Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Not to sound like i'm dissing foreign languages at uni but... (please continue)

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Reply 20

leannemarie

paddylad

At least I'd be able to use the skills earned in a languages degree to order a beer on holiday.

My plan exactly, though perhaps not beer!

Reply 21

paddy

leannemarie

My plan exactly, though perhaps not beer!

Beer, wine, champage, we can order whatever we want in Spain/France :wink:

I do have a strong urge to start learning Italian now though, I might have to go there in the holidays :smile:

Reply 22

Gravastar

Gammon

Ye well in all honesty I can't really see the point in that either.
For some subjects I just cannot understand why people will pay the stupid amounts of money to learn something when you could aquire the same level of skill without paying.

I'm just very frightened of the debts I could get myself into. My parents are refusing to contribute to anything university related (complicated reasons) - this includes tuition, accommodation and everything. And I don't think I will be entitled to any sort of grants because my dad probably earns enough to contribute if he wanted to. (I wont be getting EMA).

My dad has been telling me stories of how a 3/4 year course could account for debts of £20000+ (!!!)

Now wouldn't you be worried and very course selective if you had to pay a debt that big?? And if you could practically achieve the same level of skill without paying such prices, wouln't you want to choose this option?

Well, you appear to have bested us all. What a loss to the field you will be :rolleyes:

You've got the wrong idea of what a language course is. You seem to be confusing it slightly with GCSE French. At a university, the language(s) you learn is the tool you use to study the culture/politics/economics/whatever interests you at a far deeper level. In that sense, it can be approached as a combined course of History, Economics, Politics, Anthropology, Sociology, Literature, and yes, Language.

It's a very English attitude to think that you can go through life without learning another language, because every other country will just bow to your own. It's only slightly less of an English attitude to assume that learning a country's language instantly gives you a deep and intimate understanding of that country's ways and culture.