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Continuing studies outside the classroom

 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery Post Reply
Panglot
Tetraglot
Newbie
United States
eiu.edu
Joined 5840 days ago

21 posts - 21 votes
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, French
Studies: Mandarin, Russian, Italian

 
 Message 1 of 3
25 September 2008 at 9:54pm | IP Logged 
Professor Arguelles,

I realize that there are many others with questions similar to mine, seeking advice with regard to their language studies and other related endeavors. But I should like to share with you, Professor, and all others who might be interested, the current status of my studies and my concerns for future progression.

I am currently a student of foreign languages studying at SUNY Binghamton. I am currently taking courses in advanced Spanish, intermediate German, intermediate Chinese, and intermediate French. My goals for graduation, three semesters from the current one, are as follows: advanced fluency in Spanish, German, and French with basic fluency in Chinese.

The problem is this: I will soon be returning to my home university in Illinois--a small university that does not offer Chinese at my level. Namely, I cannot continue my study of Chinese in the classroom setting, as I enjoy now. There are options, such as independent study, that could be done with a Chinese professor; however, this would have to be done in a different discipline, such as biology or something of the like, because we have no professors of the Chinese language.

Chinese is extremely important to me, as it is a language of paramount importance both in the United States and on a global level. Linguistically, it is a stepping-stone that will aid me in my future studies with Japanese and Korean, just to name a couple of options.

My apologies for not getting to my questions sooner, but what truly concerns me is that I will have to stop my Chinese studies for a year-and-a-half, at the very longest. This will be a tremendous loss to me, and should there be any way around it, I would gladly take any steps necessary to prevent the loss.

But perhaps I have overloaded my schedule. The coming semester I must continue my German, French, and Spanish studies, which will include two separate courses in Spanish literature, second semester intermediate German, and second semester intermediate French. Would an independent study in a separate field with a Chinese professor be a viable option here, in your opinion, Professor?

Additionally, for my future studies, it would please me to no end to be able to study Japanese, a Slavic language, and Korean at some point. But when is my question at this time. I cannot possible study all simultaneously due to a credit overload. Self-study is problematic because I lack the ability to communicate with native speakers, as I live in a rather countrified locale. Twenty hours of classes each week also has the tendency to use the majority of my time, as does the homework, as well.

At this point in my life, as a junior at university, and under the aforementioned circumstances, what would be my best options, Professor? How can I best use the time that I have in conjunction with the courses that I am taking and the languages that I am studying currently? Additionally, what would be the most advisable order of priority of languages for me to focus on both now and in the future years, with regard to my interests? I apologize if this seems unclear. Please let me know if any clarifications need be made.

I thank you very much for your time, Professor, and to all others who read this, likewise.

Panglot
1 person has voted this message useful



ProfArguelles
Moderator
United States
foreignlanguageexper
Joined 7016 days ago

609 posts - 2102 votes 

 
 Message 2 of 3
08 December 2008 at 12:46pm | IP Logged 
Panglot,

I am a bit perplexed at what seems to be the underlying presupposition of your letter, namely that studying a language in a college classroom setting is the only option available to you. Many people share this assumption, but since you are addressing me, surely you cannot have missed the facts that this entire website is devoted to teaching oneself languages and that I myself am a proponent of the generally superior efficacy of autodidactic language study? It sounds as if SUNY Binghamton must have a particularly good language program and as if have been able, in your own words, to “enjoy” the classroom setting until now; in particular, it sounds as if you have profited from the contact you have had with your native-speaking teachers. In that case, then certainly I think that, if your “intermediate” Chinese is up to it, taking, e.g., a biology tutorial in Chinese would be a good solution, although it seems to me you would actually need to be more “advanced” in order to be able to do this. Investigate the possibility, but in the meantime also investigate the rest of this entire site for some of the literal scores of options you have for continuing your studies of Chinese on your own by any number of different types of materials. Certainly not only contact with native speaking teachers but actual immersion in the country and the culture of any language is ultimately absolutely necessary if you ever hope to bring your knowledge of a language alive and advance towards a certain degree of true maturity and mastery in it, but there are so many things that you can listen to and read and watch and study on your own that I do not see how a maximum of 18 months of interruption of formal Chinese studies can possibly mean that you must do nothing in it. You say you will take any steps to prevent the loss of what you have learned – well, this will not be hard to prevent, but as you given little indication of your learning style and goals, I cannot advise you in particular where to look, just look around – you really have no end of options. As a gut feeling, if you have truly attained an overall intermediate structural command and circumstances will not allow for you to advance by means of conversation with natives, then it would probably be best to read systematically and as intensively as possible through a series of graded readers so as to increase your vocabulary for the day when you will again be able to converse.

As for your future language plans, it sounds frankly as if you have your hands full with your current studies – linguistic and otherwise – at the moment, so there does not seem much need to worry about what you will do just yet, as when you get to the point that you can do more, you may well find that your goals and interests will have changed. Presuming they do not, please use my reassertion of the fact that – presuming you keep your Chinese up and push it forward by self study of some sort – you will simultaneously and preemptively already be beginning to prepare for the greatly facilitated studies of either Japanese and/or Korean – as a further source of motivation for finding some satisfactory means of not only maintaining your Chinese but also moving it forward on your own. Also, to the degree that you learn how to do this on your own, you will also be better prepared to eventually tackle a Slavic language or any other that you so desire.

Regards,

Alexander Arguelles

1 person has voted this message useful



Panglot
Tetraglot
Newbie
United States
eiu.edu
Joined 5840 days ago

21 posts - 21 votes
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, French
Studies: Mandarin, Russian, Italian

 
 Message 3 of 3
13 December 2008 at 9:32pm | IP Logged 
Professor Arguelles,

I thank you for your reply.

Since writing my first letter, I have come through an entire semester of exclusively studies languages at the university level. It has taken an incredible amount of time and energy to meet the in-class and outside-of-class necessities for this type of study, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I have found a method of self-study that was graciously made available to me by a fellow language-learner on this site, in addition to a means of studying various other languages that I should enjoy learning.

At this point in my educational agenda, I must begin looking into the Ph.D. program that I have decided upon as the next step in my academic path; looking into this, however, has been quite difficult for me as of late. It has been my sole desire for the greater part of this semester to attend one of the best universities in the country, mostly in order to give myself a sense of accomplishment from my humble, country schoolhouse beginnings. This university, however, must also have a program that fits my needs and desired course of study.

I must let you know this, Professor: After analyzing your interests and your many, amazing accomplishments with regard to language acquisition, I must say that it would be my hope to be able to accomplish something similar with my life, as well. Would there be any advice that you might be able to offer to me, Professor, concerning what it was that you sought in a university when you were my age, searching for a Ph.D. program?

In your previous letter, you had mentioned that you wished I had included information regarding how I learn. In general, Professor, I am an auditory learning, but I do have some photographic memory tendencies that I try to exploit when I study. These tendencies I exploit by writing my own verb charts in which I can rapidly learn irregular tenses of verbs when I arrange them in a columnar manner. In general, however, I acquire language(s) best when I have audio and a textual copy of the audio in front of me.

My major problem, which has led me to turn away from many programs that I have considered for earning a Ph.D., is my general disinterest in studying literature. I understand and respect this as a very prominent part of culture and language; however, I simply feel that it does not allow me to better communicate with others in the target language, and typically, the literature and the common, spoken aspect of a language are completely different. It is for this main reason that I find the heavy study of literature to be somewhat distracting when it comes to learning the entirety of a language, both written and spoken.

In reality, there seems to be little choice. The great majority of Ph.D. programs involving language seem to be either literary studies or linguistics. With literary studies, however, I am including those which focus only on, say, one language or family of languages in particular. I understand that you, Professor, have extensive knowledge of many languages spanning many language families, and I must also venture to ask: Are there any suggestions that you might have for me, a student of languages who hopes to not be limited to studying only one language at the Ph.D. level? I suppose that I am wondering also if you might share with me how your were able to make the very best out of your Ph.D.-earning experience.

Thank you, Professor, for your time.

Sincerely,

Panglot

Edited by Panglot on 13 December 2008 at 9:33pm



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