<p>i was thinking about majoring in korean (in addition to another major) and was wondering how advanced the highest level of language courses get. i am korean and speak pretty fluently, and im taking the placement test in sept. do students that take the full 6 quarters become quite fluent? how were your courses structured- lots of speaking? reading? writing? (you can let me know for any language at ucla youve had experience with, not just korean) thanks!</p>
<p>yermama,</p>
<p>I took Japanese and Chinese, so I have at least some experience with the thinking of EALC (or whatever they call it these days.)</p>
<p>First of all, I was by no means fluent in Japanese after 6 quarters. However, it can be argued that the learning curves of different languages are different; in fact, I'd bet on it. However, Korean is at least a difficult language, and I'd say that most non-natives would be unlikely to attain fluency by the second year. I'd probably go with the third or fourth year at best. </p>
<p>Lower div classes were pretty much balanced between reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Tons of listening and writing lecture, and tons of reading and speaking in the smaller discussion sections. By the third year, however, the focus took a turn for reading and writing.</p>