall over her entire schedule. Go Latin!!!</p>
<p>yes I agree
Latin will serve him well in many fields- & as long as he has three years of it I think it will be fine -besides literature, Latin will also be an aid in science.</p>
<p>Ooof!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Changing to Latin will be fine if he takes it for three years. Changing to anything would be fine if he took it for three years. But Latin is especially great.</p></li>
<li><p>How the hell can a kid "hate" Spanish? There's nothing to hate about it (or, really, any language). Some languages are tougher than others, but Spanish is about as easy as they come. And it's geopolitically and culturally relevant, and has a beautiful literature, etc.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>OK. I know perfectly well how a kid can hate Spanish. But it's not the fault of Spanish; its the fault of the teachers and the way they teach. And maybe the kid's fault, too. Latin may not be any better, but at least there's a chance that it will be because traditional teaching methods for Latin are so different from those for Spanish, French, etc.</p>
<ol>
<li> I hate that so many kids burn out on foreign languages and drop them before they get to the good part (which generally begins around high school level 4). I have reading ability (fluent for some, not for others) in a whole bunch of foreign languages, and speaking ability in three or four, and I never took third-year anything. Thank Heavens! My daughter effectively spent four years in third-year French (don't ask), and it killed her interest in French absolutely dead. She went from reading Camus and Baudelaire on her own to refusing to look at anything in French.</li>
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How the hell can a kid "hate" Spanish?
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<p>I agree with you! But I also have a kid who hates Spanish. She grudgingly finished three years of it and switched to Japanese, which she loves! So, as they say, go figure.</p>
<p>I hate to see someone drop Spanish because it's the one language I wished I spoke. (I speak French and German fluently and know a smattering of Italian.) That said, the way Latin is taught is quite different. In many ways it seems much easier to me. There's no fussing about getting the accent right and there's very little translating into Latin. In NY at least the Regent's test includes a lot of mythology so you spend some time doing that as well.</p>
<p>Interestingly my younger son is contemplating dropping Latin in favor of Spanish. He's a Freshman in Latin 2. We think he'd be better off slogging through another year rather than starting a new language and having to do it for three years.</p>
<p>Similar problem, but S is a soph. He wasn't able to take language in middle school, so he started with German 1 as a freshman. Loved the class, loved the teacher. Unfortunately, the German 2 teacher is vacationing on the job so to speak. The class is mostly working on handouts and watching videos. S is bored out of his mind and the problem is that at our school, there's only one teacher for German 3, 4, and AP. And it's the same teacher :( . </p>
<p>I was wondering if he could switch to French as a junior but it sounds like two years of one language and two years of another language would be frowned upon. He loves foreign language and I hate to see him get turned off by two more years stagnating with a terrible teacher. (He'd really like to take Russian since he lived there as a baby, but I can't even find that in a community college around here.) </p>
<p>BTW, 0fG, I would let him drop Spanish and switch to something he would enjoy more. Two more years is a long time to slog through a subject you can't stand.</p>
<p>A few colleges, such as Harvard, do state that they prefer four years of a single foreign language. But most don't.</p>
<p>When a kid says that he hates a certain foreign language, I think that it often reflects poor teaching at some point along the way. If a student misses out on learning some crucial grammar points in Level 1, for example, the subsequent levels are going to get harder and harder, and the student will have the frustrating experience of always losing points on tests for a reason that he does not fully understand. If your son is interested in applying to any of the colleges that prefer four years of a single foreign language, some really good tutoring in Spanish might solve the "hatred" problem. And even if your son decided, after tutoring, that he still wanted to drop Spanish next year, having a more secure knowledge of the basic principles of the language would make the remainder of the current school year more pleasant, at least.</p>
<p>Okay, "hate" is strong. "Hating" a language probably overstates what's going on. And certainly the language teacher influences students' appreciation of a language course. That said, and to state the obvious, languages are different. They reflect different cultures. It is entirely natural that we are more attracted to one culture/language over another. It is natural, when exposed to Verdi and Wagner, to prefer one over the other. If a student clearly prefers Latin (or Russian, Farsi, Mandarin, or Italian), and particularly if a student really dislikes the sound and overall feeling of the first-year language, then why would we deny the student's heartfelt experience?</p>
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If a student clearly prefers Latin (or Russian, Farsi, Mandarin, or Italian), and particularly if a student really dislikes the sound and overall feeling of the first-year language, then why would we deny the student's heartfelt experience?
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<p>If that's what's really happening, I agree with you completely.</p>
<p>But I think it's more likely that the student didn't fully understand the Level 1 teacher's (probably garbled) explanation of, for example, Spanish direct and indirect object pronouns, and is constantly being criticized and marked off for making grammatical mistakes related to this incomplete understanding. If the student could catch up in the specific aspects of Spanish that are giving him the most difficulty, it's possible that the student's negative attitude toward the language might disappear.</p>
<p>Many schools take pride in having native speakers teach their foreign language courses, but in my experience, quite a few of these native speakers cannot clearly explain points of grammar to their students in English. In some schools, the situation is made worse by policies that discourage the teacher from speaking English to the students at all. This can lead to enormous amounts of frustration for students who are confused about aspects of grammar.</p>
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it sounds like two years of one language and two years of another language would be frowned upon. He loves foreign language and I hate to see him get turned off by two more years stagnating with a terrible teacher.
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<p>I think this is where the student writes an explanation in the section "Is there anything else we need to know...." and the GC's letter of rec verifies the student's reason for changing languages.</p>
<p>Why does he hate Spanish? As a student, its not that hard to hate a subject when we are doing poorly and/or when we have a bad teacher. :P </p>
<p>I suggest that your son talk to some of his classmates that take Latin. If the teacher isn't that good or most of the class isn't doing that well, then you might want to reconsider switching classes. Having a good or bad teacher makes a big difference. </p>
<p>But, if he hates Spanish, that could lead to him doing poorly in the class, which could lead to not meeting the prereq, and then having to drop the language in his junior year. That's not good. (Assuming there is a grade prereq, at my school we needed a B)</p>
<p>So, I would let him take it. :)</p>
<p>A working knowledge of Spanish plus three years of Latin will do fine for any college in America. I don't see that it requires any explanation. Your son should just make sure that Latin is offered at the schools he's interested in as many have language proficiency requirements.</p>
<p>Back in the Dark Ages I followed a similar path from French to Latin. I liked the concept of French but lacked the aptitude. It was a basic brain tongue disconnect.</p>
<p>Latin however fired my enthusiasm and interest in a way that no language has ever done since. I've struggled through Italian, Chinese, Indonesian with dismal results, but Latin! It still excites me intellectually.</p>
<p>The ironic part was that after two years of Latin I placed into the top class in college where I was surrounded by serious Latin scholars. It was a bit of an uphill battle but I can still say that I plodded through the 9th (I think) book of the Aeneid. I see Robert Fagles just came out with a new translation. Latin endures.</p>
<p>Schools like to see at least 3 years of the same language. If he truly does not have an aptitude for Spanish, it's better to switch as a sophomore to another language in which he can hopefully get a better grade, than to have to stick it out in the second and third year of a language he doesn't like or do well in.</p>
<p>Totally agree with the switch from Spanish to Latin. Spanish classes in our HS included all the Hispanic students (30-50% of studnet body?). Kids got graded on verbal skills.No matter how often parents asked for separate classes, the school would not oblige. S studied 1st y of Latin on his own,then joined Latin 2 at local college (not offered at HS). The college teaching was good & he never regretted the switch.</p>