<p>I'm about to enter my sophomore year as a Material Science and Engineering major, and during my last semester, I stumbled upon a piece of information that I'd never known about my undergraduate school. If I were to minor in a language, all of my general education requirements would be fulfilled for my engineering major, which includes two lower-leveled 100 classes (such as general psych, intro to sociology, etc.), and two upper-leveled 300 classes (specific classes in fields, such as Health Psych, Social Psych, Sociology of Family, etc.). So essentially, it's as simple as finishing four classes, whereas if I were to minor in a language, I'd choose French and it would take the next 6 semesters for me to finish (I'm starting from scratch). From now until (and including) my second semester of Junior year, I'd only have to take the 4 credit basic "Elementary" and "Intermediate" level class, and then my senior year, I'd have to take a total of 6 credits each semester of French electives to fulfill the minor. So my question is, well, is it worth it? Does it, will it, or could it make that big of a difference? Or am I better off just fulfilling the basic general eds and getting rid of them all with only four classes? Thanks in advanced!
Edit; Oh, and if the topic of "if I'm interested" comes up, I'm about as interested in the French language as I would be with taking 300 level Psych classes.</p>
<p>Mathematically, it doesn’t make sense to do the minor as you’d have to take 2 more courses.</p>
<p>You say you’re interested in both equally, but if you’re doing it for the sake of having a minor on your degree vs. having a smattering of courses…I would just go with the upper-level 300 electives. Starting a new language is difficult. I am assuming you have studied a foreign language before, but picking one up when you are 19-20 is not as easy. Plus, basic classes like psychology and sociology are helpful for everyone to know when it comes to understanding human relationships.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick response!<br>
And, if it makes any difference, I come from a Portuguese family, so I’m very fluent in that language, and from my experience, knowing the language has helped me understand French very easily due to their similarities. I’m not saying that it’d make the classes a piece of cake, but I could possibly have an upper hand with it, something that I would not have if I were to do the psych classes (never taken a day of it before in my life, and I have friends whom are majoring in Psych who show me their work, and it’s completely Greek to me).</p>
<p>If the question is will the minor help you in the future, I would say probably not, unless you’re fluent in the language. When it comes to foreign languages, fluency is really the most important thing and will likely be the only thing that matters from a job perspective.</p>
<p>If you think French will be easier, you’d like to become fluent either now or in the future or you’d like to travel somewhere that speaks French, and you can fit it into your schedule, get the minor in French. Why not?</p>
<p>If you can’t fit it into your schedule or don’t particularly care about French, then just do the other GEs.</p>
<p>Foreign languages can be useful and are always good just for your own well-being, but the minor in and of itself won’t do anything special. If you don’t care, do whichever fits into your schedule better or would be easier for you. It doesn’t particularly matter either way, unless getting this minor would help you become fluent in French.</p>
<p>If you said you were going to take German or Chinese then I would think it would serve you to have for engineering. There are study abroad opportunities that having those languages would be helpful. Having French, probably not so much.</p>
<p>I’ve learned quite a few languages. The best ways to learn it, in order, are:
- Live in the country/have a native teach you one-on-one.
- Use the best videos/online program etc that is out there. I personally like Pimsleur, and I recommend you look at it at least.
- Take a class. This isn’t bad but a lot of time is wasted.</p>
<p>In short: there are better ways to learn a language than to take classes in the subject. If your goal is to learn the language, then do #1 or #2, depending on whether or not #1 is available. Classes aren’t actually even better for proving you know the language - what’s better proof of fluency than actually speaking fluent French etc?</p>
<p>My S a Civ-E major is completing a Spanish minor, but he had completed the 100 and 200 level courses via dual credit before starting freshman year (14 credits) and had spent 6 weeks doing a summer study abroad program in Mexico, so was fairly advanced in the language and was comfortable beginning with 300 level courses. </p>
<p>He completed 2 of his 5 required upper-division courses as a freshman, leaving only 3 courses to complete the minor.</p>
<p>The Spanish courses fulfill all of his humantities requirements and he enjoys them and they give him a break from all of his math/science courses each semester.</p>
<p>If he’d had to start with the 100 level courses, even as a freshman, I don’t think he would have been able to get them all into his schedule. You could try testing out of some of the basic courses, perhaps even spending some time self-studying if you believe it will come easy, you could just take some of the courses to gain experience with the language without trying to complete the minor, or since you are fluent in Portugese, perhaps you could minor in it? if you are fairly fluent in it, you should be able to start in upper division courses. If you have to begin with the 100 level courses during your sophomore year, I’m really not certain that the minor would be worth it.</p>