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1 languages or 2?

I have just started uni studying German and translation studies and beginners Italian. We have only had lectures for a week but I am really finding it hard to get into learning Italian as it is my beginners language. Is it a good idea to change to just German? Im worried that just having one language will be a problem in the future.

Reply 1

5845forest

Hi there. I completely understand your problem. I study French and Japanese at uni and am currently on my year abroad in Kyoto. Japanese has definitely been a challenge and there are many times where I thought about dropping it, as it would make my life much less stressful :P

Because of that, I want to offer you this advice- it's only been the first week, and you need to give it more time. Perhaps you're finding it difficult to get into as you can't fully express yourself in Italian yet? It's sometimes boring and tedious, but once you get past the basics and can begin to communicate practically in Italian (which will happen very quickly due to the intensive nature of the course) you will grow to love it :smile:

Really consider why you have chosen to study Italian. What attracted you to it? It could be the culture or the sound of the language etc. Yes in a lot of careers involving languages, having more than one language is advantageous, but there is no point continuing something if you don't have the right motivation, especially at university.

See how you get on with Italian in this semester, and if you still have no motivation to study it, then perhaps consider dropping it. At the end of the day language graduates are still in short supply, and even being able to offer just German will be good, and you have to study something you enjoy in order to thrive at university. If not, it becomes a chore and you grow to hate it.

Hope this helps :smile:

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