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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery |  | |
| Sgt.Pepper Newbie Ukraine Joined 5495 days ago 38 posts - 32 votes Speaks: Ukrainian* | Message 1 of 10 25 May 2009 at 3:02am | IP Logged | ||
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- Edited by Sgt.Pepper on 16 March 2010 at 1:52am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Paskwc Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5463 days ago 450 posts - 624 votes  Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English Studies: Persian, Spanish | Message 2 of 10 25 May 2009 at 6:42am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi,
I'm guessing either French or Spanish would be suitable. French may be slightly more appropriate since the French held on to their colonies longer than the Spanish. That said, Dutch may also be a good choice. Edited by Paskwc on 25 May 2009 at 6:42am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Alkeides Senior Member Bhutan Joined 5934 days ago 636 posts - 644 votes | Message 3 of 10 25 May 2009 at 11:00am | IP Logged | ||
All the aforementioned languages were those of the colonialists in South-East Asia. East Asian studies usually refers to the study of the civilizations of China, Japan and Korea. Of course, this hardly means that there aren't any academic publications in those languages regarding those cultures, but do not expect any significant portion of Chinese, Koreans or Japanese to speak them. Personally, of the languages recommended by Harvard, I'd be inclined towards Russian, assuming you have no knowledge of any of those. Due to political relations and geography, there is a substantial amount of linguistic material regarding both the official standards and the minority languages of East Asia. Depending on your definition of East Asia (if it includes Mongolia or Siberia), Russian may be the main Western language that has any reasonable amount of published material for study. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sgt.Pepper Newbie Ukraine Joined 5495 days ago 38 posts - 32 votes Speaks: Ukrainian* | Message 4 of 10 25 May 2009 at 5:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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- Edited by Sgt.Pepper on 16 March 2010 at 1:53am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Anekantavada Newbie United States Joined 5520 days ago 11 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, French | Message 5 of 10 25 May 2009 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have always considered French and German to be nearly essential languages for anyone in the humanities or social sciences, regardless of one's specialization. Either (or preferably, both) would serve you well in East Asian studies. Other languages of importance include the aforementioned Russian and Dutch as well as Portuguese. It really depends on what area of study you are concentrating. Russian would be extremely useful for, say, 19th and 20th century political history; Dutch and/or Portuguese for Early Modern economic history and international relations, mainly with Japan. Limiting yourself to "academic texts" (I assume this means secondary source material), then French and German are the most obvious choices. If I had to choose one, then I would hazard a guess that French may prove more useful, but that is truly only a guess. I am wondering why you are choosing a program in East Asian Studies as opposed to related fields (History, Religious Studies, Political Science, Economics, etc.); where exactly do your research interests lie? I am asking because Area Studies students appear to have more limited options financially speaking than other graduate scholars, to say nothing of the academic job market, difficult to penetrate in many fields regardless. My advice would be to make sure you apply to the best programs possible, although you probably already know that.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sgt.Pepper Newbie Ukraine Joined 5495 days ago 38 posts - 32 votes Speaks: Ukrainian* | Message 7 of 10 26 May 2009 at 1:35am | IP Logged | ||
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- Edited by Sgt.Pepper on 16 March 2010 at 1:58am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| OneEye Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6636 days ago 518 posts - 784 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, Taiwanese, German, French | Message 8 of 10 26 May 2009 at 2:49am | IP Logged | ||
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Funny this topic should come up now. I've recently made a pretty big life decision and I'm starting work this fall on my second bachelor's, this time in International Studies (did music last time). For grad work I want to pursue a PhD in East Asian Languages and Cultures (different but related to East Asian Studies).
Most of the programs I've looked at either have similar guidelines to the ones you mentioned at Harvard, or they require French specifically. It seems to me that for academic material in this field, French would probably be your best bet anyway, with German in second. This is fortunate for me, since French seems pretty easy to learn (as a native English speaker). Something else to keep in mind: most grad programs don't require proficiency in a research language before you start. You can take courses like "French for Graduate Students." 1 person has voted this message useful |
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