<p>For anyone who has begun a language at Wellesley, how much do you typically learn in a semester? I am thinking of learning Russian, which is known to be pretty difficult. Are students typically able to speak/write/read pretty well after taking the intro courses (how intensive is the course)?</p>
<p>In general, I'm pretty open to hearing about anyone's experience with language courses at Wellesley!</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Might I add, I’m also very good in Spanish and Latin. I plan to major/minor in Language/Cognitive Linguistics. I definitely want to continue my Spanish in college, as well as another language (preferably not Latin, since it’s so close to Spanish and I want to know a language with more practical use). </p>
<p>Is “doubling up” a wise idea, or will I not have enough time, with studying and everything?</p>
<p>Generally speaking, the first semester of a college language course covers about the same material as the first year of a high school language course. </p>
<p>It is not recommended to take two introductory language courses in the same year. An introductory language class + a higher level Spanish language class is more doable. The introductory and intermediate language classes at Wellesley meet between three and five days per week. </p>
<p>Wellesley offers the first semester elementary Russian (and German) over wintersession. That’s intense, but it works for some people.</p>
<p>Okay, thanks so much! I might opt for wintersession, just so I can fit my other requirements in.</p>
<p>I would only recommend Wintersession Russian if you’re up to the challenge of 8 hours of homework a day for three weeks. It certainly gets lighter as you get used to Cyrillic and the handwriting that goes along with it, but it’s very, very intense. However, I loved it, and I would do it again. I can have a basic conversation in Russian now, and I’m continuing with it in the spring semester. I positively adore the Russian department, so I’m really glad you’re looking into it! :)</p>
<p>how proficient would you classify yourself? like, could you eavesdrop on 2 people having a conversation in Russian? or read a newspaper with relative ease/understanding? </p>
<p>also, do you focus more on grammar, vocab, or both? </p>
<p>thanks so much! i’ve heard wonders about the russian department and am super excited! :)</p>
<p>Oh gosh no, that level of proficiency doesn’t come until after the 200-level classes. So yes, by next year I should be able to read a newspaper/have a real conversation. Cool fact: there’s a bakery in downtown Wellesley at which a lot of Russian is spoken.</p>
<p>guess i got a little ahead of myself there :D</p>
<p>I took intro German my senior year. I’d say a semester is equivalent to a year of high school, however, what you learn is more loseable because you have less time to drill and learn more grammar relative to vocab quickly (good because you have more options, bad because you don’t remember the words you need)</p>