<p>I lost that card we got in the mail about language placement exams. Can someone tell me if you need to send it back for Italian? Or actually, just what it says to do about placement for Italian.</p>
<p>Rabo, I've been wondering, are you male and female?</p>
<p>Also, what languages have you taken and how in depth have you gone with them? I've been wanting to learn Sanskrit and Greek for years, but have never found anywhere that offers them (unless I want to pay $4,000 for one class) :(</p>
<p>I hope he's a guy. I've always assumed so and I can never see him/her/it the same way if RaboKarabekian is a girl</p>
<p>Sorry, I'm a girl. To be fair, it is a guy's name. </p>
<p>I've taken two years of spanish (totally useless, don't remember any of it), 4 years of french (little better there), 4 of latin, and 4 semesters of Greek at Colgate. I'm going to Italy this summer and taking an intensive Italian course, so hopefully I'll have some degree of fluency by the time I leave. And that's also why I forgot to check for Italian, since I haven't actually taken any yet.</p>
<p>That's wicked awesome.</p>
<p>I took four semesters of Latin at UMass and 4 years of French, but that's it. I'm going to Brazil for the summer and studying Portugese intensively, and picked up a bit of Italian when I went to Italy, but it's all gone now. :( I was just curious because you said something about wanting to be a classics major and seemed to have taken a lot of language, and I'm obsessed with Latin particularly and have been dying to take Greek forever.</p>
<p>Are you a classical drama/literature person, too? </p>
<p>And I knew you were a girl! Somehow.</p>
<p>My whole existence is a lie...I've thought you were a guy ever since I first noticed your presence on these boards.</p>
<p>Greek is awesome. Much cooler than Latin. And by cooler, I mean more complex and descriptive. Seriously, Greek is the most interesting thing I've ever studied. </p>
<p>The only classical literature I've read is basically stuff I've translated, which is like bits of Lysistrata and various poems. And a little bit of Plato's Apology. I look forward to reading more.</p>
<p>I'm actually a little conflicted, because I want to take both greek and latin next year, but I know I should probably try to take a variety of courses...and yet the urge to take advantage of the open curriculum and just take 32 classics courses is strong! (Well, not 32, but you get the idea)</p>
<p>hehe, sorry. I kind of liked people thinking I was a guy so I wouldn't get stalked by sketchy old guys and now my cover is blown! Oh well, I probably would have been stalked by sketchy old gay guys anyway.</p>
<p>I would suggest taking a looooot of Greek Drama, though I'm sure you've already planned on it. I'm absolutely in love with Euripides/Sophocles/Aeschylus, and I can't even begin to read them untranslated. I think that would be super incredible and 392723872439 times better. </p>
<p>And some Latin poetry and prose and such. Greek DOES seem a million times cooler than Latin, but a big part of it was probably the fact that you took Latin at a high school (I assume?) and high school language classes are a bit of a joke (sweeping generalization here, but). Definitely take a class on Greek Tragedies (or thirty million classes like that) though!!!!!!!!!!!!! I teach Latin and Greek Drama to homeschoolers twice a week and it's wicked awesome. </p>
<p>Also, you wouldn't happen to know if Brown has many Sanksrit or Indian Drama classes?</p>
<p>check it out for yourself on their online course announcement fids:</p>
<p><a href="http://boca.brown.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://boca.brown.edu/</a></p>
<p>Thanks for the link!</p>
<p>I don't know, I feel like students and future students are generally better informants on the inside scoop and such. I mean, I thought perhaps Rabo had been in contact with the classics department and could tell me something that course lists couldn't.</p>
<p>I def. want to take classics classes in translation (i.e in english). I love Greek drama and mythology.</p>
<p>I only know that Brown has sanskrit and Akkadian, but I don't really know anything about them. I did meet a freshman whose four classes first semester were latin, greek, sanskrit, and middle egyptian. Now that's dedication to the dead languages.</p>
<p>Hahaha. </p>
<p>Oh, how great it would be to spend 40k a year to learn absolutely no practical skills...but imagine how erudite s/he will be!</p>
<p>My ten favorite books/novels/epic poems cover a total of 7 languages. It sucks because I feel like so much gets lost in translation...but I'll be 80 before I'm able to read them all untranslated.</p>
<p>Nah. 7 languages is nothing. Especially just reading. I mean, it would take like a decade to get them all good, probably less with work. </p>
<p>And hey, if I were interested in learning practical skills, I'd go to some tech school or try to be an engineer or go pre-med. Go "useless skills!" If you think about it, our society really rewards them (movie stars, athletes, pop icons). The day will come when society reveres classics scholars as well.</p>
<p>Yes, and until that day, we'll be eating ramen noodles in one room apartments and wearing thrift store tweeds. :(</p>
<p>7 languages is nothing, I suppose, but I read super slow and it would be a good 6,000+ pages to read in 7 different languages. I'm the slowest reader alive.</p>
<p>Ah, I see. Yes, the reading compiled with learning the language would be quite time-consuming. </p>
<p>I love the oriental ramen noodles. They're also good stir fried.</p>
<p>But about that placement test...anyone going to help me out here?</p>
<p>I looked at it, and all you have to do is check the box that says Italian and send the card back. I guess they'll contact you from there?</p>
<p>If you lost the card, though, maybe you should just call someone in the department. </p>
<p>P.S. I liked Ramen noodles until I spill a cup on my foot and got a 2nd degree burn. :o</p>
<p>Ah, thanks. That is what I was afraid of.</p>