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Study a less common language in college | ||
Tags: Rare Languages | College/University | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| chucknorrisman Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5233 days ago 321 posts - 435 votes  Speaks: Korean*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian, Mandarin, Lithuanian, French | Message 1 of 10 01 December 2010 at 4:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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Are there anyone here who's studying a lesser known foreign language here in college classes? Apparently, according to what I hear about the language program in my school, if I request a language, they would try to find a teacher for me to get started with it. I was thinking about doing that with Lithuanian, but I don't think there even are any Lithuanians in my school, so I'm wondering how they're going to do that.
Anyways, is anyone in a college/university in which they offer those less studied languages? Edited by chucknorrisman on 01 December 2010 at 4:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| canada38 Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5280 days ago 304 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Japanese | Message 2 of 10 01 December 2010 at 4:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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It really depends how much effort/money your school would invest in finding a teacher.
If a speaker of Lithuanian could be found in your community, who was also a suitable teacher and looking for that sort of job, then I'm sure it would work out. If there wasn't one available, then perhaps the school would offer a some sort of term contract to bring in a Lithuanian instructor. I find it unlikely that a university would offer such a programme for just one student, but at the same time, very lucky for you!! Another option you could consider would be to spend a semester in Lithuania, or to take a distance course online from another university. Edit: Added second paragraph. Edited by canada38 on 01 December 2010 at 5:01pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| The Real CZ Senior Member United States Joined 5434 days ago 1069 posts - 1495 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 3 of 10 01 December 2010 at 6:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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My university doesn't even have some of the bigger languages (i.e. Russian, Italian), so they'll never have any of the smaller ones.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| thephantomgoat Groupie United States Joined 5256 days ago 52 posts - 103 votes | Message 4 of 10 01 December 2010 at 11:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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My university offers a lot of different languages not commonly taught in the U.S.
school system. Of those, I've taken Vietnamese and Yiddish, and I'll audit a Polish class next semester. The school also offers courses in: -Catalan -Telugu -Norwegian -Turkish -Ancient Egyptian -Akkadian -Persian -Indonesian -Hindi -Swahili -Hungarian -Romanian -Danish -Tagalog -Wolof -Armenian -Tamil -Welsh -Czech -Sanskrit -Thai -Finnish -Swedish -Zulu -Khmer -Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian -Sumerian -Urdu -Korean -Irish -Aramaic This is in addition to the languages more commonly taught at university. No Lithuanian, though. I've met people who've taken Old Norse here, but I don't know if it's still offered. We offered Nahuatl here until very recently when the instructor retired, and our Tibetan instructor was let go so we no longer have a program in that language either. The university also offers student-led courses in Cantonese and Taiwanese, and I've encountered one in Mongolian, but I don't think it's offered anymore. The list above is formidable, but many of these languages are offered on a rotating basis: beginning one year, intermediate the next, advanced the third, and then the cycle begins again. And most of them are offered in a two-semester sequence that begins in fall, so spring admits have to wait a semester to begin their study of the language in these classes. As well, language courses and programs are invariably the first to suffer cuts during budget crises, like the one my state is now in, and even the more common languages are not exempt: my university no longer offers Spanish 1 anymore, for instance. The beginning Spanish course comprises the first two semesters of the language. I doubt I'd be able to request the introduction of a new language program; my university's too big and money's too tight (in the humanities, at least) for such flexibility. But classes in less commonly learned languages like the ones listed above are often smaller so there's more one-on-one time with the instructor (unless it's a heritage language of a large number of students, like Hindi or Vietnamese, both of which are usually packed), and you get to know your classmates well. Many of the instructors are also open to auditors--people who sit in on the class but don't take it for credit--because their class sizes are so small. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 6800 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 10 03 December 2010 at 5:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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@thephantomgoat: Perhaps I missed it elsewhere, but which university are you referring to?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ilcommunication Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6477 days ago 115 posts - 162 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 6 of 10 04 December 2010 at 12:29am | IP Logged | ||
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Like thephantomgoat said, cuts in public education are hitting language departments hard, at least here in the US. As an example, SUNY Albany just announced that it's going to do away with French, Italian and Russian.
Regardless, at my own school I used the opportunity to take Mandarin, Hindi and Russian (and Swedish during study abroad), which will give me a good foundation for future study both independently and also through classes. It's difficult to study more than one language seriously at the university level, since most students have to put a lot of time into other concentrations, but it is still a great idea to get instruction in languages you probably wouldn't be able to find as readily elsewhere. Also, if you can do study abroad, that's definitely best for language learning. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6335 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 7 of 10 04 December 2010 at 1:18am | IP Logged | ||
You are an inspiration. Someone in a largely monolingual country who not only studied several languages in school, but understands how school study fits into the bigger picture of becoming proficient in a language. I wish I had started out like this. I salute you. (btw - any relation to L'il Miss Information?) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| thephantomgoat Groupie United States Joined 5256 days ago 52 posts - 103 votes | Message 8 of 10 04 December 2010 at 6:50am | IP Logged | ||
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@patuco: It's at UC Berkeley. It's a great place to be, but cuts to public education are
definitely taking their toll. @ilcommunication: Dr. Gregory Petsko, a professor and biochemist at Brandeis University, wrote a letter to the president of SUNY Albany about the cuts to their language programs. It's a great piece. You can find it here: http://genomebiology.com/content/pdf/gb-2010- 11-10-138.pdf Edited by thephantomgoat on 04 December 2010 at 6:51am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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