Number of Classes, Hindi at Georgetown

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>I have taken French as my second language throughout high school and definitely consider myself to be at the advanced level. I want to continue studying French at Georgetown, but I also want to begin pursuing a third language (possibly Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, or German; it's too hard to decide). I know that the pre-registration packet states that we should schedule 4-5 courses, but is it possible and feasible to do more?</p>

<p>I also am surprised that Georgetown doesn't seem to talk at all about Hindi on the FLL's website. The languages for which majors are offered put aside, there are languages for which "coursework" is available, including Ukrainian, Catalan, and Hebrew, but nothing mentioned for Hindi (the elephant in the room, being the 2nd or 3rd or 4th most spoken language in the world, depending on whom you ask). Does anyone have experience with Hindi at Georgetown?</p>

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<p>Another question that struck me: Do I have to pay more money if I wish to take more than 5 (or whatever the required amount is) classes?</p>

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<p>Both Ethnologue and Encarta cite Hindi as the fourth most spoken language. And I would think that, yes, you would have to pay more money for more units.</p>

<p>On Hindi: short answer, funding is a zero-sum game and Hindi lost. See [After</a> One Year, SFS Puts an End to Hindi ā€˜Experimentā€™ | The Hoya](<a href=ā€œhttp://www.thehoya.com/news/after-one-year-sfs-puts-an-end-to-hindi-experiment/]Afterā€>After One Year, SFS Puts an End to Hindi 'Experiment') and [Vox</a> Populi Ā» Despite Dowdā€™s campaign, Georgetownā€™s Hindi program remains dormant](<a href=ā€œhttp://blog.georgetownvoice.com/2009/08/20/despite-dowds-campaign-georgetowns-hindi-program-remains-dormant/]Voxā€>http://blog.georgetownvoice.com/2009/08/20/despite-dowds-campaign-georgetowns-hindi-program-remains-dormant/)</p>

<p>On tuition, if I recall correctly, you start getting charged more if you exceed 20 credit hours per semester. You would need to get explicit permission from your dean/academic adviser to do this anyway, and youā€™d have to make a pretty compelling case for it, Iā€™d imagine.</p>

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<p>@dzleprechaun:
I still see a few Hindi courses (Hindi I, II, etc.) listed under the course listing. Does this mean that I can still take them (despite their seemingly not showing up on Blackboard)?</p>

<p>As far as taking two languages at the same time itā€™s not impossible. It may not be the easiest way to start out your freshman year but you would not be alone, especially if you are in the SFS or the FLL. Its more of an issue with languages like Russian where you are required to take your first two years intensive (meaning every day, 6 units). If you were to take a full load, plus intensive Russian 21 units would put you way over the recommended 12-17 units for a first semester freshman and have to pay extra. However, if youā€™re coming in with a lot of AP credit to cover some of your core requirements you may have the room to ā€œspendā€ those credits on a second intensive language. If you are truly passionate about language study it may make sense to use that room and your electives as such.</p>

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<p>LmfaoCollege, regardless of what the year says on the Course Catalog site ([2010-2011</a> Course Catalog | Georgetown University](<a href=ā€œhttp://courses.georgetown.edu%5D2010-2011ā€>http://courses.georgetown.edu)), it is really a compendium is every course from the past X years, where X is some number between 5 and 10. If itā€™s not in MyAccess (<a href=ā€œhttps://myaccess.georgetown.edu/pls/bninbp/bwckschd.p_disp_dyn_sched[/url]ā€>https://myaccess.georgetown.edu/pls/bninbp/bwckschd.p_disp_dyn_sched&lt;/a&gt;), then it doesnā€™t exist.</p>

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<p>Thank you both for your help. I am indeed in the FLL and would have expected it entirely possible to study 2 languages during my years at college, considering, you know, that Iā€™m in the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics. It seems as if the general education requirements are entirely out of handā€¦</p>

<p>I still donā€™t understand how in the world Ukrainian/Turkish/Hebrew are offered, and Hindi not. (._.)</p>

<p>You can take Hindi via the Consortium if youā€™re really desperate to take it. As for why Hindi isnā€™t offered, I think the basic answer is low demand. Frankly, thereā€™s less of a reason to take it, as so many people in India speak English anyway. As for why some other languages are offered, Georgetown has especially strong programs relating to the former Soviet Union/East Europe and the Middle East, so itā€™s developed the language programs which relate to those areas.</p>

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<p>Hi potatoes345. Thanks for the suggestion! I was thinking about asking an academic advisor about taking the class at GWU, for example, so itā€™s good to know that this is possible. </p>

<p>The low demand certainly explains the lack of courses, but the reason for the low demand remains puzzling. From what Iā€™ve read, English is certainly spoken within the realm of certain activities in India (business and government, though Hindi is also spoken in the latter), but only maybe 15% truly speak the language. The Indian government has attempted to promote Hindi as a kind of unifying language, but those whose native language is not Hindi (especially in the south) have resisted, claiming that it is better to have all Indians equally handicapped through learning English than to privilege those who already speak Hindi through learning Hindi.</p>

<p>Still, with what is essentially Hindi (Nepali, Urdu) being spoken in Nepal and Pakistan, itā€™s baffling to see that no one seems to take an interest in learning the language. Add to this the fact that Hindi opens up to its learners access to information for understanding what are perhaps two of the worldā€™s greatest religious traditions (Buddhism, Hinduism), along with a greatly enhanced ability to learn Sanskrit, thus opening up the primary sources for these religions and allowing study of what is said to be one of the worldā€™s oldest, most logical (computer opportunities here) languagesā€¦ and Iā€™d say the language has potential.</p>

<p>I guess itā€™s just not the ā€œhip thing to do,ā€ like learning Arabic, nor the ā€œbusinessman-like thing to do,ā€ like learning Chinese or Japanese.</p>

<p>Does any school within the D.C. area even teach Hindi? lolā€¦ -_-</p>

<p>In case anyone in the future has this same problem, it seems as if Hindi can be taken as a non-credit course with the Global Language Network ([Welcome</a> to GLN](<a href=ā€œhttp://www.thegln.org/inner_content.php?id=ODM=]Welcomeā€>http://www.thegln.org/inner_content.php?id=ODM=)).</p>

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<p>Hey, just thought Iā€™d let you know youā€™re not alone. Iā€™m taking French, Japanese and Russian first semester. lol.</p>

<p>Advanced French II and Third Level Japanese but intensive first level russian (the new language) haha</p>

<p>So yeahā€¦Iā€™m taking that plus econ and acting iā€™m pretty sure.</p>

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<p>Haha whaaaat? Wow, thatā€™s great. :)</p>

<p>So are you planning on fulfilling general education requirements much later, or is it just first semester that you plan on taking three languages? Also, what is your major?</p>

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<p>Ideally Iā€™ll be taking all three of those every semester and filling gen ed as I go. I donā€™t plan on taking acting every semester although I do want to minor in theater. I still donā€™t know what my majors will be but I want to double major in something that will let me use languages; I donā€™t want to major in a language. Despite this, I came in as a Japanese major in the FLL. (definitely not staying like that lol)</p>

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<p>I envy you! :stuck_out_tongue: Right now Iā€™m a Linguistics major, but I probably will want to pair that with some other major to make finding a career a little easier.</p>