<p>I'd like some advice to see if I'm thinking this through enough. Here is my situation:</p>
<p>I'm in French 201 as a potential French major/minor, but now I'm not so sure. I had a great prof last year for 101 and 102 and she inspired me to pursue french. However, the 201 and 202 professor is very different. Of course the content is harder, but I don't seem to click or mesh well with her. </p>
<p>Basically, I haven't been keeping up the past 2 weeks of class. It's really hard, and I have 3 other classes, one other that's very intensive. I also work 20 hours a week and so can't put forth like 5 hours a day to keep up. </p>
<p>We only have to have 1 year of a foreign language, and I now realize that my desire to study french was mainly due to my past professor. Now that it's with someone else, it doesn't have that same magic. </p>
<p>Good reasons to drop? I know I wouldn't do well if I kept it. I do feel bad to be shying away from a program, but I can maybe take it next semester if I can handle all the work. </p>
<p>Although it is a shame not to persist with a language until you have a really firm grasp of it, which takes more than one year, even at the college level, it sounds like you should drop it for this semester if you really can’t keep up. Do you have to work 20 hours a week? If you drop it, what will you take instead? Is there any possibility that you could audit 201 this semester, and actually take it next semester?</p>
<p>Learning a new language means being willing to spend time every day studying. If you aren’t naturally gifted, that’s minimally 1 hour, maybe a little more. It shouldn’t take five, though, I think there were times, when my younger son thought it took that long to keep up with Arabic at Tufts. If you’ve met the language requirement and really don’t think you have an interest in majoring or minoring it, it’s probably a good idea to quit. I’m very reluctant to give you that advice though, as I got a lot out of learning two languages fluently. I ended up being able to spend a summer doing research for my senior thesis thanks to speaking French, and being able to work in Germany in my 20s’ thanks to speaking German. If you are already behind, it may be hard to catch up, so your best bet may be to cut your losses. Will you need to take extra courses later to graduate if you only have three classes as a result of dropping French?</p>
<p>Twenty hours seems like an awful lot of time to spend working. I almost never worked more than 10 hours a week.</p>
<p>I can’t tell you how many students I’ve known who hit this second year slump in language classes. I would urge you to keep it - you are just getting to the point that your language facility will become really useful.</p>
<p>Sounds like the reason to drop it is that it has become real work. Were you planning to go abroad to a French-speaking country? Are you at all thinking of graduate school in the humanities?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. I am getting a bit overwhelmed and frustrated with the new second year jump, and that slump is coming at a bad time since I just got a new on-campus job with lots of training and professional development involved. I’m genuinely afraid I won’t have time for everything. I think I need to either develop a plan to get a better grip on how to stick with my foreign language or drop it altogether. I don’t want to drop below a 3.6 (90% here) in the class since that’s what constitutes Dean’s List and department honors. </p>
<p>I usually do study french between one and two hours a night though admittedly not every day (I didn’t do any french on Monday). Maybe I’m just studying the wrong things? I go over the vocabulary for the chapter and do all the assignments and attempt the listening. I also look up any words I don’t know in the readings. </p>
<p>I’m having extreme problems with my listening skills. I can’t understand what they’re saying all the time, and my professor just says “well, you should be practicing on your own to get better” in a dismissive sort of way. I can’t make it to her office hours because I’m in class and the tutoring center isn’t opened yet, so I feel like I’m slipping through the cracks. </p>
<p>And if I DID drop it, I’d be behind for a french major and would probably take an extra semester to finish, but I’d still be on time for any other since I took summer classes. It’s just that the French major is very fixed on when you take things. But I can’t even get past the second year!!</p>
<p>Listening is hard. My son spent his 2nd year flunking the oral part of the Arabic tests and passing the written parts. It was pretty nerve-wracking. He came very close to dropping it and changing majors (international relations). He soldiered though, since his plan had been to do immersion Arabic for his junior year abroad. He spent last year in Jordan and now is completely comfortable speaking Arabic, his main problem this year is that he’s used to speaking the Jordanian dialect instead of media Arabic (which is never used except by newscasters.) </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s unusual to find the second year of a language more difficult. I didn’t for German only because I spent 6 weeks of the summer before I took it in a language program in Germany.</p>
<p>My d. had a hard time 1st semester 2nd year Italian. She stuck to it, spent her junior year in Florence, and is now a 6th Ph.D. student in musicology/Italian studies at Princeton, and living in a palace (literally!) in Venice.</p>
<p>If you absolutely love it and wish you could spend all day with headphones on listening and practicing ("La plume de ma tante . . .) then go for it. Otherwise, drop it now and go find your passion. JMHO.</p>
<p>For listening do every oral exercise available. More than once! Also start watching French movies. Watch once with the subtitles and once without and see how you do the second time. It’s all about developing an ear and getting used to how fast people talk.</p>
<p>I second the movies! And get French news on-line.
Listening is hard–harder for French than for some other languages like Spanish or German, imo. If you’re struggling maybe just stick with the minor and choose a different major. My college required two years of foreign language. I quit German in middle school and never took anything in high school. I liked the sound of French–I ended up taking 7 semesters of French (Not crazy about most of the profs but kept at it because of the challenge. I never had to work so hard at anything. Profs were all different–some concentrated more on reading/writing/grammar, for others it was mostly speaking. . .) Now I regret that I didn’t take that last semester because then I would have finished the minor. I did study in Europe, and traveled a bit, but never really used it. My D just finished a minor in French–as a biology major–just because she liked the sound of it. The time to learn languages is when you are young. Studies show that ability to learn languages declines greatly after 30 and really takes a plunge after 50. I tried to learn Spanish a few years ago. I thought it was easy when I was taking it, (because I already had French) but as soon as the course was over–POOF–gone. Only English, French and a bit of Setswana and German left in my poor old brain.</p>
<p>You know, reading everyone’s posts and their stories really makes me want to continue with it! It’s encouraging to know that your kids struggled with their second year of language studies, too. It makes me feel more “on par” so to speak. And thanks for all the suggestions with listening! However, though I want to face the challenge, I am worried about my overall academic performance and grades…</p>
<p>If I keep my French class, how can I better manage my time to make sure I do well? I actually took the placement test right before the semester started, and it put me in 201, which means I know that I’m where my abilities lie. My professor said we should spend 1-2 hours studying every night. Is that about right? </p>
<p>I also have 2 gen ed classes (logic and linguistics of the brain, which are pretty intensive math and science substitutes) and an upper level writing course along with 20 hours of work per week. I do have some downtime at my job right now and will have it occasionally, but I’m using it right now to get ahead with my training. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the inspiring posts! If I hadn’t posted, I probably would have went ahead and dropped it before thinking it through. But I’m still not sure what’s best.</p>
<p>When my son was having trouble with a language he got a tutor. The tutor was a graduate student, a TA, in the department, who understood how the classes were organized and was able to help my son understand how to approach the material and use his study time most effectively. It doesn’t matter how much time you spend studying if you aren’t focusing correctly. Good luck! :)</p>
<p>adding: If you did no French over the summer, it seems normal to me to take a while to get back into it. However, you have to keep up.</p>
<p>Do you absolutely need the job right now? Your primary, full time job is being a student. Ten hours per week of outside work is a lot better than a half time position of 20. What are your priorities? </p>
<p>Do you really enjoy the French language and culture? Learning the basics of vocabulary and grammar are not the fun parts, but necessary for the later enjoyment. I took the 4 years of HS French (junior high counted for one) which met my future U’s BA reqs but did not do the 5th year as it wasn’t my love (was a Chemistry major). You will get good and bad teachers in everything and must overcome that (I used teachers because I had TAs for college German- all that is necessary for the basics).</p>
<p>Perhaps you aren’t as interested in majoring in French as you thought. If you are make it your number one priority. Make work your last priority- drop it if you don’t have the time for it. If you really need the money consider that you may need longer than 4 years to complete your degree- in any major.</p>
<p>I do LIKE the language and find it nice on the ear and interesting to learn, but I really don’t know if it’s what I’d like to do for the rest of my life. It is possible, of course, especially if I can get past this slump. Something about it drew me in, so I’m sure there’s still a flame somewhere. </p>
<p>And I’m actually only working 10 hours a week at the new on-campus job. I work another 10 hours on the weekends, but that’s at a seasonal farm stand that’ll be closed from November on. </p>
<p>Also, can’t I just try it and if my grade turns out bad I can withdraw from the course? Would a W for a second year language class look bad?</p>
<p>Lots of students take W’s at some point in their college career. The dicey part comes if you wait until you have been spending so much time on a problematic course that you are having trouble keeping up with other classes as well. </p>
<p>At some schools language classes are notorious for being huge time sinks even for students with an aptitude for learning languages, and students are urged to plan schedules accordingly. (Perhaps, if you really want to learn French to the point where you can take advanced classes, the answer might be to drop one of your other classes?) But, there is a difference between spending a couple of hours a day (when most students need only an hour) to prepare for class, and spending entire afternoons in class preparation.</p>
<p>Is there an advisor in the French department who would meet with you to discuss this? One of the deans? Someone at the career center?</p>
<p>Thanks for the input, frazzled. I didn’t even think of having trouble with my other classes if I spend too much time on French. Good point. </p>
<p>There are a few people I could talk to. I had the Department Chair for a class this summer and we got along really well (though I’m sure she has a lot more important things to do than to cater to a student who may or may not major in French). I’ve also met the adviser for the major and one of the other associate professors (I like and know the Chair better, though. I seem to like everyone in the department except for the professor I have now!!). And there’s the professor I had last year, but I think she’s only part-time and so not on campus all the time (but she was really good and really involved with students). </p>
<p>Basically, the Modern Languages Department is pretty small and there’s only a class of maybe 15 students who end up completing the French major each year. I like that kind of small major feel because you get to really know the professors. It’s a bit of a tougher program because they have more time to get to know you and test your personal limits and struggles, but that makes me feel like I would get a better quality education than if I were just 1/5000 business majors.</p>
<p>If you want to major in French, you can’t let a semester go by without taking a French class.
However, it’s absolutely normal to be struggling in 201, especially for listening, because
you haven’t used French in several weeks, so your ear has “forgotten” (people lose foreign languages quickly unless they use it, and the lower the proficiency the faster the “disappearance” of the language)
in French 101-102, what you listen to typically involves native speakers who speeeaaaakkkk vvvveeeerrrryyy slooooooowwwwwwly and clearly, for the specific purpose of making non-native learners catch some key words in some sentences.
In French 201-202, you hear natural speech; there may be repetitions there may be slurred or skipped consonnants, spoken French as it is really spoken (vs. "written French, spoken "), nothing’s simplified.
So it’s really very hard. The only way is to listen to the listening exercises every day. If you don’t have much time, don’t spend one hour on it, just 10-15mn will help.
it’s considered normal to devote 2-3 hours to prepare for one class period at that level (it gets lower later on, once you’ve got to the point you feel fluent enough)
you’ve probably hit the dreaded “intermediate plateau”. Whereas at the Beginning level you felt that each week you’d improved, you could tell you were progressing by leaps and bounds… now, for weeks on end, it seems you’re stuck at the same place, with the same problems. It’s because your brain is processing the higher-level language. One day, you’ll go to class and everything will “click” and improve. Then again, when you move to Upper Intermediate Level, you’ll have the same impression of being stuck with a stalled brain, and once again it’ll “click” after your brain has processed everything.</p>
<p>Finally, as others have said: Get a tutor. Or try to meet French speaking students on campus (go to the International Students Office and ask! )
More fun: Watch movies (I recommend L’Auberge Espagnole, about students on their year abroad… check out the trailer on youtube - the sequel will soon be released and Xavier is no longer 23 but 40, with two kids, and lives in NYC so lots of intercultural misunderstandings but not with Europeans, with various Americans including Asian American, and with Chinese people.) See if your school gets TV5Monde, you could watch tons of things in French for free, and have fun to boot. Some recommendations: les </p>