<p>OK. My D. decided on Barnard and she paid her deposit. Knowing my D, this is likely to change, but she has a strong interest in majoring in either a current European language (particularly Russian or German), Latin or linguistics. She already speaks, reads, and writes French fluently (learned in middle school and HS, not at home).</p>
<p>Any current students or recent grads have any thoughts about these majors? I understand that there some requirement for permission for linguistics to be a separate major.</p>
<p>There is not a formal linguistics department at Barnard or Columbia, so the linguistics major/concentration is an interdepartmental thing. It happens to be spearheaded by a Russian language prof & also the introductory linguistics course is often taught by a Russian prof who alternates teaching between Columbia & Berkeley – so an intersection of an interest in Russian language & linguistics is probably well served at Barnard. My d. studied Russian at Barnard (or, to be more technical, at Columbia - as her courses were there), and she has always spoken very highly of the head of Barnard’s slavic language department). So basically, your d. will have plenty of opportunities to explore her interests. </p>
<p>If she is fluent in French, she may be exempt from the language requirement due to her AP or SAT II scores - if not, I’d encourage her to take a French placement exam for that purpose. Obviously, if she wants to study foreign languages, she is not going to have any issue with the 9-ways of knowing requirement – but my d. ran into a scheduling issue one semester and it would have been more convenient at the time if she could have dropped her language for that semester. Since your daughter is in interested in studying more than one language, she might want the flexibility of being able to switch off – say, 1 year of Russian and then 1 year of German – rather than having to complete 4 semesters of the same language to fill a graduation requirement. Also, it would be good for her to document the French proficiency if she ever decides to study abroad in France – Barnard generally requires that students have proficiency or coursework in the language of their host country before embarking on study abroad – so more languages will give your d. more options in choosing a study abroad program.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info Calmom. She received a 730 on her French SAT II, which I think is pretty good. Sounds like she will be well served since she has a very strong interest in Russian language and culture. Except for a couple of words, though, she doesn’t know Russian. However, she knows a fair amount of German and spent 10 days with a family in Germany during the summer of '09.</p>
<p>She would have needed a score above 780 on the SAT to satisfy the requirement - see [Programs:</a> Majors & Minor | French](<a href=“http://french.barnard.edu/programs-majors-minor]Programs:”>http://french.barnard.edu/programs-majors-minor) – but I still think it’s worthwhile to take a placement exam to preserve options. But that’s the parent in me speaking. Of course she can start a new language – but then she will have to continue through the 4th semester of whatever new language she chooses, assuming she goes for Russian or German.</p>
<p>French here is great. If she got a 730 on the SAT II, then she’d probably have to take Intermediate II, but her performance on the placement test could place her out of that. Really, there are very few people who pass out of the requirement, except those who are automatically exempt by virtue of other qualifications (SAT II, AP scores, French Bac, Lycee Francaise, etc). There are benefits to starting out within the requirement–most of the professors are great for the intro levels, and you can even take a class taught by David Macklovitch, half of the music group Chromeo. Upper level courses are great, as well.</p>
<p>I have a friend who is a German major, and she really enjoys it, although I don’t think that the department is hugely rigorous. I don’t know anyone who has majored in Russian/Slavic Studies, but I have a few friends who have taken it all four years, and have developed full proficiency (in the more modest sense–what one might call fluency). Russian, however, requires a bigger class time commitment than almost all other languages that I know of. Class meets five days a week (even Arabic only meets four times), and the homework is copious. However, if language/linguistics is your daughter’s main focus, that should be doable for her.</p>
<p>Linguistics is a possibility, although I don’t know the details of it. Otherwise, there’s always CompLit, which offers access to the recently founded Center for Translation Studies.</p>
<p>Many congratulations to you and your daughter on her momentous accomplishment!</p>
<p>Thanks USoA! She may really like the daily rigor of the Russian program. She really enjoys the Russian Lit class that she’d taking now (had me buy a new copy of Notes From the Underground this weekend). I’m hoping that she registers with this site because it’s a wealth of information.</p>
<p>I took Russian I and III at Columbia and loved it. Most of the people in the Slavic department are amazing, and it’s such a wonderful language to study. I had a friend who majored in linguistics and took just about every language under the sun, from Russian to Old Church Slavonic. From what I heard from here it was pretty rigorous, but she really enjoyed it. I took a linguistics course at Barnard and it was pretty tough, but it’s definitely a good program. Barnard is a great place for people who love language, that’s for sure!</p>
<p>D1 is (was) pretty fluent in French with a smattering of Arabic. An art history major. D2 is pretty good with Italian. The language training is vigorous. D1 got marked down on her oral presentation in Arabic for speaking with an Egyptian accent, although that was where she had done her semester abroad.</p>