The Student Room Group

which language course should I take at uni

the uni that I have firmed offers the opportunity to take a language course on top of your chosen degree course. im stuck between three languages.

1. mandarin. I am taking finance at uni and it is the largest language in the world (when counting native speakers), I am interested in learning the history + culture of china as well as countries that speak mandarin. it is completely new language for me and the thought of learning it excites me

2. French. I have taken French since year 7. I love the language and is the language after English I can speak best. it is also used a lot in business/finance.

3. arabic. I attended arabic Saturday school throughout the whole of secondary school. I know the alphabet and can read it fluently but cant understand it lol except for a few words. I am muslim so learning it may also help me in reading the Quran as well.

im not sure which one to take as they are all great languages and am interested in alll three lol. from an outsiders view which would you recommend.

at the end of the day I will obviously choose what I want but I would just like some opinions please
Reply 1
i think there may be a difference between what you find the most interesting to study and which option lets you learn a language well enough to be of value in business.
Reply 2
If you can only take one module (or at most one module each year), then you won't necessarily learn enough for it to be useful in finance, so it might be better to pick based on personal interest. If it were me I'd pick Mandarin, since French is very easy to study without a teacher, and it sounds like you have more access to Arabic in your life than Mandarin. I always struggle to pick languages to study for lessons, but I usually just go for whichever would be hardest to study alone, since then you'll get the most out of it :smile:
what is the purpose of the teaching is it to teach you the language to some some basic or level or literally just for fun as an elective
Learn Mandarin first. Take the rest later.
Reply 5
thank you for all the responses! most common response seems to be mandarin

Original post by yeetouttawindow
what is the purpose of the teaching is it to teach you the language to some some basic or level or literally just for fun as an elective

learning the language to some basic level and there will also be assessments on it

Original post by ajj2000
i think there may be a difference between what you find the most interesting to study and which option lets you learn a language well enough to be of value in business.


so which do you suggest?
Reply 6
Original post by Anonymous

so which do you suggest?

French - will some ongoing work at your university you should get to a decent level and be able to enjoy doing fun things in the language. Even better if you can spend a year abroad.
Mandarin all the way; China is one of the largest economies in the world and since there are so less people that can speak both English and Mandarin...it makes sense. Also learning Mandarin exposes you to Chinese and Asian culture in general which should widen your horizons.
Original post by Anonymous
thank you for all the responses! most common response seems to be mandarin


learning the language to some basic level and there will also be assessments on it



so which do you suggest?

if time is limited probably best to pick the one youd learn the most in that time

'It takes a learner with average aptitude only 15 weeks to reach level 2 for Spanish or French, but about 50 weeks to reach a similar level of the Chinese language. If you want to be fully fluent in Mandarin, you'd better plan to spend about 230 weeks, which is about 4 years.'
Original post by Anonymous
the uni that I have firmed offers the opportunity to take a language course on top of your chosen degree course. im stuck between three languages.

1. mandarin. I am taking finance at uni and it is the largest language in the world (when counting native speakers), I am interested in learning the history + culture of china as well as countries that speak mandarin. it is completely new language for me and the thought of learning it excites me

2. French. I have taken French since year 7. I love the language and is the language after English I can speak best. it is also used a lot in business/finance.

3. arabic. I attended arabic Saturday school throughout the whole of secondary school. I know the alphabet and can read it fluently but cant understand it lol except for a few words. I am muslim so learning it may also help me in reading the Quran as well.

im not sure which one to take as they are all great languages and am interested in alll three lol. from an outsiders view which would you recommend.

at the end of the day I will obviously choose what I want but I would just like some opinions please

Hey Anon.,

During my Marketing degree I had the opportunity to take an elective of a language and I chose Mandarin. It was very fascinating to me as like you I wanted to learn the history and culture of China. It was not an easy language to study so I started from Passport Level 1 which is if you know absolutely nothing (me), but it was well worth it. I went travelling during my summer of first year and knowing the basics plus some sentences helped me greatly! I also think Mandarin would benefit you with the course you are doing since Mandarin is the largest spoken language in the world. I think the other languages you want to learn could greatly benefit to you so it may be worth speaking to current students of the university (perhaps at an open day or something) to hear about their experiences or maybe speak to someone who is working in the industry you hope to work in to see if there is a benefit of a particular language. Best of luck,

Megan
University of Hull Student Rep
(edited 2 years ago)
Mandarin is very very difficult and i wouldn’t advise doing it for the first time in uni. Youre expected to already know some of it. you already know a bit of french and arabic so i would pick one of those two.
Reply 11
Original post by Anonymous
Mandarin is very very difficult and i wouldn’t advise doing it for the first time in uni. Youre expected to already know some of it. you already know a bit of french and arabic so i would pick one of those two.

I agree it's very difficult but why are you assuming OP's university expects them to know some of it already?

Usually beginner language courses assumes you don't have any prior knowledge of the language.
Original post by tsr_leo
I agree it's very difficult but why are you assuming OP's university expects them to know some of it already?

Usually beginner language courses assumes you don't have any prior knowledge of the language.

I took a module of mandarin at uni and unfortunately while they did not have any requirement to know the language beforehand, I was part of the minority that hadn't done it to GCSE or travelled in China to learn it or some other thing. This was a huge surprise to me and I found it incredibly difficult to dedicate enough time to it.

OP, does your uni have multiple levels of Mandarin course? I took the course for those doing it as their main degree. I had a friend who took the slightly easier course that existed and they found it much better than I did. Possibly something else to consider.

My main advice is that while it's definitely a good language to learn, don't underestimate how much time it will take and do be sure to consider what impact that could have on your grades in the main module's of your degree.
Reply 13
Original post by Anonymous
the uni that I have firmed offers the opportunity to take a language course on top of your chosen degree course. im stuck between three languages.

1. mandarin. I am taking finance at uni and it is the largest language in the world (when counting native speakers), I am interested in learning the history + culture of china as well as countries that speak mandarin. it is completely new language for me and the thought of learning it excites me

2. French. I have taken French since year 7. I love the language and is the language after English I can speak best. it is also used a lot in business/finance.

3. arabic. I attended arabic Saturday school throughout the whole of secondary school. I know the alphabet and can read it fluently but cant understand it lol except for a few words. I am muslim so learning it may also help me in reading the Quran as well.

im not sure which one to take as they are all great languages and am interested in alll three lol. from an outsiders view which would you recommend.

at the end of the day I will obviously choose what I want but I would just like some opinions please


Which Uni have you firmed?
Original post by Anonymous
the uni that I have firmed offers the opportunity to take a language course on top of your chosen degree course. im stuck between three languages.

1. mandarin. I am taking finance at uni and it is the largest language in the world (when counting native speakers), I am interested in learning the history + culture of china as well as countries that speak mandarin. it is completely new language for me and the thought of learning it excites me

2. French. I have taken French since year 7. I love the language and is the language after English I can speak best. it is also used a lot in business/finance.

3. arabic. I attended arabic Saturday school throughout the whole of secondary school. I know the alphabet and can read it fluently but cant understand it lol except for a few words. I am muslim so learning it may also help me in reading the Quran as well.

im not sure which one to take as they are all great languages and am interested in alll three lol. from an outsiders view which would you recommend.

at the end of the day I will obviously choose what I want but I would just like some opinions please

Hi Anonymous

As a Chinese Studies student, I thought I would stick my penny's worth in. I am 99.9% certain you will not be expected to have any prior knowledge of Mandarin, so don't worry about that. My other thought is that (unless the course is purely oral) you will be effectively learning two languages , written and spoken ( there is no alphabet in Chinese, so even when things sound the same they may be written completely differently (for example - I, my, me and - maid), so the level you will reach after a term of study will be lower than if you were studying another language.

Having said that learning Chinese is rewarding, satisfying and sometimes very annoying (such as when you have written out the same character 20 or more times and you still cannot remember it!). I love the Chinese cultural studies which is half of my degree course and would happily do that all day long rather than struggling with the language!

Anyway good luck with whichever you choose!

Chris
University of Hull Student Rep
Original post by Anonymous
Mandarin all the way; China is one of the largest economies in the world and since there are so less people that can speak both English and Mandarin...it makes sense. Also learning Mandarin exposes you to Chinese and Asian culture in general which should widen your horizons.


Mandarin is difficult to learn, maybe around 3-4 years to become fluent. However it is a great language and certainly worth it.

Quick Reply

Latest