Modern Language Applicants for 2016-2017

What Language(s) are you planning on studying? and why? ^.^

French and Spanish... Also interested in picking up another language. I've seen that there's an optional module in first year called Scandinavian Languages which sounds pretty cool.

I do Gaelic and I really want to study another language as well, but not sure which one yet. I already speak the Scandinavian langauges and not sure which other interesting ones UoE offers. Not too keen on any of the big three (German/French/Spanish)

My degree was originally French and Spanish and I did 2 years of that. I also did Japanese alongside them in my first 2 years and switched my degree to that at the end of 2nd year and I'm now on my year abroad in Tokyo!



My friend did Gaelic at Edinburgh in 1st and 2nd year.

There are quite a few languages you can do: Scandinavian ones, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese Mandarin, Korean (starting officially next September), Russian, Arabic, Persian and Turkish.

I think those are all the languages offered at Edinburgh as official credit modules unless I've missed some. You can probably take other languages I've not mentioned as open courses/foundation if there are other languages not offered as credit modules, but I have no idea.

I've applied for German and Italian. And I really want to sign up for another language, perhaps Japanese.

I can vouch for Japanese! The department's really good! However, since the regular Japanese language courses are really intensive, they hugely recommend students not doing Japanese as their degree to do Foundation Japanese as opposed to Japanese 1 in the first year.

This is how it works:

Foundation Japanese 1 (1 semester course)
Foundation Japanese 2 (1 semester course)
Foundation Japanese 3 (1 semester course)
Japanese 1 (full year course / 2 semester course)
Japanese 2 (full year course / 2 semester course)
Intermediate Japanese (full year course / 2 semester course)

Students doing their degree as Japanese who have little or no prior knowledge of Japanese must take Japanese 1 in first year and it's a very intensive course. Those who already have a good knowledge of Japanese in first year take Japanese 2 in first year and then Intermediate Japanese in second year.

For non-degree students, it's highly recommended you take Foundation Japanese. It's not as intensive and it usually helps students who just want to try it first and maybe continue on to do Japanese 1 in the next year. The credits are easier to get as well since it's not as intensive which can be a good thing if you want to learn Japanese but don't want to sacrifice your main degree.

If you're really, really wanting to do Japanese 1 from the very get-go, are not a beginner in your first 2 languages, think you can cope with the workload and stress, then you can ask about it, but keep in mind that you might have to be very insistent for a place on Japanese 1. Also, it'll be tougher to get credits/better marks if you're not thinking of changing your degree.

I can vouch for Japanese! The department's really good! However, since the regular Japanese language courses are really intensive, they hugely recommend students not doing Japanese as their degree to do Foundation Japanese as opposed to Japanese 1 in the first year.

This is how it works:

Foundation Japanese 1 (1 semester course)
Foundation Japanese 2 (1 semester course)
Foundation Japanese 3 (1 semester course)
Japanese 1 (full year course / 2 semester course)
Japanese 2 (full year course / 2 semester course)
Intermediate Japanese (full year course / 2 semester course)

Students doing their degree as Japanese who have little or no prior knowledge of Japanese must take Japanese 1 in first year and it's a very intensive course. Those who already have a good knowledge of Japanese in first year take Japanese 2 in first year and then Intermediate Japanese in second year.

For non-degree students, it's highly recommended you take Foundation Japanese. It's not as intensive and it usually helps students who just want to try it first and maybe continue on to do Japanese 1 in the next year. The credits are easier to get as well since it's not as intensive which can be a good thing if you want to learn Japanese but don't want to sacrifice your main degree.

If you're really, really wanting to do Japanese 1 from the very get-go, are not a beginner in your first 2 languages, think you can cope with the workload and stress, then you can ask about it, but keep in mind that you might have to be very insistent for a place on Japanese 1. Also, it'll be tougher to get credits/better marks if you're not thinking of changing your degree.

Well, I'd love to do Foundation Japanese but I don't know if that's possible. The uni website states that I can't take a modern language course at level 7. I don't know if I understand that correctly but I assumed that I can't take Foundation Japanese but I can take Japanese 1.

I really love Japan and the culture, though - and I really want to learn the language. Is it really that hard, considering I would be studying German at advanced level, Italian at beginner's level (I know Italian a little bit, but I've just started with it) and Japanese? And I would definitely need a part-time job since the UK is so much more expensive than the Czech Republic (yea, I'm an international student). Is that possible to handle or am I just going to figure out it can't be done? Thanks!

I got a warning before I started that Gaelic 1A would be too intense for me, but I decided to do it anyway, and I'm having no problem keeping up. It really depends on how interested you are, how much you are willing to study at home and how good you are at learning languages in general. I think it's possible if the will is there, even with a part-time job.

Thank you! That's great news, since I really want to learn another language.

Just keep in mind that the staff won't easily allow you to do 2 beginner languages at intensive level + Japanese department can be strict with allowing other students to do Japanese 1 with no prior knowledge whatsoever as it's very intensive.

If you want to have a stronger case, I'd urge you to learn some Japanese during summer: learn the 2 alphabets called Hiragana and Katakana, and start going through some lessons of the first semester textbook known as Genki 1.

And, maybe learn some more of your other beginner language - Italian, right?

Good luck! You'll have a blast and your language skills will drastically improve if you put in the time and effort at university.

I was planning on German and possibly Russian, but I just saw in this thread that they're introducing Korean?! Is this true?

As far as I know, yes.

I see, thanks! Also, does Edinburgh do the similar "3 subjects for the first two years" thing that St.Andrews does? It sounds ideal to me!