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What language to study at the University? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| knchcanada Newbie United States Joined 5041 days ago 5 posts - 5 votes | Message 1 of 4 31 March 2015 at 4:28pm | IP Logged |
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Hello,
I'm currently majoring in Hindi/Urdu and Geography. In the future, I hope to work with sustainable agriculture or environmental development in an international context. I am currently at an intermediate level in Spanish and am in my first year of Hindi/Urdu. Given my obsession with languages, I've decided to minor in another language. My university offers a lot to choose from - German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish, Arabic, Italian, Malayalam, Tamil, Persian, Korean, Chinese, even Yoruba. I just took a Spanish placement test, but honestly I'd love to start something new and enhance my career possibilities. I don't want anything more difficult than Hindi, since Hindi is my focus. Currently, I'm undecided between German, French, Portuguese and MAYBE Turkish. I want to learn all four eventually, but can't decide which is the best to pursue in a traditional academic setting. Which do you think will be the most rewarding? I'm looking for something that will be fun to speak, easier than Hindi, and also rewarding in terms of career possibilities. I currently reside in the United States (specifically Texas). I'm leaning towards German simply because I have several friends in Germany and would love to work there if the opportunity presents itself. Edited by knchcanada on 31 March 2015 at 4:42pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4571 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 2 of 4 31 March 2015 at 4:33pm | IP Logged |
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Each time you mentioned German, it was always first on your list and in your last paragraph that said it all.
I think your best bet is German. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4844 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 3 of 4 31 March 2015 at 5:39pm | IP Logged |
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Another factor to take into account is which language will help your current and future studies. There is a lot of reseach into South Asia taking place in German universities, so knowing German would be useful there. French has an excellent resource for learning Hindi: Assimil le hindi sans peine. So you could use it to work on French while revising Hindi (I'm doing that myself). And if you want to add Sanskrit to your set in the future, the only learning resource with a sizable chunk of audio support is Assimil le sanskrit, which is only available in French.
In terms of ease for an English speaker, both German and French are easier than Hindi. But in my experience, once you get past the orthography French is much easier. There is much more shared vocabulary, and sentence structure is much closer in French than in German. Overall, if it weren't for the fact that you have friends in Germany, I would say French would be the best choice. As an aside, are you studying at the University of Texas at Austin? If so, I'm very jealous. They have excellent resources on their website, and I'm sure their program is one of the best in the world. Edited by Jeffers on 01 April 2015 at 8:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4944 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 4 of 4 01 April 2015 at 2:40pm | IP Logged |
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Another factor is the quality of each language teaching at your university. Many
students get disappointed from their university language classes. So, perhaps you should check the curriculum, look for reviews of the particular teachers, ask people who have already attended the classes. Another thing to consider: It is not hard to learn one of the most popular languages on your own. However, the less popular ones have fewer sources, lower amount of audio just lying around on the internet, fewer practice opportunities and so on. Therefore I'd say it is more beneficial to use your university as a resource for learning a language like Tamil or Persian than to join a German class. Third: If you know for sure you are very motivated to learn, for exemple, German, you are very likely to succeed on your own. But if you take a language you want to learn but aren't that strongely motivated to, the university might provide you with more incentive to study regularily and progress. However, if your heart already longs for German, than there is probably no reason to change your mind. Edited by Cavesa on 01 April 2015 at 2:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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