<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>I am planning for the classes I should register for this coming fall when I go to Georgetown, and needed your expertise on a few things:</p>
<p>1) I want to study intermediate french but it clashes with this other history class I want to take. Can students join french in the second semester or are the seats usually taken up? Are language classes usually offered both semesters?</p>
<p>2) Is it wise for me not to be taking a language class considering that it is foreign service? How intensive is intermediate french? I did the AP French exam but ended up scoring a level three. Is intermediate french around the AP level or should i go for intensive?</p>
<p>3) Also, I'm an Arab but want to improve my proficiency since I sometimes have a hard time understanding texts that are written in proper arabic. Is it possible for students in SFS fit two language classes in their schedule? </p>
<p>so far my classes are:</p>
<p>SFS Proseminar
Political and Social thought
Principles of microeconomics
a humanities/ lit course
still deciding on the last class</p>
<p>Your help would be greatly appreicated,
Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Hey,</p>
<p>I'm a transfer student...I talked to my dean on the phone (i'm taking Advanced French and Intensive Chinese) and it's usually fine for students to take two languages. It's tough, but still fine. Apparently, all french classes up until the advanced level are basically taken to fill the requirement. She said that intermediate is usually at the level of another school's French 2 class. Once you get into the "advanced' level (or place into it) the classes become MUCH harder because the profs focus on preparing you for the proficiency exam.</p>
<p>There's also a debate about which classes to take if you want to take 2 languages simultaneously. I've decided to take in addition to the Chinese and French, Micro econ (my AP scores weren't high enough in HS) and that Political and Social Thought. So basically 4 classes for about 16 credits. I'm not positive on what you should take though. Since I'm coming in as a transfer, I've already knocked out some of my other credits.</p>
<p>Personally, I am choosing to put off History until later, and also I'm only taking 4 classes because Italian is Intensive. I have Basic Intensive Italian, microecon, Problem of God, and my proseminar. It is 15 credits with only 4 classes, but I've got some APs and I want to give myself some room to get used to things. Anyway, I don't see a problem with putting off the history unless you <em>really</em> want to take a particular history course. </p>
<p>I'm in the same stage of things as you though, so you should probably try to get in touch with your dean.</p>
<p>hey kate328 and beachbum114</p>
<p>thank you for your help. I think i'll go for french now and history later based on what u guys have both said and since it seems more important. Although I was wondering, can sfs students do full-fledged language classes over the summer if they want to? And also, can the proficiency exam for a language be taken anytime during your freshman to senior year in SFS? If I start intermediate now, that means I will have to take the proficiency exam when I'm a Junior. Will this be alright and will I be able to fit french into my schedule when I'm a junior considering sfs gets very specific in the last two years?</p>
<p>thank you for all your help.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure there are language courses that can be taken during the summer, but I don't know much beyond that.</p>
<p>You can definitely take the proficiency exam any of the four years, but what I don't remember is if there are certain times of year that it must be done. I think that's a possibility. </p>
<p>I would imagine there is always space in an SFS schedule for a language. There are many core and major requirements, but language is also an important focus in the curriculum.</p>
<p>you're required to take a language until you pass the proficiency test, so I am pretty sure you MUST sign up for a language this semester.</p>
<p>ps, if you took AP French and got a 3, you might want to take the placement tests for languages at the beginning of the year. Chances are Intermediate will be WAY to easy for you. I took both AP Spanish tests (3 on Lang, 4 on Lit) and Advanced I and most of Advanced II was just review...</p>
<p>Prof. exams are offered October and April of each year.</p>
<p>so what exactly happens during the proficiency test?</p>
<p>I was wondering the same thing. I was told that we have to sit for a paper based test and a computer one and they will test us on our grammer and vocabulary. This was very broad information to me and I'm still worried about it.</p>
<p>manderz1, kate328, beachbum114- thank you for your posts and help. :-)</p>
<p>I know at least one component of the SFS proficiency test is oral; just having a chat with a professor. Not sure of the rest.</p>
<p>Proficiency Exam:</p>
<p>You are given a news article in whatever language you are taking. You have 15 minutes to read it, memorize the names, details, etc. Then you go in front of two professors and they will ask you to summarize the article, then ask you a handful of questions about it. If there is time left, they'll ask you about yourself, what you're studying, and how you like Georgetown. The talking part is 15-20 minutes or maybe even less.</p>
<p>So, no written portion? Thats my weak spot.</p>
<p>What about the placement exam during new student orientation? How does that work/ what is the format? </p>
<p>thanks everyone for all your help so far!</p>
<p>its mainly just a written test and you answer questions....no speaking...thats what Dean Andretta told me. not sure if theres fill in the blank or T/F....the last placement test i took for a language in college was all MC, though.</p>
<p>Do you know if we have to write essays in the placement exam? Or just answering questions? Writing is also a weak spot for me.</p>
<p>Questions. Only. It's an oral exam.</p>
<p>PROFICIENCY EXAM = oral</p>
<p>PLACEMENT EXAM = similar to SATII Subject Tests...They play a tape, you answer some oral comp questions, then you get mult.choice questions (for instance, you're given a sentence, which of the following completes this sentence, etc). no writing.</p>
<p>Though, if writing is a weak spot for you, consider dropping a level from your placement exam. While obviously oral fluency is very important in a professional situation, writing is also quite important...if you intend to use your language regularly in a professional situation, you may benefit from going back-to-the-basics a bit.</p>
<p>manderz1 i thought about dropping down to intro french because of my weak writing but they told me it is better I "challenge myself" than take an easy class- but yes i do want to improve my basics. Anyway I can always switch. Thank you and everyone else for all your inputs.</p>
<p>Misread that. Mea culpa.</p>