<p>Anyone here have a student who is majoring in two languages? How did they plan their year abroad? Did they do one semester for each? How did it go?</p>
<p>Or what do U Delaware students with a three-languages major usually do?
[Three</a> Languages Major](<a href=“http://www.udel.edu/fllt/main/Majors/ThreeLanguageMajor.html]Three”>http://www.udel.edu/fllt/main/Majors/ThreeLanguageMajor.html)</p>
<p>For serious language students, a semester isn’t enough. Anyone who wants fluency (and that’s what you’re going after as a language major) you need at least a year. For an undergrad in two languages, the advice would depend on what those languages are. A friend who majored in French and Spanish did a year in France, then worked on her Spanish within Spanish-speaking communities in the US, as well as in jaunts to Mexico. Another young man I know who majored in French and Italian - he did a year in France, and got the BA in Italian without going to Italy.</p>
<p>Fluency is a longer term proposition than just semesters abroad. My Ds are both majoring in 2 languages. One had a gap exchange where she gained Spanish fluency. I’m recommending summer jobs in the appropriate countries to help gain fluency, as well as working at language camps here in this country.</p>
<p>Depending on the languages, you might be able to find a placement in a multilingual country that covers both (like Switzerland). And if the languages are closely related (like Spanish and Italian), you may improve in one through immersion in the other.</p>
<p>If the languages are, say, Korean and Hindi (my idea of a challenge!), perhaps a year abroad in one country and multiple summers in another would serve the student best.</p>
<p>D scheduled her semesters the way that worked for her. Spain is on our schedule, but Germany was not. Originally, she wanted Spain second, Germany first, but that would not have worked. She did Spain first, leaving end of August, then had 3 months off to travel until she had to report to school in Germany in March. Watch out for this. Your planning may go awry otherwise.</p>
<p>OK- languages are French and Russian. She has already spent time in Montreal and Paris (poor dear). Russian is one of the state dept’s “critical languages” so probably more important that she attain fluency in that.</p>
<p>S took French through the AP level (Lang and Lit) and Spanish through the AP level (lang only) in HS, and started Russian in college. He’s planning to spend the fall term in Paris, and will presumably spend the summer term after Junior year in Russia. His school only does Russia in the summer, which makes the timing of all of this is a bit problematic. I think he ought to get himself to Russia before that if he really wants to master the language, but that would require finding a program held by another school. He went into college saying he wasn’t going to major in a language, but since he will have 4 courses in the French Dept by the end of the Fall term, and 3 in Russian, who knows.</p>
<p>If anyone knows of any good Russian programs that happen during the Sept-June timeframe–especially ones that might fit a student on the quarter system–I’d love to hear about them.</p>
<p>“probably more important that she attain fluency in that.”</p>
<p>Also more challenging for an English speaker (unless she had childhood exposure to Russian and not to French). Is there a French-immersion theme house on her college campus? It can’t compare to living abroad, of course, but for a language like French or Spanish where many U.S. students attain strong proficiency, it may be a great way to get more out of a year at her home campus.</p>
<p>I agree with Hanna, going to Russia for the year would make more sense here. For an American, Russian is much harder than French and immersion would be critical to attain fluency. Another place where OP’s D could probably practice Russian is at Jewish Community Centers, where many Russian Jews, fairly new to the US, often tend to congregate. In the JCC where I live, you hear more Russian than English.</p>
<p>Really. It’s been a long time since I studied Russian, but I don’t remember it being more difficult than French, and you run into a LOT of native Russian speakers around here. A large number of my kids’ high school friends spoke it at home. French, not so much.</p>
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<p>I think its safe to say she wont. It takes years to become truly fluent in a language, and especially so with one like Russian. She can expect to continue studying her languages for years after leaving university if she wants to be fluent.</p>
<p>Check out the State Department’s critical languages scholarship for summer study–Russian is one listed. Last year’s due date was Nov 2008 for summer 2009 program–nothing is posted yet for summer of 2010–hopefully, it doesn’t get hit by budget cuts. All expenses paid to study the language in Russia over the summer–go to clscholarship.org for all the details.</p>