[tomenthedon]

Languages such as French, Italian, Spanish and German to one side, how do universities view languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Arabic and so on??? They are considered 'Modern Foreign Languages' but how much are they worth...especially in the eyes of the top unis.

Thanks

[hobnob]

Originally Posted by tomen123

Languages such as French, Italian, Spanish and German to one side, how do universities view languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Arabic and so on??? They are considered 'Modern Foreign Languages' but how much are they worth...especially in the eyes of the top unis.

Thanks

Well, depending on the subject you're applying for, having previous knowledge in those languages might be helpful (provided you're not a native speaker, obviously), but I don't think universities would view them as any different from the more commonly studied languages.

[Happiness]

Well when I was applying (I applied in some unis for French & Spanish and some for Japanese) most unis had separate departments/web pages for the languages you mentioned to the European languages (+Russian...).

So I'd say they do treat them slightly differently. However, I think by most unis who do them they are treated with equal respect etc as the languages which usually fall under MFL. It was my impression when I was applying that for the most part the oriental/middle eastern language departments were newer, and perhaps hadn't had quite enough time to develop as the MFL languages. If you apply to a uni who takes them seriously though, you'll find the teaching will be just as good if not better than that of MFL, partly because class sizes for these languages are generally smaller and the courses tend to be more intensive because they're considered more difficult.

I'm not sure about Greek or Arabic, but if you're looking for Chinese/Japanese courses then you might consider looking at Sheffield, Leeds, SOAS, and perhaps Cardiff (for japanese) and Newcastle. I'm sure there are others, but those were the ones I looked at. I was particularly impressed with Sheffield and SOAS.

[dismal_laundry]

Agreed. Good post.

[Anatheme]

About Arabic and Hebrew, Persian, etc (Oriental/Middle Eastern Languages/Studies), you should look at Oxbridge, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Manchester, Durham, Leeds, Exeter, Birmingham, Westminster and obviously SOAS !