<p>On the common app where it asks what foreign languages you can read, write, or speak, do they mean fluently? I'm learning to read and write arabic, and learned to read amharic when i visited ethiopia for two months last summer. I'm fluent in neither and wouldn't understand what i'm reading unless it's relatively simple vocab (for arabic) or a cognate or transliteration of an english word (for amharic). At the bare minimum, my familiarity with both languages is nontrivial and further study of them is a goal of mine.
When the application asks for books read, must the books have been read start to finish? I'm not a fiction/literature/prose kinda guy (WAY more hard math and science) so i don't read "classics" but rather self study with books on math (aops vol. 1 and 2, AaCoPS) and, lately, programming. Could I books I read a significant portion of because going through them start to finish just isn't how they're supposed to be read?</p>
<p>I'd like an answer to your questions, too. I didn't know the common application asks for books read. There's no way I'd be able to give an accurate estimate, since I read voraciously and have a tendency to reread certain books three or four times a year. That's insane...</p>
<p>Yeah I've got a similar question too. I wonder if it's okay if we put something we're not very good at yet, but will be working on it before college starts. For example, I've only started to learn French, but will be working on it during my 8-month gap before college (I'm an A-level student).</p>
<p>And can I put in extracurriculars that I plan to do during those 8 months. Should I use "will"?</p>
<p>I would stick with languages you are at least proficient in. If you want to add at the end something like "currently studying..." that would probably be fine, but if you write that you speak a language, they are going to assume that you actually speak that language.</p>