<p>With Latin class being as crazy as it is with the workload, I don't feel optimistic of obtaining the AP credit to opt out (and even then, I doubt it's enough to cover all 14 credits).</p>
<p>So, for language class, I have been deciding between Chinese, Japanese, and a Romance language. The first two are what I genuinely like; the last because I want to progress on the work of the last four years (I don't want to feel like studying Latin was a waste, though I can't say it's a waste anyway since Latin has improved my English marvelously, which was my original intention anyway).</p>
<p>Since I'm one of the few people who do not know how to speak, read, and write Chinese, my sisters suggested me to take Chinese. However, before I decide (most likely Chinese/Japanese), I would like to know the gist of the these language courses in the UVa: their difficulty, how immersive, etc.</p>
<p>Foreign Language is required for all Arts and Sciences students through the 202 level (14 credits if you go the 101,102,201,202 route).</p>
<p>Exemptions include: Echols Scholars, AP credit, testing into an upper level at orientation (if, per say, you test through the 201 level, you will only take 202 and will have fulfilled the requirement). </p>
<p>I’m not sure of the requirements for the E-School.</p>
<p>As far as Chinese vs. Japanese, I don’t know much, but I do know the Asian language courses tend to be extremely rigorous, especially Japanese and Korean. I didn’t know many people who took Chinese. Most language classes are fairly rigorous though. You tend to meet 4-5 days per week for each class.</p>
<p>As an alternative, there is the SLI (Summer Language Institute) where you basically live, eat, sleep and breath a particular language for a couple months and your requirement is met by the end of the summer.</p>
<p>Eschool doesn’t have any language requirement.
Asian languages are INTENSE here. They are dominated by native speakers looking for an easy grade, which makes it hard. I have a bunch of friends who take Japanese and this is what they have told me.
Are you sure you couldn’t place into 201 or 202 for Latin and then only have to take 1 or 2 semesters of it?</p>
<p>I took German in HS, dropped AP midway through the year, and switched once I got here to Hebrew. It was one of the best decisions I ever made because I hated German and loved Hebrew. I also took 2 semesters of spanish at the local comm college too. I ended up taking 5 semesters of Hebrew and 1 semester of Yiddish here. But I would have only needed to take 2 semesters of German. So it is really a choice you have to make, do you hate Latin enough to give up 2 years of your life for another language, or can you just take the classes and be over with it? I put hours of my life for 2.5 years into Hebrew, but I love Hebrew, so it was worth it for me. If the switch will be worth it for you, then go for it, but be prepared to work.</p>
<p>I did expect language classes to be challenging, but I didn’t think they would be that rigorous (darn those who try to have an easy grade, lol). I don’t hate Latin. I’m just getting burn-out from the intense pace we are at to finish up everything for the AP Exam (it didn’t help that VA school started in September instead of August). Because of that, I have no confidence at all for the AP exam.</p>
<p>I like Japanese (or think I do), and being singled out in my family and extended family as being one of the few who do not Chinese, I would like to know Chinese, too. However, now I will have to really weigh in my desire to concentrate in math in college.</p>
<p>It would be nice to hear some detailed stories (if there are any) from students who have taken Eastern language classes.</p>
<p>Echols Scholars are exempt from all area requirements, so they don’t have any required classes aside from those needed to complete their majors. I was one, so I’m sure!</p>
<p>If you’re interested in taking Chinese, don’t worry about the intro courses being clogged with native speakers because there’s a set of accelerated courses (106 through 406) that are intended for people who can already understand and speak a decent amount of Chinese but can’t read or write. New students start with 101 and move on to 102, followed by 201, 202, etc. I took the accelerated courses for two semesters and highly recommend them - they met four to five days a week and were definitely rigorous, but if you want to learn an Eastern language you’ve got to be willing to put in the effort, and I doubt the majority of what I learned would have stuck if I hadn’t had class so often. The assignments were generally tough but reasonable (group projects, listening quizzes, short essays, etc), and I really loved my professor for 306 and 406. Class participation is counted as part of your daily grade, and speaking only Chinese during class was either a preference or a requirement based on the professor. But they tended to be relaxed in this regard; no one ever got kicked out of class for speaking some English or anything.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, then your class schedule is open to basically anything with Echols, given that you meet the prerequisites for the course. Congrats btw, you should definitely take advantage of it to delve into the subjects that really interest you!</p>
<p>It sounded like you might be of Chinese descent from your original post, which is why I suggested the accelerated course. I’ll clarify “understanding/speaking a decent amount” - that might have been a stretch! There’s a placement test at the beginning of the year that’s really, really basic; I was sure I wouldn’t pass because I could barely string a sentence together, but what they’re testing isn’t vocabulary/comprehension but the building blocks that native speakers don’t even have to think about, like a feel for how Chinese grammar differs from English and the ability to distinguish between the four tones. If you’ve regularly heard Chinese used before in your life (even if you can’t speak it), you’ll understand this stuff and get placed in the accelerated course, which is why 99% of native speakers end up there with their fluencies varying across the board. Not sure if that info was helpful, but in any case: it’s a good program regardless of the level, and I’m glad I spent two years studying it. If you’re genuinely interested then go for it!</p>
<p>^I do have a Chinese ancestry. Although my parents were both born in Vietnam, my grandparents are Chinese, and since they were pretty strict, our family still retain a strong sense of Chinese identity (although it has loosened a lot by my generation).</p>
<p>I do have a feel of Chinese grammar and the four tones since the Vietnamese language is pretty close, and at home we speak a Chinese dialect called Teochew (I’m not too good at it, but I can form coherent sentences readily).</p>
<p>It seems that I might be able to get into the accelerated course after all. Now it comes down to whether I trust myself to handle it, while not taking too much attention away from math.</p>
<p>I don’t think I have any more question to ask.</p>
<p>I took CHIN 101 last semester. It had several students of Chinese ancestry, but none of them had experience with the language. It was a tough class but I really enjoyed it – the professor in particular was great.</p>
<p>Other than that, I can re-affirm that engineering students don’t have to take a language class (the jokes is that Java is our foreign language).</p>
<p>Azarap, everything from the classics to ASL to modern languages are offered at UVa. We even offer Bengali…I’ve been told that only 12 colleges in the US offer that.</p>
<p>Just do some googling to find the program that interests you.</p>
<p>I’m Vietnamese but i do have the Chinese ancestry just like you. It’s just that i speak Cantonese at home, not teochew. I learned 3 years of Chinese (mandarin) in Vietnam, i stopped for 4 years (because i came to the U.S) so i forgot most of it. I’m now in the 2nd year of Chinese in high school and 2nd year of Spanish, i would say both classes are rigorous, and the load-work are about the same. Speaking and listening is not hard in Chinese (for Asians especially) the worst part is writing, and reading. Unlike English with a,b,c alphabets, if you don’t know the word, you won’t know how to read it (there’s no clue). At least in English, we can TRY to pronounce it and it might turn out RIGHT.
In Chinese it’s like you are learning 2 languages, because not only the symbols, you need to learn the Pinyin too (it’s use for typing, and reading). It’s so hard to memorize the symbols (trust) the way i do it, is to write one word again and again (full page).
Spanish, on the other hand, is so much easier, there are quite a few words similar to English, and it’s easy to pronounce even if you haven’t learn the word (except the rolling double r).
If you go for Japanese, there are symbols similar to Chinese, and i believe it should be easier than Chinese. You decide by how useful each one is to you. If you learn a language and you don’t interpret it, putting your own effort, then it will goes in your brain then goes out. My Chinese improves a lot because i communicate with my Chinese friends in Chinese, and i also participate in an online Chinese chat-room.</p>
<p>dividebyzero-
You need foreign language all through HS to be a competitive applicant. UVa considers this a core class. Engineering students are not required to take a foreign language to complete their degree.</p>
<p>Japanese is most likely harder than Chinese. In the Japanese language, each Chinese character has two meanings – the traditional Chinese meaning and then the unrelated Japanese meaning. There is also a separate Japanese alphabet. Also, the written and spoken languages are different and the writing is extremely convoluted. And this is coming from someone who is Japanese. I give huge props to non natives who manage to become fluent :)</p>
<p>My daughter studies Japanese, but not at UVA. She also studied a tiny bit of Chinese. Her observations were that Japanese syllables have one pronunciation where Mandarin–as you mentioned–has the different tones. For someone with no experience, that was very difficult. You might also explore how the languages are taught. With the Asian languages, some schools concentrate on speaking first and then move to writing. It might help you make a decision.</p>