What should I study at uni?

Hey guys,

I'm in a bit of a pickle and need some advice. I have just begun my A2 level courses (French, Spanish, English Lit and Latin) and I am planning on going to uni in September 07. I need to begin to make some definite choices about what Modern Languages degree I'm going to take (I'm supposed to be writing my personal statement).

I am 100% certain that I want to take French (I absolutely love it!) but I have three things which I'm unsure about:

1. Whether to take single honours (i.e just French)
2. Whether to take French and Spanish (I will have an A-level in both)
3. Whether to begin a new language (I am considering either Russian, Italian or Portuguese).

I would really appreciate hearing what other people think (and your reasons)...perhaps you could do a sort of poll about what I should take?!

Thanks in advance,

Winnie xxx :smile:

Reply 1

BovineBeast

Well, I'd personally prefer to do a new one, because then you widen your horizons. But have you considered a non-European language? Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, or maybe even an obscurer one.

Reply 2

paddy

14

Winnipeg

Hey guys,

I'm in a bit of a pickle and need some advice. I have just begun my A2 level courses (French, Spanish, English Lit and Latin) and I am planning on going to uni in September 07. I need to begin to make some definite choices about what Modern Languages degree I'm going to take (I'm supposed to be writing my personal statement).

I am 100% certain that I want to take French (I absolutely love it!) but I have three things which I'm unsure about:

1. Whether to take single honours (i.e just French)
2. Whether to take French and Spanish (I will have an A-level in both)
3. Whether to begin a new language (I am considering either Russian, Italian or Portuguese).

I would really appreciate hearing what other people think (and your reasons)...perhaps you could do a sort of poll about what I should take?!

Thanks in advance,

Winnie xxx :smile:

Do whatever you want to! I'd personally go with a new language, but that's only because French and Spanish seems to be the most applied for language course. To be fair though I am biased as I'm going for Spanish and Russian :smile:

I have to write a personal statement too, as if doing one last year wasn't enough of a pain :rolleyes:

Why don't you start learning a new language this summer to see what it's like? You could get a linguaphone course or something similar no problem, and it would show you what Russian/Italian/Portuguese is like for a start.
Oh and you're crazy for choosing Latin, far too much work!

Reply 3

Winnipeg

OP

BovineBeast

Well, I'd personally prefer to do a new one, because then you widen your horizons. But have you considered a non-European language? Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, or maybe even an obscurer one.

That's exactly what I was thinking actually (that doing a new language would widen my horizons) but I was unsure about the level of difficulty, especially if I were to begin a new language like Russian or an Asian language because of the different alphabet...

Reply 4

Winnipeg

OP

paddylad

Do whatever you want to! I'd personally go with a new language, but that's only because French and Spanish seems to be the most applied for language course. To be fair though I am biased as I'm going for Spanish and Russian :smile:

I have to write a personal statement too, as if doing one last year wasn't enough of a pain :rolleyes:

Why don't you start learning a new language this summer to see what it's like? You could get a linguaphone course or something similar no problem, and it would show you what Russian/Italian/Portuguese is like for a start.
Oh and you're crazy for choosing Latin, far too much work!

paddylad, are you starting uni this October? If so, where are you going? (out of interest). Thanks for your advice but I am slightly offended....I'm not crazy to do Latin, thank you very much!!!! It's really interesting and it helps loads with learning Modern Romance Languages. So there :p:

lol

Reply 5

paddy

14

wesetters

That's not very constructive...if I'd had the option, I would have taken Latin, and possibly got decent grades at A level, as opposed to the forthcoming disaster.

If you had read my signature then you would know I was joking :wink:

winnipeg

paddylad, are you starting uni this October? If so, where are you going? (out of interest). Thanks for your advice but I am slightly offended....I'm not crazy to do Latin, thank you very much!!!! It's really interesting and it helps loads with learning Modern Romance Languages. So there lol

I'm gapping it this year, so will be going to uni at same time as you!
And I know about Latin, I just finished my A Levels, one of them being Latin! Interesting and useful for Modern Languages is all well and good until you realise it's pure evile :frown:

Ok, maybe not evile, but definitely too much work! Also Cicero must die*!!

*again, although I am quite fond of his first death :wink:

Reply 6

BovineBeast

Winnipeg

That's exactly what I was thinking actually (that doing a new language would widen my horizons) but I was unsure about the level of difficulty, especially if I were to begin a new language like Russian or an Asian language because of the different alphabet...

Don't worry, the new alphabet is usually the least of your worries (unless you're doing Chinese, in which case it's a fairly big thing). You can pick up a new alphabet (in my experience from learning alone) within a few weeks, albeit with limited fluency. After that it's all just practice. The easiest alphabet to pick up is probably Russian or Greek, which functions basically like the Latin alphabet. The hardest writing system (as I mentioned above) is probably Chinese, which functions absolutely nothing like it.

Your big problem is the grammar. Now, Chinese grammar (from what I've read) is fairly pleasant - there's no inflections, an English-like word order, etc. etc. Russian grammar is, well, horribly complex (6 cases, 3 genders, complicated conjugation rules, etc.). If you were to take something like Japanese, the grammar is...alien, is probably the best word for it. It's very different, although, I've heard, fairly easy once you get the hang of it. I can't say I know much about Arabic or the Indic languages (which I really should, since I'm studying one).

Reply 7

BovineBeast

paddylad

I'm gapping it this year, so will be going to uni at same time as you!
And I know about Latin, I just finished my A Levels, one of them being Latin! Interesting and useful for Modern Languages is all well and good until you realise it's pure evile :frown:

By the way, it ceases to be particularly useful when doing a non-European language.

Reply 8

paddy

14

BovineBeast

By the way, it ceases to be particularly useful when doing a non-European language.

Never said it didn't, although it does prepare you for a case system (something languages like French and Spanish don't have).

Reply 9

Winnipeg

OP

Well I'm definitely keen on the idea of learning Russian (at the moment...!) so I've taken a book out of my college library and I taught myself about half of the alphabet (in 45 minutes which I thought was pretty good!). I'm also planning on doing an evening course from September to get an ABC certificate to get a bit of a headstart before uni.

I'm going to look at Bristol uni tomorrow. Does anyone here go there/is going there? I'd appreciate any info about the language department...from what I've read it sounds really good :smile:

Reply 10

kellywood_5

17

I'd go for either French or Spanish or French and a new language, purely because 2 languages are better than one. Think about how much you're enjoying Spanish at A-level. If you've enjoyed it as much as French, consider just carrying on with that, but if you think you'd prefer exploring something a bit different, look at ab-initio languages. Italian and Portuguese would be pretty easy when you already know French and Spanish, whereas Russian would be more of a challenge, but that's not to say you couldn't do it if you really enjoyed it and put the effort in. The evening class is a good start and will look good on your personal statement as well as giving you an idea of how much you'd enjoy studying it. If you're still not sure, take a quick look at Italian and Portuguese as well to see if either of those appeals to you more. I'm not going to Bristol because I declined my offer, but I went to the open day and the languages department does look pretty good. From what I could gather, the courses are pretty traditional, ie lots of literature, but they seemed to have some good film and cinema options as well if you're into that.

Reply 11

Dom1989

1

I know i am only just starting A-levels in september but a language degree with something like business or law looks appealing. I dont know much though because i am not at that stage yet. You sound very talented at languages so it may be better to do purely them at degree.

Reply 12

Cunning Linguist

3

Learn Arabic.. it's just amazing! I started it kind of "for fun" but I'm just addicted now. Plus it'd be useful in this day and age, what with a lot of the news being focused in the Middle-East and stuff..

I did, however, have the advantage of knowing how to read it (seeing as I'm muslim: Qur'aan). Having said that, people who learn it don't actually find it that difficult. I have a German friend who learn it so quickly - I was amazed myself!

What should I study at uni?

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