My Son Chose to take 3 languages this semester

<p>When I took Italian class in Germany people thought it was very funny that when I couldn’t think of a word French popped out. It only happened when we were talking and only the first semester of the course. Foreign languages are a fair amount of work, but it’s steady work, if you’ve been working all along you don’t have a big push at the end of the semester with a big paper or final exam as you do in many courses. I liked taking language courses in college for that reason, but I also agree that after a first year intro, by far the quickest way to achieve fluency is to spend some time in the country for immersion. I’ve done it for both French and German, it makes a huge difference. </p>

<p>I suppose if I were giving advice to the OP’s son I’d suggest that he try doing two languages instead of three, then use remaining courses to get rid of at least one distribution requirement (assuming he has some) and one potential major course (perhaps international relations or linguistics) to see if he likes them. (Of course you can usually major in the language or area studies.)</p>

<p>BTW, I had no problem learning Italian, French and German, but Chinese was beyond me. I don’t have a good enough ear to hear or reproduce the tones.</p>

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<p>Huh? S’s one freshman math course took 20 hours per week (although I’ve read that it was supposed to take up to 40 hours week). If a student thinks that math is the least time consuming class, that student is taking too low a level of class.</p>

<p>I took 4 different language classes in high school, but I found that college language classes operated at a much faster clip. I agree that French and Italina are similar enough that a student’s knowlege will be reinforced. Chinese is a different issue altogether because of the cultural factor as well as the fact that it is an accented language and does not use the romanized alphabet.
Lastly, linguistics does not depend on knowing a lot of different languages. Some linguistics courses are quite math-heavy.</p>

<p>Oh, and even now, the right word comes into my brain but in the wrong language; or I need to translate a word into French then into English --which is much less efficient than straight into English.</p>

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<li><p>I wouldn’t have such a bad reaction to two languages, one of which is at a more advanced level. But I wonder whether French III is third-college-year or third-college-semester. It makes something of a difference (to me at least): third-college-year implies real familiarity and competence with the language; third-college semester not so much. Both of my kids had minor train-wrecks with second-college-year language courses.</p></li>
<li><p>If a student thinks he wants to go into linguistics, I would encourage him to take a linguistics course to see what he thinks before going all in on learning multiple languages. (In addition to which having some background in linguistics is probably a real help in learning multiple languages.)</p></li>
<li><p>If a student thinks he wants to go into comparative literature, I would encourage him to take a literature course to see what he thinks before going all in on learning multiple languages. I would also encourage him not to try to go from 0 to literary analysis in multiple languages, especially if one is Chinese where, by most accounts, 0 to literary analysis is at least a three-year process.</p></li>
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<p>I have a question: For a tonal language like Chinese, does it help to be a vocalist? I can imagine that if the brain is accustomed to producing La So at different notes, it could be easier to learn the language tones. Or maybe I’m nuts.</p>

<p>^Since this kid was good at math/science, but bored with it, linguistics might be just the ticket. It’s something high school kids have no exposure to at all, so this seems like an ideal time to try it out.</p>

<p>I think someone who is musical would probably do better at Chinese. I can’t sing in tune at all, though I can certainly hear tunes.</p>

<p>I don’t think you need to be particularly musical to learn Chinese. A better skill to have is mimicry.</p>

<p>The only thing I’d worry about with the three languages is making sure you can still satisfy any graduation distribution requirements. It doesn’t make much sense to take a semester of a language and then quit so he’ll be looking at a pretty big chunk of coursework.</p>

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<p>This advice is pure gold.</p>

<p>I think it can depend on the kind of learner your son is…</p>

<p>In my own case, I could never attempt to learn 3 languages at the same time because I would get them all mixed up in my head. I would need to learn one well, then try another, etc.</p>

<p>However, my H has never had a problem learning various languages at the same time (of course he’s a bit nutty and can play 3 games of chess at the same time while blindfolded. LOL)</p>

<p>twomules</p>

<p>FWIW, I read (or heard on NPR) that children who speak tonal languages are more likely to have perfect pitch. Just did a search and found this:
[Perfect</a> Pitch Related to Language: Scientific American Podcast](<a href=“Podcasts | Scientific American”>Podcasts | Scientific American)</p>

<p>Fascinating to me, but then again, I am pretty geeky.</p>

<p>I worked with a lawyer who was a linguistics major. She knew 23 languages–the weirdest to me was Hittite.</p>

<p>MidwestMom: Cool.</p>

<p>I empathize with your son, and can give no advice as I’m in almost exactly the same position. As of right now, I’m seriously considering taking Attic Greek, Russian, and Akkadian next year simultaneously. I know it’s a horrible idea (one of the worst), but I can’t get it out of my head - and the kicker is that if I don’t take three languages simultaneously for at least one year, there’s no way for me to take all the languages I want to learn (i.e. Attic Greek, Akkadian, Russian, Sumerian, Arabic, most of which I believe to be rather difficult to learn individually).</p>

<p>I believe I’m going to go speak with the adviser and see if he can dump a bucket of cold water on my face. Argh.</p>

<p>If he wants to study Linguistics, he should take Linguistics courses. A third language does nothing to satisfy the requirements for a degree in Linguistics.</p>

<p>I agree with the posters who say it’s a shame to use up college time just studying languages. There are so many ways to learn a foreign language, but not so many ways to learn about early medieval religious thought, pseudo-Reimannian manifolds or post-colonialism in Latin America… or child language acquisition, phonology or computational theories of syntax.</p>

<p>On the other hand, I also agree with the posters that say it’s his schedule and he gets to pick.</p>

<p>Most PHD programs require knowledge of at least 2 foreign languages.</p>

<p>Does your son’s college have distribution requirements? If so, one thing to consider is whether taking so many courses in one area next semester will leave him with a great many required distribution courses to complete when he is further along and perhaps make it difficult for him to complete a major and minor. Has he met with an academic advisor???</p>

<p>Most PhD programs do not even require one language anymore. </p>

<p>I see two issues/ concerns. One is the difficult workload. I’m sure he’ll figure it out and if its a bad semester, he’ll learn a ton about what to do differently. He will also probably discover quickly if its unrealistic for him and he can do some drops. Maybe encourage him to know the drop dates, and have a back up plan?</p>

<p>The other issue is whether its practical or whether he should be doing math instead. I think that should be up to him. If there was ever a time to explore and learn and follow one’s interests, it would be freshman year. </p>

<p>I guess I’m in the hands off camp too…but I understand worrying while watching :)</p>

<p>"…if I don’t take three languages simultaneously for at least one year, there’s no way for me to take all the languages I want to learn (i.e. Attic Greek, Akkadian, Russian, Sumerian, Arabic, most of which I believe to be rather difficult to learn individually).</p>

<p>Ambitious nonsense. Ever heard of graduate school?</p>

<p>"Most PhD programs do not even require one language anymore. </p>

<p>I see two issues/ concerns. One is the difficult workload. I’m sure he’ll figure it out and if its a bad semester, he’ll learn a ton about what to do differently. He will also probably discover quickly if its unrealistic for him and he can do some drops. Maybe encourage him to know the drop dates, and have a back up plan?"</p>

<p>I agree completely with starbright on both counts.</p>

<p>My experience is that college level language classes may begin at a level that would assume that you’ve had some exposure to the language (even though you haven’t, others in the same class may have) and the classes move very quickly. Even at the French 3 level, your son may find that the coursework gets much more time intensive at the 3rd and 4th semester levels. DD had 4 semesters of Latin (after having 2 years in high school). I personally know two kids who graduated a year late struggling to finish their foreign language requirement.</p>

<p>Who knows, it may be a breeze for your son, but I’d schedule enough classes that I could drop at least one of the foreign language classes and still be full time, just in case. Being knowledgeable of those drop dates is a good thing.</p>

<p>Won’t this sort itself out? If it’s too much, or he doesn’t enjoy it in the way he anticipates, one of the languages will fall by the wayside.
I too wonder what his advisor had to say about all this. Didn’t he/she have to “sign off” on this schedule?</p>

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<p>The PhD program I’m aiming for requires me to at the very least possess reading proficiency in about four languages if I want to be a particularly competitive applicant. Five or more languages would be ideal. And then there are the languages I’m taking for the heck of it. (On the other hand, I think I’ve figured out a way to stagger the classes so that I’ll only be taking two every year from now on.)</p>