Is it true that most courses for this major are taught in a scandinavian language? That’s what the website says but I find that a little confusing that a university in the US would have a major inaccessible to english speakers.
http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/academic/scand.html
A lot of the courses WILL be language courses. You can probably study any of those languages, probably 2 to 4 semesters of each. And then if you go on to take something like a literature course in the original language, then I assume you have to be pretty fluent in it.
The department’s website states that “most courses designed for majors” are taught in the original languages. This does not mean that every course is in the original languages. The department also offers a number of courses on Scandinavian literature in translation as well as courses on folklore and mythology, various aspects of Scandinavian history, politics, society, etc., which also are taught in English. It is not at all unusual for modern language departments to teach language courses entirely in the languages being taught from the very first day. Of course, you would expect that literature courses for majors also are taught in their original languages, wouldn’t you?
@zapfino @intparent like I know that I would need to learn a language as part of the major requirement and that’s its a good idea in general, I guess the wording just made it seem like I would have trouble meeting all the requirements for the major if I didn’t already have a background in that language, but you’re both saying that if I start in like beginner’s language classes freshman year and then in later years take the literature courses/advanced language, then I’ll be good?
also there seems to be no classes for Iceland offered regularly…how often do those happen?
Try looking back in previous course catalogs, usually available online. Some courses are only offered every couple of years if there aren’t a lot of students in the major. If it is important to you, also contact the professor who last taught them and ask how often it is offered.
You want to major in Scandinavian studies without knowing a Scandinavian language??
Re: Post #3
@Plant1, yes you can start the Scandinavian major wit no prior knowledge of one of the languages and you’ll be fine. BTW, that’s true for majors in other languages as well. Many languages are not taught at the high school level, of course, so students who major in them often start those languages from scratch. Remember, too, that language majors usually are expected to study abroad for a semester or academic year in a country where their chosen languages are spoken, so this provides additional opportunities to develop proficiency.
As for Icelandic, it might not be taught currently either due to lack of student demand or lack of qualified instructors. As a major, you can usually arrange individual tutorials for languages for which there is no current course, or often the department has software, textbooks, etc. that can be used by students to study it on their own. Better yet, you probably can arrange a period of study in Iceland to learn it.
Since there is a relatively limited population of native speakers of Scandinavian languages and English is widely taught in Scandinavian countries, it is probably a good idea to combine a Scandinavian major with a major or minor in another field, e.g., business/economics, design, German, politics, etc. or study those those languages as part f a broader area studies major.
@zapfino @intparent thanks!!!
@TomSrOfBoston I explained in the post two above yours that I was worried not having prior knowledge of the language, not the fact that I would ever have to learn a language.