I’m a transfer applicant and been accepted to Utica College and University at Albany. I haven’t decided where I would attend yet. Waiting for other schools respond Binghamton, Stony Brook, University at Buffalo and Penn State. I was wondering what language would be good for me to learn. I need two semesters. Here are the languages I’m interested in taking: Ruling out Spanish
Latin
Chinese
Russian
I was wondering what other languages are fun and will motivate me to continue for two semesters straight.
Note: I wasn’t sure I needed a Foreign Language until this year. Sadly
What’s your intended major? My son wanted to take a language that might be useful to his future major. At the time he wanted to work for NASA and was thinking about Russian but ended up taking German due to the fact that I was born in Germany. So perhaps pick something that might be useful to you down the road
honestly i feel like chinese and latin are pretty common among upper middle class students who are trying to get into ivy league schools and stuff like that
russian is pretty relevant right now, so that might be a bit fun. if your teacher is russian it might expose you to their culture more especially in an era where it’s starting to look like another cold war. nice to have a different perspective of their culture/language vs only what you read on the news. there is more to a country then just its affairs with the US and its politics.
but personally i think chinese or latin would be funner, especially chinese since you see those symbols pop up in japanese as well and traditions like lunar new year seem really fun to me. plus it’s fun recognizing stuff you learn on chinese food menus or movies. you dont really see russian in everyday life in america. even if you’re not chinese you can get exposed to it more easily here i think (depends on where you live, too. i live on the west where we’re more diverse, but ive heard that there are places in the midwest that are like 90% white so in that case you probably wouldnt see much of it there)
people always say to learn latin or greek because it helps learning med school/bio terminology, but for example im not interested in that stuff so that would be a boring reason for me to take that language. but it pops up in a lot of art, music,stories, and religious stuff, which i find more interesting, so that would be a more valid reason for me to take it imo. [this is my opinion btw]
learning a language requires a lot of effort, and if your reason for learning it is also considered work (aka, because it helps to know biology terms and you want to be a Good Student) then you’re going to have an even harder time learning it and you won’t be as motivated to finish your work and succeed in the class. if your goal is just to get an A because it’s a college requirement then this still stands, you’ll do poorly in a class you have no interest in. take the one you’re interested in and you’ll have a better time both learning it and earning a good grade in it.
if you want recommendations, may i suggest japanese or korean? of course this depends on what you’re into culturally, but if you’re into anime and manga then japanese is a no brainer. if you’re into k-pop and k-drama then korean would be a no brainer. not sure if your schools offer those though.
im a bit sad that you would rule out spanish though, but i admit it doesnt bring much of a benefit in terms of finding jobs since employers can always find native fluent spanish speakers who are just as qualified if not more so to do a job if spanish is a necessity.
german and italian have been interests of mine. german because it provides you a nook into a different branch of languages (for an american that is), and italian because there is so much art and music and food. not to mention some killer opera.
If you plan to use your 2nd language in career, than Spanish/Chinese are better suited. Don’t like it? Well…there is nothing you can do about it. If not, then pick whatever you want.
Japanese could be useful as well, but Korean? I am Korean myself but I honestly can’t think of ANY instances that you might need Korean unless you go to Korean town.
@otoribashi what are you talking about? Spanish is 3rd most spoken langague in the world, and with increasing no. of Hispanicsi in the USA, Spanish is at least NOT useless even if there are native speakers in the US.
Spanish is applicable. You will not learn enough chinese or russian in 2 semesters to be useful. Assuming you need to protect your GPA, so pick the smart option. All Americans will benefit from Spanish.
Take a language which you find interesting. You will be more motivated to learn if you find the grammar and culture you are studying engaging, otherwise learning a language is a huge drag. You will always do better in a class which you enjoy and feel motivated to study for. There’s also more to studying a language than just its practical use; it provides insight into other cultures and different ways of expressing ideas. It helps you step outside your own context and view it from an objective lens.
I’m a Latin student and I find it fascinating. Latin has a reputation as a hard language but it is, in principle, eminently logical. I find the way everything fits together really satisfying, and the extra layer of meaning which comes from word order is super neat. In a language with a case system, word order is more flexible, giving each sentence more ability to express fine emphasis. It’s cool. It also tends to be taught differently from traditional language courses - grammar is center stage, since Latin is an exclusively written language nowadays, and vocabulary tends to relate to the Romans. (I know three verbs for “two conquer” but have yet to learn the verb “to eat”). Understanding Latin also gives a great foothold for future study of any romance language, since they are derived from it and the grammar is similar.
Chinese is a tonal language which comes from a different language tree, so studying it would give you insight into a different way of organizing ideas, which is also neat! Chinese is also of much more practical import than Latin. From your username I’m assuming you’re interested in aeronautics, so Chinese and Russian might be quite helpful in that field.
Maybe research some of the basics of languages you’re interested in, see if anything really grabs you. Also, ask around on facebook and maybe take a look at Rate My Professor (take it with a grain of salt) and get a feel for the departments and the professors. Good or bad professors make or break a language class, so be as informed as you can.
Fun Latin fact: there are no words for yes and no in Latin - those concepts are expressed in relation to actions or truth (“it is true”, “she did not do that”).
Using a small population sample of women I’ve been with, they all loved when I would say loving or complimentary things in Russian. Like I said, very biased hahaha.
