<p>Having already taken 6 years of Spanish, I'm already proficient at a foreign language. How many of you choose to take a new language in college anyways? Do you think it's beneficial to your studies? I'm considering taking German or Arabic when I start college, but I'm not sure if I want to spend extra classes and the time needed to take language classes.</p>
<p>If you want to learn a new language, you'll probably never have a better time to do it than when you're in college.</p>
<p>German would probably be easier to learn since it's quite simular to English, whereas Arabic would be completely new. But Northstarmom has a good point, this is the best time (second only to learning it as a child) to pick up a new language.</p>
<p>I agree, if you like languages why not learn a new one in college! German is very easy to learn, and useful to business and engineering majors. It can be very beneficial to have proficiency in more than one language when you start job hunting. Arabic could be useful too, depending on your intended field of study.</p>
<p>I took a couple languages in high school but am not very knowledgeable in either, but I started Japanese as a freshman in college and am glad to be able to take a language my school didn't really offer as well as a more fast paced, intensive class</p>
<p>It's definitely beneficial especially if you plan on graduate study; to get a doctorate I think true working knowledge of some specified languages is necessary in order to read papers for research etc. in that language. French and German are two common ones but it really has to do with your major; in math not that I'd know it might be easier to get by on greek letters, arabic numerals, and English.</p>
<p>i agree with Norstarmom - college is the ideal time to engage in something new liek that! Anyone considering Chinese or Italian?</p>
<p>Chinese is fun and much easier than what people make it out to be.</p>
<p>French </p>
<p>i found this site that might be awesome for someone who wants to learn 1st year french. it's basically a free french online textbook. it has workbook excersices, listening, the whole bit. i haven't personally used it since i'm past that level but it looks pretty good and i'm thinking of using it as a guide if i'm gonna tutor this 1st level French person.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.laits.utexas.edu/fi/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.laits.utexas.edu/fi/index.html</a></p>
<p>Yeah I'm thinking about taking several languages in college because I want to get a doctorate. I'm considering German, Russian and Japanese. I took three years of French and two of Latin, and I was good at both. I am considering just advancing my French in college but after a while French started to pi** me off with all these crazy grammar rules and whatnot.</p>
<p>I'm also considering being really crazy and taking higher level French classes and simultaneously try to learn German, Russian or Japanese.</p>
<p>I'm in the same situation. I took four years of hs French and would say I'm pretty fluent, but don't want to take any more courses! All I want to do is practice my language skills. But I'm serioulsy thinking about taking Japanese. I was also considering German and Spanish, but I want to take Japanese because its a whole new alphabet and may be more interesting!</p>
<p>Deutsch ist langweilig. Studier Englisch!</p>
<p>Yes, I agree college is a good time to learn a new language. I actually see it as your last opportunity to do so. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school and liked it. I thought about taking it again in college (to make things "easier" on me), but decided that this would be my last chance to satiate my curiousity for Latin. (Plus, I'm hoping it'll help a little bit when I get to Anatomy.)</p>
<p>one thing that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is study abroad. Not only is college a good time to learn a new language or improve your skills in one you began in HS, but it may be the best time in your life to spend time abroad. </p>
<p>Once you enter the working world its hard to get a 3 month vacation to travel, and even if you quit or somehow wrangled the time off it would be expensive to find a place to stay. A semester abroad in college has so many advantages! Often you just pay the same tuition you do at your current school and you take classes at an associated university abroad. You live with a host family or in a dorm. On weekends or breaks you can travel to other regions or countries. And if you approach it with some flexibility you'll survive the inevitable problems of being in a new culture, taking away the confidence you will master other problems as they arise in your future. Many students report that a semester abroad was the highlight of their college years.</p>