Sigh, choice between learning a Language and having a life...

<p>This is something that's been nagging at meet to solve it for a few weeks now. I'm a biology major, pre-med going into my sophomore year.<br>
I have a background in Spanish but I would also like to add a 3rd language, German, which I have no experience with at all.
I am debating whether or not to minor in German. I've been thinking over some pros and cons and here they are:
Pros: I get to learn another language
It's something that I really want to do
It's a fairly manageable minor
I feel it will help me later on in my career</p>

<p>Cons: It really makes my schedule congested and I'm worried about if I can handle the load (although I think I can)
I won't be able to take "fun" or interesting classes like philosophy and whatnot that I really wanted to take
I have no experience with German at all, so I'm worried about starting from scratch
Simply minoring in it may not make me as proficient as I want to be in it</p>

<p>So I'm really on the fence about this so any advice/input/insights would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>You don’t have to minor in German in order to learn it. If you’re worried about your schedule, self-study it and maybe supplement with a personal tutor. Particularly since there are enough outlets on the internet that you could easily, at least reach an beginner to intermediate level, on your own–for free (excluding the aforementioned tutor).
I have several sites and free resources I’ve had success with if you need help getting pointed in the right direction–send a PM.</p>

<p>Note to the wise, Pimsleur is God of starting out in a new foreign language. It’s a good base for beginning.</p>

<p>I can’t PM you, I’m not sure why.</p>

<p>Is Pimsleur anything like Rosetta Stone? Because I tried that with Spanish but I didn’t feel like it helped me whatsoever.</p>

<p>But if you PM me the resources that would be awesome!</p>

<p>Sorry, I forgot I turned off PMs and can’t for the life of me, figure out how to re-enable them.
But here’s what I use:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>The aforementioned Pimsleur (I downloaded it free here: [pimsleur_VeryCD???[/url</a>] [Site is in Chinese but everything, for the most part, is in English and I can guarantee you won’t get a virus or anything bad. You have to have eMule ([url=<a href=“http://www.emule-project.net/home/perl/general.cgi?l=1&rm=download]eMule-Project.net”>eMule-Project.net - Official eMule Homepage. Downloads, Help, Docu, News...]eMule-Project.net</a> - Official eMule Homepage. Downloads, Help, Docu, News…](<a href=“http://www.verycd.com/search/folders/pimsleur]pimsleur_VeryCD???%5B/url”>http://www.verycd.com/search/folders/pimsleur)) installed on your computer though.]
Or you can find Pimsleur free on most torrent sites.
I highly recommend starting out with Pimsleur.</p></li>
<li><p>Before You Know It: [Learn</a> Spanish, French, German, Italian and over 70 languages with Byki software.](<a href=“Byki discontinued | Transparent Language”>http://www.byki.com/)
They might prompt you to pay for something but you don’t need to. The free version of the download is more than sufficient. </p></li>
<li><p>An awesome “cheat”:
[-</a> Google Search](<a href=“http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=aCW&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&as_q=german&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=.edu&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images]-”>http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=aCW&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&as_q=german&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=.edu&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images)
AKA Google Advance search, type in Google and set the URL type to .edu
It will bring up colleges with classes in German. What usually occurs is that the professor will either have their entire lesson plan online, which you can follow if you want, or point to additional free websites and resources.</p></li>
<li><p>You might also want to join language-exchange forums and find a penpal. I got three penpals about three years ago when I was learning Mandarin and have stayed in contact with them since. It really helps having someone to go back and forth with to help you with grammar and maybe consider getting on Skype with them to work on pronunciation.
They usually will help you in x-language and you agree to help them in English.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>It’s always free and ignore anyone who tries to charge you.</p>

<p>In my experience, Rosetta Stone is absolutely horrible. I would stay clear of it.</p>

<p>I have some more sites but I have to dig through my Bookmarks and find them. I’ll update the list in a bit.</p>

<p>Granted, you won’t become anywhere near an exert or anything with the above but it will help a lot–especially if you’re worried about taking on additional classes to your schedule.
You may want to also browse the aforementioned university websites and see what books some of the professors are using on their syllabus. Usually, they’ll be more comprehensive than the typical “learn a language/traveler companion” type books.</p>

<p>Minoring in a language (or even majoring) doesn’t really help you get fluent. You’d be better off going to Germany for 4-5 months.</p>

<p>Why don’t you just start off by taking the first class? Taking that doesn’t mean you’re signing a contract saying you’ll minor in it or anything…</p>

<p>There’s no need to be stressing out like you are before you even know if you’ll like German.</p>

<p>Many colleges and universities offer summer language institutes. That would give you a foundation and let you know whether it is something that you want to pursue.</p>

<p>Just take the elementary class. And maybe move on to intermediate. And then from there, try to learn it on your own.</p>

<p>I was thinking about minoring in French, but decided that after intermediate, I’ll just take two grammar and composition classes.</p>

<p>i second using pimsleur it’s a really good program for just starting out. i personally had a lot of difficulty using rosetta stone. it wasn’t clear at all.</p>

<p>Thanks a whole lot!!! that’s some really helpful stuff.</p>

<p>I think this will also serves as a not to self to stop obsessing over stuff.</p>

<p>Yes, this was helpful. Thanks!</p>

<p>Middlebury in Vermont is famed for its summer immersion language programs. In fact the kids have to take a pledge to use only the language during the summer. for info, see [Middlebury</a> Language Schools | Middlebury](<a href=“Middlebury Language Schools”>Middlebury Language Schools)</p>

<p>I suggest you spend some time on the web looking into self-study techniques for learning foreign languages. There is a nice forum at Language Learning Forum and also some articles there.</p>

<p>Unless you are going into research, I don’t think German is going to help you in the career, nor will it really help you get into medical school either. If you want to have a language that is useful in your career, keep up with the Spanish (or French if you are in the north.) </p>

<p>That being said, if you really are interested in learning German, take the basic class and see how you feel. Then get a Rosetta Stone or some language software and use it regularly, and find newspapers/people who speak the language to practice with. Because as we all know, you don’t learn languages in the classroom. You learn them by going out and using them.</p>

<p>German is a great language to learn. It is useful for travel in Europe and the German economy is one of the largest in the world.</p>

<p>I’m going to be a fourth-year German student in the fall (although I’ll be in level five German - I skipped a year).</p>

<p>German is a great and really fun language to learn. It’s importance is, in my opinion, highly underestimated by many who have not actually considered learning it.</p>

<p>On top of that, it is actually not that difficult. A lot of the time, the syntax will be very similar to English or will differ in only fundamental ways. There are also many simple cognates (ex. der Ball - the ball).</p>

<p>I strongly encourage that you take some time on your own to look into German. If you are enjoying yourself, please do take a class or use some of the equipment presented to you in the above posts to further your abilities and knowledge of the language.</p>

<p>This website is a great online dictionary and may come in handy: [LEO</a> Deutsch-Englisches Wrterbuch](<a href=“http://dict.leo.org/]LEO”>http://dict.leo.org/)</p>

<p>Viel Glück!</p>

<p>And German has some great words, like schadenfreude, which is that feeling you get when something kind of bad happens to someone you don’t really like. Sorry–off track.</p>

<p>Yeah there are quite a few German words I see often in English and I always have to tell my friends what they mean.</p>