[Nooshkabob]

Hi, i love languages but unfortunately couldn't study one at A level. However, I'd love to take one up when i'm at university for fun
I'm having difficulty choosing which one to go for though... The ones i'm considering are:
Spanish (I did it at GCSE, useful for travelling)
Latin (Also did for GCSE)
Mandarin (i go to chinese club, although i haven't learnt much, but potentially useful)
Hebrew (i've heard the grammar isn't that hard, and I'm interested in doing a PG diploma in theology, so could be useful!)
Classical Greek (again, useful for theology)
Russian (becoming more relevant in society today, and sounds interesting!)
Or anything else tbh, i'm not fussy...

Anyone know the relative difficulties of learning any of these languages, suggestions on which would be better for me to choose, and whether it's viable to do in my spare time on top of a university degree? thanks!

[superwolf]

I'd say out of those the most obvious choice would be Spanish - most people would consider it to be the easiest, and therefore probably better for studying part-time out of your degree (which you presumably don't know yet how time-consuming and difficult it will be). It's also easy to find classes and people to practise with (at my uni they offer classes open to the public, and there's also an exchange scheme where you can arrange to meet up with foreign students - you help with their English, and they help with your Spanish/whatever). Also since you've studied it a little before you presumably know that you enjoy it.

Having said that, if there's another language you're especially interested in it might be worth pursuing that, even though it would likely be harder. I study Russian at uni, which is definitely a challenge, but I really enjoy it and I'm glad that I chose it.

Something you could look into at your uni is whether you can take language classes for credit - on my course (Russian studies at Manchester) I can take 20 out of 120 credits in any open-access (not restricted just to people on the actual relevant course) subject, which includes the foreign language classes I mention above. They've got a whole range of languages which you can do at various levels, so if you stick at it you can progress quite well over the course of your degree.

[Nooshkabob]

Thanks for your reply, and i'll look into the details of the courses i'm looking at to check flexibility

[Cultureyard]

I studied Chinese at uni and it was a good language course but i found it quite hard with the work load and a lot of my friends found the same thing. I'm now in Beijing studying an intensive Chinese course and im finding it way more interesting and relevant being immersed in the Chinese culture. I think if your picking up a language the best thing is to study abroad.
Irena