<p>Are Arabic and Mandarin offered at Brown?
How comprehensive are the programs?
Are students allowed to take more than two languages?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m not currently attending Brown, but here’s the list of languages available: [Center</a> for Language Studies | Brown University](<a href=“Languages@Brown | Center for Language Studies | Brown University”>Languages@Brown | Center for Language Studies | Brown University)</p>
<p>I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to take more than two languages, but that’s just a guess.</p>
<p>I’ve taken 4 languages. However, it can be somewhat rough taking more than 2 at once, especially if they’re lower level classes, which require a larger amount of time in the classroom.</p>
<p>You can definitely take more than 2 languages, just you will have to defer to what scheduling looks like. Language classes meet 5 days a week, and sometimes there’s only one section (time slot) for a certain language, especially as you go into the higher level classes, so you will most likely have to pick and choose which 3 languages you study base on schedule. </p>
<p>Of course one year it might work out, but down the road in another year, chances of a schedule conflict are very high.</p>
<p>With that being said, taking just 2 languages is a huge time commitment that may affect how do in your other classes. I am currently taking 3 language credits (however, only 2 languages; one is an intensive) and I warn you to be very careful in the classes you choose for the semesters you take 2 languages.</p>
<p>Wow, Uroolga, I am curious as to what your experience was like taking so many language courses while double-concentrating (you are a double concentrator right? with CS no less) What languages and how far did you get?</p>
<p>I also had a friend who was a Latin & Greek concentrator who took at least 3 and I think 4 languages during his time at Brown. As people have said, as long as the timing works and you can handle it, no one will stop you.</p>
<p>Ah, I had meant to respond to this sooner, but it slipped my mind.</p>
<p>I took 3 different languages in each of my freshman spring, sophomore fall, and sophomore spring, when the relative difficulty of my other courses was low (at least, as low as courses like CS32 and CS157 can be; I admittedly couldn’t always make my language classes my priorities). Since 2 of the 4 languages I formally studied were dead, this wasn’t too overwhelming, though going from German exams to Italian quizzes with only 10 minutes in between was somewhat rough freshman year. These often tested the same things, but the words and grammar I needed were different.</p>
<p>I took German for 2 years (through 400), Italian for 1 year (through 200), Latin into the graduate level, and Greek up to the highest undergraduate level. I made the mistake of dropping German for linguistics junior year (really disliked the intro linguistics course), but 500 and above would not have been particularly relevant to me - I needed German, Italian, and French for reading research for Classics, not because of a particular desire to learn about the cultures.</p>
<p>I was able to be successful because I placed getting all my work done as my highest priority while taking 3 languages, to the detriment of everything else (including social life and sleep). I had little trouble the first two years because my high school background prepared me incredibly well to do just that (though it wasn’t incredibly enjoyable). It would not have been feasible to continue that into my junior and senior years when coursework got harder in my other concentration (math-computer science) and as I added multiple jobs. I did take 5 classes most semesters, but one would argue that I’ve missed out on much of the Brown experience as a result. I’d say one really needs to think twice before trying something like what I did. One of my other language-CS friends with a similar background (same high school) is still struggling to decide if the massive amounts of time required is worth a double concentration with numerous language courses on the side. He seems to be leaning away from it at the moment.</p>
<p>I am in a similar predicament! Thank you for the post and insight!</p>