<p>I would like to take a language at Dartmouth and I'm choosing between Spanish, French, Italian, and leaning towards Spanish and French because they are a bit more useful. I have no prior knowledge of any of those, but I think I could get placed into Chinese 4. I heard that Chinese classes are very good, and I'm wondering if I should take a class along with starting a new language. I'm not sure I'll have time since I'm not planning on majoring in a language. Can anyone, especially current students, comment on the different language departmarts? Which ones have the most enjoyable LSA or LSA+? When is the earliest I would be able to sign up for a study abroad if I am starting the language at Dartmouth?</p>
<p>Well, the Chinese classes are leniently graded. John Lee can perhaps comment on this more. Anyways, choose whichever language you're interested in between Spanish and French.</p>
<p>Personally, I'm not a big fan of the LSAs - I'm more about the Exchanges/Special Study Abroad programs, which typically allow more freedom in your class selections and tourist-ing.</p>
<p>Yup, Chinese is incredibly lenient here. Most of the intro classes have a median grade of A or A-, and I imagine it's something similar for the higher level classes. If you are fluent verbally and can read/write a bit, you should easily place into Chinese 4 and find it fairly easy. Because the Chinese program is a bit more intense though, they don't qualify for an LSA, and instead have an FSP (I'm not sure what the bureaucratic distinction is, but it exists). The Chinese FSP is a blast from what I've heard.</p>
<p>My recommendation for you is that you take Chinese 4 freshman fall to get your language requirement out of the way. You then have complete flexibility with regard to taking other languages and don't have to take any of them up to a minimum level. I think Spanish and French courses are also offered more regularly than Chinese courses, which are usually offered only once a year.</p>
<p>The earliest you can sign up for a study abroad program is freshman fall or winter, I believe. It's fairly straightforward unless the program is high in demand, in which case you might encounter some problems getting in.</p>
<p>Thank you for your answers and advice! I really want to take a bit of Chinese, since I'm sure I'll be much more motivated to learn at Dartmouth than I was during Chinese school. If I started.. lets just say French during my first quarter, would I still be able to sign up for a LSA the next year even if I haven't completed all the prerequisites yet? I know that the LSAs need at least French 2, but the applications are due like a year before the actual LSA, so how does that work?</p>
<p>You don't need to have the prereqs when you register - you just need to have them by the time you actually depart for the LSA/FSP. So you just commit to taking all the prereqs before you leave for the program.</p>