Studying almost 20 hours a week for intro foreign language - is this normal?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Hi everyone! I'm wondering if I could get some advice. I'm a first-year in college and I've been on CC for a couple of years but I just made a new account in an attempt to remain anonymous.</p>

<p>I took my first Classical language class ever this fall semester, Ancient Greek. I had to take a language because my college has a foreign language requirement (3 semesters) and I was not good enough in my old language to pass out of it. But I am happy to say that I love Greek and I am going to continue taking it.</p>

<p>The problem is, studying Greek takes me a really, REALLY long time. The pace of the class is very fast, and there's a lot of memorization. Here is a breakdown of how much time Greek takes me per week (outside of class):</p>

<p>2 hours - reading the textbook
4 hours - doing HW
6 hours - memorizing vocab
6 hours - memorizing forms (noun and verb endings)</p>

<p>That adds up to 18 hours/week. Although I don't mind studying, it's causing me to have trouble balancing the rest of my life (other classes, extracurriculars, my job, social life, etc.). I don't want to quit anything because I love everything I'm doing and I don't want to become a study machine if I can help it.</p>

<p>I realize that the first semester of taking a new foreign language is probably the hardest and that it took a lot of time and energy to get adjusted to college life. But the time I'm spending on Greek seems unreasonable. I am a slow learner (especially in memorization), which I think is the root of the problem.</p>

<p>Has anyone else had a similar experience? If so, what did you do to solve it? Are there any tips that you all have used to memorize faster?</p>

<p>Right now, I'm using flash cards for vocab and forms. I looked up tips online for memorization (visualizing, connecting concepts, breaking up into parts, etc.) but I'm not sure how to apply them effectively to foreign language learning.</p>

<p>Thank you SO MUCH in advance for your advice. I'm really at a loss for what to do, but hopefully I can figure out a solution during Winter Break so the next semester goes more smoothly.</p>

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<p>If you’re using flash cards, you could cut down on paper waste and use the Mac app called “Genius”. Cal Newport promoted it awhile back and I tried it for my German class. It was cool because I could study while watching TV and still ace the tests. </p>

<p>Other than that, I can’t think of anything to help you. I’ve heard that if you have to work really hard in something, you’re more likely to remember it, so this semester might make future ones easier. After all, you’re getting the foundation right now, and later you’ll be building on it.</p>

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<p>Languages are a time investment, more than anything. First year language courses also tend to be inundated with people who’ve studied the language before but not enough to pass into 200 level courses, which results in the pace being faster and the grading being harsher. It’s really tough to start out a new language in college with no previous study whatsoever.</p>

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<p>I feel the same way about Latin -_-</p>

<p>Have 3 more semesters until my stupid language requirement is done.</p>

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<p>The classical language department at my undergraduate college was very explicit that we should expect to spend 20 hours a week on introductory Latin and Greek. So it is definitely normal at some places.</p>

<p>Have you ever talked to your instructor? He might have suggestions for how you might approach your workload more efficiently; if nothing else, at least he can tell you if the course is meant to be this time-consuming.</p>

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<p>@PRiNCESS: Thanks for the suggestion! Yeah I really hope that the foundation I’ve attempted to build in the fall semester will help me next semester.</p>

<p>@Kudryavka: I think you’re right; it seems like many people have taken Latin, which helps them simply because it’s a language with declensions.</p>

<p>@plue00: Ahhhh i know right?! Well we can do it! Haha. Good luck :)</p>

<p>@b@r!um: It’s good to know that I’m not way off regarding time spent studying, at least for your undergrad college. My professor suggests 2 hours of study per day, which is about half of what I did this semester. I have talked to my professor about how much I was struggling but I haven’t told him the full extent of how long everything takes me. I think I will follow your advice and talk to him about study suggestions when I get back from Winter Break.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for your reassurance and help! It makes me feel so much calmer and better prepared for next semester :)</p>

<p>P.S. Happy New Year’s!</p>

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<p>One suggestion for memorization is quizlet- it’s basically an online flashcard thing and it gives you a bunch of options to study which is super helpful since you can basically design it for how you learn best. I don’t know how much it’ll help with forms but if you’re anything like me it’ll make memorization a lot easier :)</p>

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<p>You’re better off than the kids taking Chinese at my school… They nearly drown under the work.</p>

<p>

I agree. For my Irish final, I had to learn a bunch of words in like an hour or two, and Quizlet was really good for that. It’s also really good to have it all saved online so you can go back to refresh your memory.</p>

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<p>smwhtslghtlydzed and Manorite: Thanks for the suggestion! I tried out Quizlet and it seems like a really cool site. It seems like the main advantage of Quizlet over physical flashcards are the different modes (flashcard mode, speller mode, learn mode, teacher mode). I tried typing Greek words in and it’s a bit difficult since Greek has its own alphabet and you have to memorize accents, etc. But otherwise it seems great!</p>

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<p>Do you change your computer’s keyboard language setting when you type in Greek? I do it for Irish, to get all the different characters without having to copy/paste.</p>

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</p>

<p>Same–my roommate’s ancient Greek instructor suggested she spend 3-4 hours a day on it. If your grades are good, I’m not sure you need to change your habits.</p>

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<p>@Manorite: No, I don’t know how to do that…is it simple to set up? But I have a website that converts characters to Greek.</p>

<p>@glassesarechic: I just found out my grade - I got an A-. I am very happy about it but I would like to study more efficiently so I can have a less stressful semester this spring and be able to spend more time on other classes, ECs, etc.</p>

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<p>It’s easy to do, though you’ll have to switch back and forth when you change the language you’re typing in. I’ve got a little icon on my taskbar that I can click to change back and forth. If you tell me if you have a PC or Mac, I can give you the directions for how to do it, then you can decide whether or not it’s helpful. I don’t know how intuitive the keys would be (like what English letter would correspond to what Greek letter).</p>

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<p>Wow, that would be great Manorite! I have a Mac. I think the Greek alphabet corresponds to English letters pretty intuitively, so it may work pretty well.</p>

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<p>Here are the Mac instructions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>CLick the Apple icon in the very top left hand corner of your screen (far left of menu bar).</p></li>
<li><p>Select System Preferences from the dropdown menu.</p></li>
<li><p>Click Language & Text, located under Personal.</p></li>
<li><p>Select the Input Sources lab.</p></li>
<li><p>In the scrolling menu on the left, click the desired language.</p></li>
<li><p>It is usually helpful to also select **Show input menu in menu bar<a href=“located%20at%20the%20bottom%20of%20the%20System%20Preferences%20window”>/b</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Close window.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>If you clicked ‘Show input menu’ in step 6 you should now see either a US flag or the language’s flag beside the volume icon on the menu bar (top right of screen). Click this to change between languages whenever you wish.</p>

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<p>Learning a foreign language is hard and requires a lot of time and work, especially in the intro years, and ESPECIALLY in languages that require you to learn a non-Latin alphabet.</p>

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<p>@Manorite: Thank you so much! I tried it and it works very well.</p>

<p>@Hella: Thank you for affirming that. Hopefully once I get past the intro level it will not be so much of a struggle. I’m reviewing during this Winter Break and it’s already getting a bit easier.</p>

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<p>Greek can definitely be tough. I work for Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy and have to say that there is no ceiling to how much time you can spend on a language. We just had a blog post contributed by a Middlebury professor about how much work it can require to learn a language. ( [Blog</a> | Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy | Language immersion program on college campuses](<a href=“http://mmla.middlebury.edu/blog]Blog”>http://mmla.middlebury.edu/blog) ) During the summer, our students will spend literally all day speaking their language. Progress can be slow-- but it will come. Keep at it. Even if you switch later, there are a lot of cognitive and general academics to be gained, and your third language is always easier than your second.</p>