<p>I currently am in spanish 3 and will be doing spanish 4 next year when I go to B.S., but I also want to take a third language.</p>
<p>I know both Arabic and Chinese are very difficult for their own reasons; chinese for its many characters and tones, and arabic for its writing and pronunciation.</p>
<p>However, I'm up for the challenge.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience learning either? I'm wondering how fast the beginner, level one class for either one of these languages is? How proficient are you expected to be in writing/ how much vocab/ basically how fast does the beginner class move?</p>
<p>I'm a fast learning but have had NO previous exposure to anything but english and spanish so I imagine that it will take quite a few years to feel fluent.</p>
<p>Any advice on which language to take/ the teaching methods would be helpful!</p>
<p>@ohxwowxlovely, good question. I’m kind of going through this, too. I am semi-fluent and German and wish to continue with the language, but when I was younger, my best friend was Chinese. I have wanted to learn Chinese ever since then. Alas, my neighbors are from Egypt, and one teaches at a college level. I have been inspired by their story too.<br>
I love languages. I go to German Camp every sommer and regret not taking French as a third language, as well as German.<br>
Anyway, I fell your pain. I have some exposure around both languages but not much. I will either, hopefully, be going into 3 or 4 year German. I will end up taking 2 years of another language. I am just not sure what </p>
<p>Okay. Now that my anecdotish story is over, here is some advice. I am going to study Arabic with neighbors, an option that you probably don’t have, over the sommer. Then, I am going to try to pursue Arabic through CTY, because I can’t take it next year as a prep. I will probably contact the Arabic teacher at my future B.S. Then, I will try to take Chinese for 1 or 2 years. Maybe an independent study in Arabic or German.<br>
I love languages. German is rough, but can be very beautiful. Arabic is mysterious. Chinese is ancient. </p>
<p>I imagine both classes move relatively faster as they are generally immersion style in B.S. I love immersion teaching. You can learn more in 1 month of immersion teaching than 2 years in PS. If you work hard and try to surround yourself with some of the culture. (Maybe request an international roommate from the Arabian Countries or China, or just a Chinese American.)
You may want to go to a Concordia Language Village Arabic or Chinese camp for some basic vocab this summer. They are wonderful and you will learn tons. I have been a camper at another village at have toured the Arabic Village. From what I saw, the campers are all friendly. and the counselors vary diverse. I cannot say anything about Chinese camp though.<br>
I recommend you try CTY and learn a bit. But, if not possibly, do not stress. I’m sure something between now and then will convince you to learn one of the languages. Just go with it. You can always learn more.</p>
<p>I’m in Arabic 1 at my High School. Once you learn the alphabet you’ll be alright to read and write, but you won’t understand what you read and writing is a bit hard to get used to. It’s an interesting language to learn with so much culture behind it. I would encourage you to try it out!</p>
<p>Thank you both for your advice, it’s very helpful!
I originally was going to try German next but I’m pretty sure the b.s. i’m going to attend doesn’t offer it; NO idea why, maybe I just overlooked it on the course guide.</p>
<p>I’m definately going to look into that language camp though! I’m really interested in different languages and cultures and I didn’t even think to try something like a language camp.
It would be a great way of getting a bit of exposure to the language in order to see if I’d like to continue studying it.</p>
<p>Best of luck to both of you in continuing your language studies as well! I’m feeling more motivated to try one of these difficult languages now.</p>
<p>I think Chinese will be more useful to learn, but both are great languages (and very difficult to learn).</p>
<p>Oh, ohxwowxlovey, I believe the Chinese teacher at Shadyside or Sewickly is the dean of the Chinese camp.<br>
You might want to be in touch with him.
Oh, pm me if you end up going.
I’d love to meet more locals who went to Concordia.<br>
Its rather sad, actually.</p>
<p>Really? Thats fantastic not far at all. I’m a bit confused from the website, where would I find like prices, registration information, etc for the local camp?</p>
<p>there is no local camp. The Shadyside/Sewickly teacher travels to Minnesota to be the dean. They are somewhat far away, but very much worth it.</p>