Experience in an Ab Initio

Sorry for all these silly language threads I'm making :redface:

... just checking out a few things :smile:

.

I was just checking out a London university prospectus for a degree in either Portuguese or French & Portuguese. In both courses, the Portuguese element would be taken ab initio. I've developed a reasonable interest in Portugese, and would seriously consider studying it as a whole or part of my degree.

The prospectus states :
'Previous knowledge of Portuguese is not necessary but we look for an indication of linguistic ability, a keen interest in the Lusophone world and a love of reading'.
I can see how to prove I'm a strong linguist, and I naturally love reading, so would read a few Portuguese books (in translation). However, how can I prove I have an intereste in the Lusophone (Portugese speaking) world short of going there, which isn't really a feasible option. Other than reading Portugese literature, and possibly learning a bit of Portuguese in my spare time, I'm short of ideas. I suppose I could extend this question to any language really... :s:

Plus, is it advised to start looking at the basics of Portuguese (or other languages) as soon as possible?

Any advice/help would be much appreciated. :smile:

Reply 1

Lady_Muck

Not much to add other than I'm looking to start learning either Italian or Spanish ab initio (although Spanish I did successfully to AS level, so more of advancing my skills rather than starting from afresh) alongside my History of Art degree.
I'm going to the British Institute, Florence next summer to do an Italian course, so hopefully that'll show my enthusiasm for it. Not much else I CAN do to be honest!

I'd imagine you're doing much more than the average applicant. So, defs give it a go and see what they throw back. Good luck :smile:

Reply 2

Mr. Jim

read some history on portugal/brazil n stuff.

actually, (this is going to sound really thick) it's funny how portuguese is kinda spanish but not. i know catalan is kinda spanish but not but that's had france affecting it and stuff. meh, but that's the kind of thing i'd read into, how the lang developed etc, tho you might be more interested in how the literature's developed :smile:

Reply 3

kellywood_5

I would have thought reading some literature in translation and trying to find out a bit about current affairs in the country, as well as learning the basics, would be ample for showing an interest. That's pretty much what I did for Spanish.

Reply 4

Gael

read some books by Jorge Amado, he's a great author.

Reply 5

paddy

http://fsi-language-courses.com/PortugueseProg.aspx
:smile:

Reply 6

IzzyWizzy

Well, if you're really interested I'm sure you will already have learned a lot about the 'Mundo Luso' anyway. I started Hispanic Studies ab initio but had already read a lot about the political and linguistic situations in Latin America for example. I wanted to learn Spanish after witnessing a conversation between bilingual Puerto Ricans in New York, I was fascinated with their ability to belong to 2 cultures and so on; I mentioned this at interview and the guy was really interested. You just need to show you're really passionate about it. I actually learned loads of Spanish by myself by teaching myself a GCSE course from books, listening to music and watching films. I read a few books by Garcia Marquez. You obviously don't need to go abroad, or read all the Portuguese classics; the best thing to do would be teaching yourself the basics and researching the culture and politics of Portugal, Brazil etc. If you have Sky Digital there is a Brazilian channel called Record TV that I watch sometimes as I'm now learning Portuguese, it's a good way to get familiar with the sounds of the language and see what kind of stuff they watch and so on.

Reply 7

tbtommyb

You could try emailing some of the university departments and asking what they'd like you to do. The Oxford tutor told me that they don't like people learning any Russian for ab initio, because they have a carefully prepared course, so maybe they'd prefer you to not start the language by yourself.

Reply 8

username30638

brimstone

Plus, is it advised to start looking at the basics of Portuguese (or other languages) as soon as possible?

No, I don't think that's necessary at all. Ab initio courses are for people with little or no knowledge of the language in question, so they will start teaching you right from the beginning.

I started Spanish in October 2005 with absolutely no knowledge of the language whatsoever (I didn't know a single word) and now my language is post-A Level standard. So you don't need to worry.

The only thing I'd say though is that ab initio courses are very intensive. You're expected to learn a hell of a lot in a very short space of time. So you need to be prepared to do a lot of extra reading in your own time. I'm sure you'd cope with that easily though. :cool: