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3 languages at uni?

How hard do you think it would be to do 3 languages at degree level, having studied only 1 of them at A-level? I'm doing my AS-levels at the moment, including French, and have no background in any other foreign language even at GCSE level. This is not my fault as I would have liked to have studied 2 or 3, but due to the school I go to, I could only do French. Originally I wanted to do straight French at uni because I didn't know you could learn a language from scratch; then, when I found out you could, I decided on joint French/Spanish. However, I've just found at least 3 unis (Durham, Sheffield and Hull) that will let you do 3 languages even if you've only got an A-level in one of them, and it sounds like the perfect course for me. In the first year, I'd continue with French and pick up Spanish, and then in the second year, I'd continue with French and Spanish and pick up Italian. 2 languages in the first year and 3 from the second year onwards. I don't care about not being able to do as many options because my main interest is in learning the languages rather than the culture, society etc of the countries. It's my dream to be fluent in French, Spanish and Italian and I really want to do it, but I'm just worried it would be too hard. I suppose it would help that they're all so similar and since I'll only be doing French and Spanish in my first year anyway, it would probably be quite easy to switch to joint French/Spanish if, after experiencing first-hand what it's like to learn a language from scratch, I decided I wouldn't be able to cope with 3. I want to be a teacher and I don't think it would matter exactly what type of degree I did, although I will check that out, and it would also give me more chance of getting a languages-related job if I change my mind. Any opinions?

Reply 1

Dr. Blazed

Spanish and Italian are incredibly similar. You'll have no problems at all, especially if you start learning now.

Reply 2

kellywood_5

Dr. Blazed

Spanish and Italian are incredibly similar. You'll have no problems at all, especially if you start learning now.

I was thinking of getting one of those teach-yourself books for each language to help me learn the basics and just going though them in my spare time to give myself a bit of a head start and show admissions tutors how keen I am.

Reply 3

alro

also if you want to be a teacher its good to have a range of languages. at my school at least we have modern languages teachers and those who can only do one are at a disadvantage compared to the others. but then it is a language college.

Reply 4

PittGirl06

wow...your interests (except for the teaching part) sounds a lot like mine! I am very interested in learning all three languages you mentioned and maybe more..but definitely those three! I personally think that French is the hardest of the three so if you are doing well in that, the other two shouldn't be a problem. Good luck and thanks for pointing out the schools that alow for three languages...I wonder how they handle grad school applicants? Anyways...ciao! adios! au revoir! BTW, my personal favorite of the three is Italian....its fun :wink:

Reply 5

PittGirl06

I would also suggest getting Bescherelle's books on Italian verbs, Spanish verbs/grammar and if you don't already have it, the books on French grammar/verbs/orthography. Highly reccomended.

Reply 6

kellywood_5

PittGirl06

I would also suggest getting Bescherelle's books on Italian verbs, Spanish verbs/grammar and if you don't already have it, the books on French grammar/verbs/orthography. Highly reccomended.

Thanks

Reply 7

Aitch

Not sure about 3 Romance languages, including two from scratch. If you've got a guaranteed get-out from one of your take-up languages, then OK, try it.

The similarity of the languages seems like a bonus, but can be a curse if you're learning 2 new languages in consecutive years. You need to have the basics of language 2 firmly stuck in place before you start language 3.

It's definitely not a good idea to start on even the basics of language 3 before you're fairly confident in language 2.

Aitch

B.A., M-ès-L, Dip.Ed. Authority!

Reply 8

PittGirl06

No prob and if you want to maybe spend short periods of time abroad to sort of whet your pallet a bit....I would suggest this site: http://www.languagesabroad.co.uk/

They have courses in France, Spain, Italy, Latin America....from 2 weeks to a year in duration. These are designed for the very independent minded....not much coddling with this type of program...but it is intensive language and they JUST focus on the language (which is what I like) I have not been on one of their programs but I considering doing a Christmas French course next year because I dont want to be home..would rather be in Paris. Anyay, you could also look into similar programs for the summer just so you get a feel for the languages that you are not familiar with. Nothing beats being int he country and you will definitely help you. I am currently spending the year in France...I started French ab initio upon arrival :smile:

. When I go back to the US, I am going to begin Intermediate Italian and continue with French.

Reply 9

WhatFreshHell?

spanish, french and italian are all latin languages, so they're going to have strong similarities, unlike, say, french, german and russian (although I've never studied spanish nor italian) which will mean it wont be such a struggle.

I suppose it must be down to personal taste, whether doing 3 langs is viable or not. Personally, it's the Germanic and Francophonic culture and literature that I really want to study; fluency is just an added advantage. I wouldnt be able to concentrate on that part so heavily if I had never studied them before.

Another thing to think about, if it is the fluency aspect that interests you:
Lots of people who speak many langauges speak the usual suspects (english, french, german, spanish, italian, and to a lesser extent portuguese), hence the market for translators and jobs which require 3-4 langauges is relatively saturated with those who speak these langauges. However, if you were to add a less widely spoken language to your resume, say, Polish istead of Itlaian, or even Romanian (which is also, I believe, a latin language) then your skills would be in much higher demand, and your earning potential would rocket (theoretically at least). A good idea would be a langauge which would be more necessary; Arabic, or a language of the countries who recently joined the EU or turkish, for example

Reply 10

Sorani

I've been told that due to the way the business world is running that Chinese will be a language in high-demand, businesses are moving out there and it has growing economic power. I imagine it'll take over the USA as the power of the world.

Reply 11

kellywood_5

I want to be a teacher, so learning a more unusual language wouldn't really benefit me as you don't see many schools offering Arabic, Chinese, Portugese, Russian etc. I also have no interest in those languages.

Reply 12

gringalet

kellywood_5

...although who's to say if you did study an 'unusual' language alongside a more commonly taught one, you wouldn't be able to introduce it into the school you were working at?

Edit: I mean, even Italian isn't very widely offered, nor is Portuguese, but if you think you'd like Spanish, then you should enjoy these two too. Add Romanian and you're really getting on with the Romance languages :wink:

Reply 13

PittGirl06

I am orking on my BA in Linguistics and it is required to take a non-Romance/Greek/Germanic/Balto-Slavic language so that leaves out everything from Catalan to Russian! I only have to take one term of it, but I am looking forward to the challenge. I wish they would just make the requirement a "less commonly taught language" in general because I would LOVE to do Romanian or Catalan. I will settle for Hungarian though :smile:

Reply 14

PittGirl06

OH, I should also said that I do think that the way that these programs are set up for the three languages, that it may get a little bit difficult once you get to the third one. I would advise starting ahead on the ones you do not know very well and definitely take advantage of going abroad...if not during the year...during the summer.

Reply 15

kellywood_5

Update: today I went out and bought myself 'teach yourself' books in Spanish and Italian. I'm going to go through them to teach myself the basics (maybe up to GCSE level) and talk to my French teacher about it (who has done all 3 of these languages). If that goes well, I'll apply for the 3-language courses at Durham, Hull and Sheffield, and for my other 3 choices, I'll apply for French/Spanish. Then I'll just wait and see who gives me an offer! If I end up accepting an offer for French/Spanish, I could always keep up with my Italian in the self-access centre or do an evening class. :biggrin:

Thanks for all your help, guys!

Reply 16

WhatFreshHell?

Aren't you pushing it if you want to learn the language up to GCSE BEFORE you apply?

Or have I misunderstood? Or are you younger i.e. not applyign thisyear?

Reply 17

gringalet

Pushing it? Ahh, I forget – you didn't do GCSEs... :biggrin:

I made up higher-than-GCSE-level German in a month; it's quite shocking how low the standards are!

I think kellywood_5 is applying next year to uni, so she has plenty of time.