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Critical Language Scholarship Program | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Languages & Work |  | |
| Shantaram Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5045 days ago 19 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Hindi, German | Message 1 of 3 18 October 2011 at 5:55am | IP Logged |
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I am in the process of applying the CLS program to study Hindi in Jaipur during summer 2012. I was hoping to get some feedback from people who have applied in the past or have participated in one of the overseas language institutes.
For now I guess the main question on my mind is how competitive is the selection process? For the sake of starting some conversation: - I have no doubt that studying for 3 months in India would substantially improve my Hindi proficiency, but did you find this program as beneficial as I imagine? The answers I'm looking for involve what level you were at in your target language before and after participating in this program. Other than that, I am interested in really any other details people would like to share. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Leurre Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5220 days ago 219 posts - 372 votes  Speaks: French*, English*, Korean, Haitian Creole, SpanishC2 Studies: Japanese | Message 2 of 3 19 October 2011 at 1:00am | IP Logged |
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I did CLS for Korean twice, once in 2007 and once in 2010, and the experiences were
very different. The competitiveness of the selection process varies by language; I think you can find stats somewhere on this. But let's just say that it's a good thing you're not planning on applying for Arabic or Chinese. I was a beginner in 2007, and it helped immensely. My understanding of the language back then was really restricted to things like "I go to school", "It is five o'clock" and the like. I couldn't use basic connectors, didn't have a good grasp of the past tense and had an operating of vocabulary of say 150ish words. When I finished, I was substantially better. I could hold a small conversation about what I liked, my past vacations, weird people I met on said vacations, and I could bumble my way through slightly more complicated topics, like why I wasn't religious. Now in 2010 I did the program again, and here I'd have to say that it was almost not worth it. I applied for the advanced class, since there were only three levels available, but the proposed classes were _way_ too easy. It was the equivalent of about 4 or 5 years of college languages classes (if college language classes even go 5 years), and I wouldn't have learned much... if it weren't for the fact that I was in country and in a program which the host university was rather keen on sucking up to. Essentially, they gave a couple of us extra classes with a freer curriculum. So I don't know what your level is, but either way I think I would recommend the program overall. If only for the fact that its a full ride, and that you'll have some flexibility in your learning either way. That said I'd also try to contact alums from your specific program, since they would know best about the more important things like how the place is, how the facilities are, quality of the education, levels, etc. I seem to remember hearing that a CLS member died while on CLS somewhere in India last year... traffic accident. So yeah, definitely try to get in touch with the alums from the program you're interested in. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Shantaram Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5045 days ago 19 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Hindi, German | Message 3 of 3 22 October 2011 at 10:18am | IP Logged |
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Thank you for your input Leurre
1 person has voted this message useful |
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