Course content-what do you prefer?

Hey,

After looking at the different courses on offer I was shocked at Durham's courses: stuffed full of yucky history and literature, I can't understand how that can appeal to people! Obviously I like a lil bit of history, that's necessary, and I'd like to read some literature (cuz I'd feel clever :rolleyes:

) but I would DETEST the courses at Durham cuz they're chockablock full of yuckyness! Before I read the course content I thought it looked pretty good!

I expect most of you will disagree with me, cuz lots of you have applied to Durham, but (correct me if i'm wrong and if there are other alternatives there) why do you like all that stuff???

I love the look of the courses at Salford and BANGOR (woo) cuz they're so focused on learning the language - my main priority is to learn the languages as well as i can, so how come you lot aren't going for these courses too?

Not dissing anyone, just interested :biggrin:

Love me xxx

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Reply 1

cheesecakebobby

From gringalet:

Languages at university is more about learning the language to access the culture. If you purely want to learn communication skills (which won't be perfected without cultural knowledge, but oh well), do an evening course.

Reply 2

paddy

ange de la nuit

Love me xxx

Hmmm, I'm afraid nowadays most language degrees from reputable unis include this yuckiness. I mean my degree will probably only be about 25% language (am doing a major/minor joint degree with another subject) but I will still need to do this yuck that you speak of.
You see, to really understand a language, you must understand the people who speak it and the culture it is spoken in. For instance, most employers of interpreters/translators require this extra in-depth knowledge, as without context you can translate/interpret differently to the target language.
So basically, this yuck is a necessary part of your degree. Don't worry though, you'll grow to love it. Myself, I really didn't want to have anything to with Literature or History, but I find the history of my Language (Spanish) very interesting and I'm growing fond of it's literature as well. From what I can tell, your languages are likely to be chosen out of German, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, French and the Scandanavian Languages, most of which I know to be fantastically yucky (there are many great French authors, and Russia has had a very interesting and unique history among others).
Well I hope you find an appropriate solution, but I do suggest you come to terms with the said yuck. Read some foreign authors, even if it's only in translation, and research into the history into some of these places. Who knows, you might well fall in love with all the yuck.

Reply 3

Piggsil

ange de la nuit

Love me xxx

Yuck is good! How can you expect to really know a country if you know nothing about its history and culture? (and literature is a BIG part of a country's culture).
I love my course at Durham but that's because I love reading and history. One of the first year French modules, 'Reading French Literature' is actually a really good module for someone like you as it acts as an introduction to lots of types of literature. Thatnks to that module, I now love French poetry. :smile:

Reply 4

ange de la nuit

Ok, thanks. Speshly Paddy, the way you put it was very nice lol.

So does that mean courses that purely focus on the language learning are bad? :s-smilie:

*worries because she thought that sounded perfect*

How come literature is such a big part of our/my/... culture? I didn't notice it playing such a big part? Don't get me wrong, I think as I'm growing up I'm starting to like it, cuz I'm finding myself reading ahead and reading Wuthering Heights instead of watching Big Brother (which I'm usually addicted to). But. Hm..I didn't notice it being so important here so I don't understand why it is in understanding a culture?

History, yeah, I like it when things piece together but I'm put off by all the dates and basically have the general stereotypical view that it's boring. Which I guess is a huge shame, cus it goes well with languages.

I know I need to know this stuff, I guess I just didn't realise quite how much...but I still don't get why the other stuff is SO majorly important compared to the language - surely the point of doing a language degree is to learn the language and the other stuff should help you? Why then is it such a big part? (just asking, so that I understand)

Thanks for your help (please don't have a go at me :frown:

)

PS - don't get me wrong, I love reading, I read all the time...it's just not 'good' books :frown:

I like romantic comedies :frown:

Reply 5

kellywood_5

I have offers from Cambridge, Bristol, Exeter, Royal Holloway and Sheffield (and also applied to Durham but was rejected) for French and Spanish. All of those courses are a third languages and two-thirds literature, history, politics etc (or as you put it, yuck :p:

) I don't really mind because I do English lit, history and sociology A-levels as well as French, so it would pretty much be a continuation of sixth form study for me, but I agree with you that the language itself is the best part. Unfortunately, if you want a languages degree from a top 20 uni, you're pretty much stuck with the cultural side, but if you take 3 languages you'll have less time for them and sometimes you can also branch out into related languages, eg Portuguese and Catalan if you study Spanish. I know you don't want to do Spanish, but that was the only example I could think of! Have you considered linguistics?

Reply 6

ange de la nuit

thanks, was worried everyone was gunna have a go at me! to be honest i don't really know what linguistics is...?

Those places let you do 3 languages??? I didn't find that... :s-smilie:

Thanks!

Reply 7

gringalet

Literature helps shape the language. As does history: for example, the reason we're speaking the English we are now is because it has developed out of the dialect spoken around London, the political centre, and Oxford and Cambridge, the seat of learning at the time. Chaucer, practically the father of 'modern' (using this term as opposed to Old English/Anglo-Saxon lit, which was a very different culture, and indeed language) English literature wrote in this dialect. Printing developed in this area too; and so the dialect had to spread. I could go on: the connotations of certain words (Latin/French/Germanic words have differing statuses in English), idioms, words even invented in literature (Shakespeare made an invaluable contribution!), the spread of English around the globe...and this applies in any language.

That's why it's important to understand the literature and history of an area, in my opinion.

Addition: As an example in another language, I was talking to a Japanese girl the other day, and she said a large part of the reason why in Japanese when a man says 'you' to a woman, it is a different 'you' to which the woman would say to him, is because of literature, helping to shape the nation at the time (thinking 1800s), that standardised these forms. I happen to find this fascinating; why on earth would you only want to learn vocab and grammar?!

Reply 8

mrteacher

of course u have to read literature to be fluent in a languge. I mean what's the point to just learn how to speak it. That's like being able to walk but never jogging or doing pilates or yoga or kickboxing? hehe.
u have to like literature. as others have said, language is based on literature. for example, in greek, at some point in the mid 20th century people spoke one language and wrote in a quit different and stiff language. the fact that people wanted to write in the spoken language resulted into a change in both language and literature.... it just works this way. and history plays a part because it was the dictatorial regime who imposed the stiff written language.
u cant really avoid history and literature when studying a language (at least at degree level)... they are linked and they form the holy trinity for us linguists :biggrin:

so go pray for some guidance. lol
linguistics is the study of the language itself. where words come from, why we say stuff the way we say them, what do they mean, sentence, punctuation, structure etc :smile:

Reply 9

Richy Rich$$

Most of seem to forget that you can study literature in two differents ways. Literature is a record of language change, but studying it like this is more of a linguistics topic. At university the study of literature is not about showing dialects and latin roots of words, but about analysing themes, plots and characters, which holds little interest for me

Reply 10

Piggsil

ange de la nuit

thanks, was worried everyone was gunna have a go at me! to be honest i don't really know what linguistics is...?

Those places let you do 3 languages??? I didn't find that... :s-smilie:

Thanks!

I do 3 languages at Durham at the moment (although when I come back from my year abroad I'm going to drop back down to 2) so only do 2 lit modules - Medieval and 16th Century French Lit and Dante's Inferno and its Influence in Art, Literature and Film. Both modules are amazing, but I am enjoying learning Spanish from scratch too.
You'll find that at most unis, even if you learn a language ab initio, once you get past the basics they will expect you to do some literature, culture or politics, probably because it creates a more well-rounded graduate!

Reply 11

gringalet

mrteacher

for example, in greek, at some point in the mid 20th century people spoke one language and wrote in a quit different and stiff language. the fact that people wanted to write in the spoken language resulted into a change in both language and literature.... it just works this way. and history plays a part because it was the dictatorial regime who imposed the stiff written language.

More or less correct, katharevousa and dhimotiki.

Reply 12

gringalet

Richy Rich$$

Indeed, but studying literature in the latter way is probably meant to be a study of the intellectual interests of people writing in that language, in that country, at a particular time. I was just trying to explain how language itself is part and parcel of literature and history, sorry if I wasn't clear.

Reply 13

Xebby

Richy Rich$$

I'm currently doing French and German at Durham (1st year) and have found the range of options hugely useful. The 1st year French module "Language, Power and the Making of the French Nation" does cover language change whilst using literary texts, looking at both history, language and literature simultaneously.

Reply 14

eleri

ange de la nuit

to be honest i don't really know what linguistics is...?

Linguistics is basically the science of language; how we use it. Very roughly broken up into phonetics and phonology (the biology of how we produce sounds, the individual sounds that we use in each language, how they combine together, etc.), syntax (usually using tree diagrams to demonstrate accepted word order in a given language, based on the premise that there is an underlying word order for all languages, and certain movements occur to produce the "surface structure" - what people actually say) and things like Psycholinguistics and Sociolinguistics. In my opinion these in particular are really fascinating. Psycholinguistics deals with things like how humans have the ability to speak, language disorders, stuff like that, and Sociolinguistics is more about the way we use language - differences between how males and females use language, the status of different languages/dialects of languages relative to each other, how we adapt the way we speak depending on who we are talking to, and so on.

Obviously there's far, far more to it than that, but hopefully that gives you an idea. I think it's really worth looking into - I was forced to do it when I started Uni, and didn't like it at first, but eventually it became one of my favourite parts of my course.

Reply 15

Cunning Linguist

yay! can't wait to start it at uni!

Reply 16

mrteacher

gringalet

More or less correct, katharevousa and dhimotiki.

thats it. my god u know it on your first year? thats good. i hate katharevousa. sounds horrible

Reply 17

gringalet

mrteacher

thats it. my god u know it on your first year? thats good. i hate katharevousa. sounds horrible

Nah, can't speak it (can barely speak dhimotiki yet!), just sort of, know about it... Well, apart from things like 'tha hthela ena monoklino', but that's just etiquette. Milas ellhnika; :biggrin:

Reply 18

Piggsil