<p>im enrolling at Midd this fall. i plan to study abroad in the junior year so i need to begin a language course in my first semester. i was wondering, what are some strong language departments at Midd?? there are also more than 30 programs in 12 countries. so what are some that have received good reviews?? thanks!</p>
<p>You're kidding us, right? You're going to the college that's best known for languages and you want us to name some strong language courses????? Or are you looking for a reference to Ratemyprofessor.com?</p>
<p>Are you really interested in a particular language, or do you just want to study one so that you can spend a year abroad? You realize that you don't have to take a foreign language to study abroad, right?</p>
<p>Not to jack this thread or anything but, arcadia, do you have any particular knowledge about the Spanish department? The one student who I've had the chance to ask about it seemed to think it was one of the weaker language departments. The thing is, I could probably place into fourth semester Spanish so I'm thinking I should probably still take it anway.</p>
<p>Other than that, do you have any advice for how to pick a language to take when a person isn't exactly sure what to go with but definitely wants to study a language? Should I wait until I meet my advisor to discuss it?</p>
<p>I don't recommend taking a language just to take it. Spanish is the most popular major in terms of languages, followed by French and Chinese. Do you feel more comfortable with a Romance language, or do you want to learn a language with a completely different alphabet? What sort of career are you thinking about? Japanese and Chinese can be difficult to learn, but the business opportunities (especially in China) will come in handy if you're interesting in doing business in the Pacific Rim. Arabic is also becoming quite popular. </p>
<p>I think it's a great idea to talk it over with your advisor. Or, if you do MiddView, you'll meet some upperclassmen who can tell you more about the strengths and weaknesses of different language departments.</p>
<p>Yeah, I'm definitely doing MiddView so that might give me a chance to talk it over. I'm not interested in Chinese or Japanese--I will probably do either Spanish or, if I'm feeling ambitious, Arabic, which I have always wished I could study but haven't gotten the chance.</p>
<p>Somewhere (idk where) I thought I read that first-year languages meet every day (!) is that true? That would seem to put a fair amount of stress on my schedule...</p>
<p>yeah, they meet every day + language tables + screening once a week</p>
<p>Languages at Middlebury are INTENSE.</p>
<p>The Spanish department at Middlebury is superb and the faculty is deep.</p>
<p>Going to Midd, I know what ppl think about Spanish. It's REALLY good, but in comparison to other strong lang depts like Jap and Chinese, it doesn't appear as strong.</p>
<p>What about the French department there?</p>
<p>The french department is quite good. I have taken a few classes and one teacher was ok and the other was the best teacher I ever had. We often have very good visiting professors. As for the language department overall it is superb. I have taken classes in portuguese which is one of the smaller language department and the quickness with which we learned the language was amazing. Classes everyday for beginner courses + language tables+ screenings. </p>
<p>The Chinese and Arab departments are pretty close to the spanish one in size and I would say are as big as the french department. Then comes italian and german, then japanese and portuguese and I think korean will be added soon.</p>
<p>Current students, feel free to correct me - I graduated from Midd in '81 with a Russian degree - but as I recall, we studied a language to learn and live it, not merely as a means to study abroad. Any language at Middlebury requires a lot of commitment, especially in the first two years. No way to fake it if you have skipped the language lab assignments!</p>
<p>Sorry but what is the language lab?</p>
<p>language drill-you prac the lang</p>
<p>Is it possible to study more than one language at the same time at Middlebury, while majoring in something completely different?</p>
<p>Is it possible to study more than one language at the same time at Middlebury, while majoring in something completely different?</p>
<p>Sorry for the double post.</p>
<p>yep, it is, but only if you have background in one of the languages you're going to study. i started french on high school so i got placed on a 200 level course on my freshman year. this year, i will begin russian. i also have friends who've done the same with different languages, so it's really common in midd to do that.</p>