<p>Can anybody shed any light on what it's like taking two intensive languages at a time? Based on what I've read on this forum it is very strongly discouraged. Is the workload that time-consuming?</p>
<p>I'm interested about this too. I remember reading a post by someone who said it's not that bad if you're taking two different levels (like starting one language and continuing with another). It's probably gonna depend on what you think you're capable of. Any current students know about this?</p>
<p>It is possible to do two intensive languages, if you're of a higher level in at least one of them. I heard, and I agree, that starting two languages from scratch is overkill.</p>
<p>The reason why they discourage taking more than one language is because doing so not only takes up more of your time (less socializing time or EC time), but it also means taking up 2 out of your 5 course spaces. I mean, what if you miss out on a really awesome class because of your two demanding language requirements? Not to say that no one can do it, because I'm sure there are people there who have done it before and are happy with their decision, but keep the trade-offs in mind.</p>
<p>What is the work load like in an intensive language class? Are there daily homework assignments like in high school or is your grade based on a midterm/final?</p>
<p>Im in intensive french (basic) and its a lotttt of work. It's a six credit class, so its double the amount of time and commitment to a regular class. taking two is doable, but be prepared to do a lot of work.</p>
<p>I would kind of disagree with the previous posters. Personally I've experienced intense study in two completely different languages, and from scratch, in fact helped me master the flow and feeling of both. Perhaps it boils down to the way you personally learn language the best. For me, learning English and Swedish at the same time made the differences as well as similarities more striking and had me pay better attention to syntax etc.</p>
<p>Georgetown2010 can you elaborate please? When you say it is a lot of work, do you mean daily assignments, or large exams on a very regular basis, etc...? I am going to take intensive basic French next year (starting that one from scratch) and hopefully place into a third level Russian (native fluent speaker). Can you tell me more about your French class?</p>
<p>I've heard you have a lot of daily work for intensive language classes.</p>
<p>I started taking Intensive Russian this year at Georgetown (I'm in my second semester). I have had no prior experience in Russian. </p>
<p>I would say that I am generally good with language, and spend the majority of my time during the week studying and doing homework for Russian. We've basically done each semester the equivalent of two semesters--or more--of Russian in a traditional college Russian program. The class meets six times per week (twice on Fridays) and is team-taught by two professors. </p>
<p>What I would say is that my experience with intensively taught languauge courses is that although the time committment and amount of work is incredibly demanding, it makes it much easier to learn the language if you are functioning in it on a daily basis. I spend on average 2-3 hours per day doing homework for the class and I'd say on average before each exam I study about 10-12 hours spaced out over a few days. </p>
<p>You're going to have less time to do other things, including study for your other courses, however I think it's really forced me to prioritize my time so that I'm devoting enough to each course, my social life, sleeping, etc. As much as I hate getting up for a 9:15 class every day, having it at that time (most are either at 9:15 or 12:15) has really forced me to have a regular sleep schedule and manage my time well. </p>
<p>On the subject of two intensive languages at one, only people in the FLL can do that. These are 6-credit courses, so to take one already might be difficult unless you have a lot of AP or transfer credit (I did) and are planning to do coursework over the summer (I will). Honestly, this is your best and maybe last chance to learn a difficult, new language really well and I'm really glad I took it. </p>
<p>The Slavic Languages & Literatures faculty, as with all the language departments at Georgetown, are excellent and I really can't think of any place else where you'll be learning first level language courses every day with someone who actually has a Ph.D. in Linguisitics or Literature in that language. Georgetown is really unique in that real academics teach almost all the language courses, versus "lecturers" or "preceptors" at our peer institutions whose credentials are that they are native speakers and maybe hold a Master's degree if you're lucky. Often at Georgetown, your language professor will be a native speaker, who holds a Ph.D. in literature or lingusitics--that's really not heard of anywhere else.</p>
<p>So to summarize, Russian (insert Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, etc. here) is a very difficult language to learn, taking it intensively however makes it significantly easier to learn at the cost of having to do a large amount of work for the course. Is it worth it? Absolutely.</p>
<p>Is the workload just as hard for Western languagages like French, Spanish, Italian, German, etc?</p>
<p>Third-Year Russian is not an intensive class, only the first two years are.</p>
<p>So basically, it's a lot of work, but it's doable? Next year I think I'm going to continue with Japanese (have had four years of that) and start intensive French. That's probably okay, right? I won't kill myself? :) It'd be nice to be placed into third level Japanese, but I doubt it, so I imagine I'd be doing two intensive languages at once.</p>
<p>That brings up another question... What are the placement tests like (specifically for Japanese)? I heard that people often get placed lower than they thought they would be. Are the tests all listening? Or do they have a written component too?</p>
<p>what if you try one intensive language class, and one regular, both from scratch?</p>