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Proficiency of college language majors | ||
Tags: Fluency | College/University | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Recht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5803 days ago 241 posts - 270 votes  Speaks: English*, GermanB1 | Message 1 of 11 07 May 2009 at 8:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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This is a similar question or issue as the "Classroom" thread, but I think this
deserves its own. My question is, in your experience, how proficient in the foreign language they're studying is the typical college foreign language major? This typical person is not the obsessed learner that many on How to Learn are, but just the average. I've not met many college language majors, so I don't have much experience with it. Any comments on how good or bad these people are? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| heartnsoul Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5723 days ago 45 posts - 47 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English*, Spanish Studies: Italian, German, Greek | Message 2 of 11 07 May 2009 at 9:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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It varies. My mom's friend got her degree in Spanish and she can speak quite fluently. However, I've also met a girl at my school who is majoring in Italian and she didn't strike me as being advanced. I conversed with her for a little to practice my Italian and it seemed like half the time I knew more than she did... and I'm at intermediate.
So I guess it just largely depends on the person and how much background in the language they have. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6652 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 3 of 11 07 May 2009 at 9:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't know about typical, but the few people I do know with degrees in a certain language are about at the intermediate stage. Not fluent, but could be if given practice. Their knowledge of literature and the written language in general is vastly superior to their command of the spoken language. That's just my experience, however.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6667 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 4 of 11 07 May 2009 at 10:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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The people I know who majored in a Western European language in Germany are all fluent, some are nearly perfect. As far as I know most language majors require at least a semester spent in the country. I don't know about more exotic languages, but my Arabic teacher told me that he knew quite a few Arabic majors who had mastered the grammar and could read Arabic texts better than many native speakers, but were unable to hold a decent conversation.
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| jrandomhuman Triglot Newbie Canada Joined 6847 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 5 of 11 07 May 2009 at 10:56pm | IP Logged | ||
My wife was a German literature major, which included one year studying at a German university. She also stayed in Germany for a few months during high school as part of an exchange program. At her peak, she was able to pass as a native German speaker. She claims to be rusty now, but I notice that Germans are more comfortable speaking to her in German, whereas they speak to me in English. I think it depends entirely on the student. If a language major does the minimum required, he or she will probably end up with an intermediate level of spoken language, and a somewhat higher reading level. If a language major is diligent and motivated, and is willing to spend some time in-country, advanced fluency is definitely possible. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6905 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 6 of 11 07 May 2009 at 11:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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I can only talk about the situation in Poland: generally those who majored in a Germanic, Romance or Slavic language are fluent, especially if they spent one or two semester in the country (which isn't a requirement, though). However, they tend to be better at formal language, they may have some problems with informal expressions. They may have a foreign accent, too. Their reading comprehension is usually very, very good, especially as far as literature is concerned. I'd say C2 reading, at least C1 in other competences. English majors tend to be the best ones, than probably German and French ones (as these languages are usually studied as the continuation, and not from scratch). The level may vary strongly between the universities.
In more exotic languages the overall situation may be worse, especially for those who haven't study in the target language country. However, the possibilities of going abroad are, paradoxically, better than for popular languages. I doubt there're many Chinese majors at my university who haven't spent at least one semester (and some of them more than one year) in China. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Olympia Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5983 days ago 195 posts - 244 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Old English, French | Message 7 of 11 07 May 2009 at 11:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Many of my past language teachers have had bachelors' degrees in languages, and some of them were definitely
sub-par. One girl I met was a senior in college and majored in French. I asked her if she could speak French, and she said, "Well, kind of...I can read a book in French." 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Recht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5803 days ago 241 posts - 270 votes Speaks: English*, GermanB1 | Message 8 of 11 08 May 2009 at 3:38pm | IP Logged | ||
le petit prince? ;) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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