I recently dropped Spanish III Honors for Spanish III because of the intensity of the class. I simply could not understand a word the teacher was saying. However, I am currently enrolled in:
AP Computer Science A
AP Human Geo
Honors Chem
Honors Alg II/Trig
Honors Choir(involves tons of extra work)
Honors English
Actor’s Workshop
and of course
Spanish III
I heard that taking Latin would help me on my standardized tests, but I would obviously have to start from the beginning.
I have lost all interest in Spanish and Latin sounds much more interesting, but I am wondering if having inconsistent languages would raise a red flag to collages.
I am a sophomore.
Should I change languages this or next year? I take my SAT Junior year.
Colleges want X number of years of a single language, not split between multiple languages; you’re better off at least getting through Spanish III.
So would Spanish. Spanish is based on Latin.
If you can change languages this year and take at least latin 3 your senior year, then I’d say go ahead with latin if you really don’t want to take spanish. Otherwise, stick with spanish.
You need to have at least Spanish 3 or Latin 3 (preferably Level 4). So if you can take Latin 1 this year, Latin 2 next year, and Latin 3 senior year, you’d be okay. IF that doesn’t work with your schedule, as guineagirl said, stick with Spanish up to level 3 as a minimum (level 4 depending on the college you’re aiming for: foreign language is a “core” class along with math, English, social science, and science, which means you need 4 units or Level 4 reached in each of them.)
However, be aware that Latin doesn’t really help with standardized tests, not in a way that memorizing prefixes (time investment: about 1 hour, vs. 3 hours of a language), and Latin, having “cases”, is harder than Spanish. It does open you to a world that’s disappeared (have you read the Lindsey Davis novels?)
In terms of time invested/return, if you want to switch, I’d go with French, since it’s different from Spanish and close enough that your basic Spanish understanding would help you, AND there are no ‘cases’ (unlike Latin) and conjugation is easier han in Spanish.
NO DONT TAKE LATIN I took it in seventh grade and the only reason I got an A is because the teacher didn’t count about half the grades. It didn’t help me with anything vocabulary wise. I would recommend sticking with Spanish or switching to French or Italian, if your school offers it.
Take Latin because you want to learn Latin and are interested in Latin, not because you think it will help you on standardized tests. It may or may not help you, but it won’t help you anymore than studying for the standardized test would (and you should study for the test regardless of whether or not you take Latin). Not only is it the wrong reason to take a language, but it might not give you the benefits you are hoping for.
That being said, you should try to get to the third level of a language if you can. It’s not the end of the world if you can’t, but it will be helpful for admissions purposes to be at least to level three. Also, two years of Spanish + one year of Latin does NOT equal three years of Spanish. When colleges ask for a minimum number of years of a foreign language, they generally want it to be the same language. Switching languages is okay, if that’s what you really want to do, but it wouldn’t be viewed in the same way as attaining a higher level of one language.
You should stay in Spanish. Colleges would rather see atleast 4 years of the same language. Also if you plan on working in America, employers would love to see that you know Spanish due to the high number of Spanish speakers in America.
However if you really don’t enjoy spanish anymore then you should go to Latin. There is no point in learning a language you have no interest in.