[Kyohei]

I am sure many of us SOOMPI-ans are planning on taking some type of language course during college (Perhaps it is a mandatory course). I wanted to ask how is it like and if there are any suggestions you might want to share!


Some suggestions:
1) What language course did you take?
2.i) How was the class taught? Similar to high-school language courses?
2.ii) What makes a good (or bad) language professor?
3) Any tips or stories that you could provide?
4) Any good study habits?
5) Anything else you feel like sharing

[Specific to me: Has anyone taken dual language courses (two different languages at the same time)? Do you think it is a good idea to given your experience?]

[ninjastar]

1. I just finished taking my third Japanese class this past quarter. (at a community college)
2. The Japanese 1 class was a piece of cake. First we learned basic stuff like "I will come to school" (gakkoo e ikimasu). We usually do a lot of speech drills using the same sentence structure, but use different nouns and verbs. After that, we were taught how to write hiragana and katakana. (started learning Kanji in Japanese 2 and 3)
I think a good professor is someone who is patient with his/her student because learning a foreign language isn't easy. I think if the professor can teach the basics first like pronounciation and sentence structure, then the course should be easy.
3.Tips would be to have some interest in the language. Also I would try ratemyprofessors.com (not always trustworthy, but most of the reviews of my previous professors are pretty accurate) or ask others before taking a class to get a feel of the professor's attitude and teaching methods.
4. My studying was just watching anime and dramas.

not much help, but like you I also want to take a second foreign language (Korean). However, I don't think I'll be able to make time for it as the sentences and kanji in higher levels of Japanese take quite a bit to memorize.

[ChunJin]

1) Japanese
2i) The style of teaching was: TTH = Lecture, MWF = Quiz Section. Lecture covers grammar, quiz section covers practicing/using grammar.
2ii) A good professor to me will have multiple explanations and good subtle explanations on how things are used.
3) Take the language as is. Think in the language and not in English.
4) Don't cram.
5) It takes usually 2 years before a baby utters its first word. Never get discouraged when learning a new language. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, even in their own native language. Teachers and TAs are there to help you and not ridicule you. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

About #2 and #3.

#3 -> When someone says like, "natsuyasumi wa dou datta (how was your summer vacation)?" don't think, "It's going very well." Then translate to Japanese.

#2 -> Subtle explanations such as tsumori vs yotei vs hazu. All three essentially mean the same, but have different uses for different situations.

[Kyohei]

Thanks for the replies already! They are really helpful (especially since I know that I might be taking Japanese).

2. The Japanese 1 class was a piece of cake. First we learned basic stuff like "I will come to school" (gakkoo e ikimasu). We usually do a lot of speech drills using the same sentence structure, but use different nouns and verbs. After that, we were taught how to write hiragana and katakana. (started learning Kanji in Japanese 2 and 3)
I think a good professor is someone who is patient with his/her student because learning a foreign language isn't easy. I think if the professor can teach the basics first like pronounciation and sentence structure, then the course should be easy.
However, I don't think I'll be able to make time for it as the sentences and kanji in higher levels of Japanese take quite a bit to memorize.

About 2) I am "trying" to learn the hiragana and katakana alphabets, but it is really hard. I am sure that when I enter the environment I will be able to focus better (with a good professor I hope).
Also, the higher levels of a language discourages me from taking two languages at the same time. As much as I really want to, I keep hearing discouraging advice about only taking 1 language at a time. Oh well! I can at least work up a fluency in Mandarin well maintaining some degree of Japanese.

3) Take the language as is. Think in the language and not in English.
#3 -> When someone says like, "natsuyasumi wa dou datta (how was your summer vacation)?" don't think, "It's going very well." Then translate to Japanese.

I know definitely. I kind of learned this method by myself... I don't know how but one day I thought: It is kind of stupid to have to translate everything in to english to understand it.
So, I figured out that I should be connecting Japanese (or any language) words to their IDEA and not to the ENGLISH. I'm not a genius or anything, but a little intuitive [Connecting most ideas to words requires experience in using the word in situations]

[pri-T]

1. Chinese

2. Each class, we go over new patterns and do pattern drills in Q&A format with the professor and with each other. The professor would either ask a question and pick who has to answer or pick on one of us to ask another a question and have that person answer. We also read the text and practice it aloud and go over new vocab. We also have a vocabulary quiz every class session and a chapter test on vocab, sentence structure, listening and reading comprehension every few weeks. My Chinese 1 class was conducted more in English while Chinese 2 was done almost completely in Chinese and everyone had a Chinese name the professor called us by.

My Chinese 1 professor wasn't that effective. The class was extremely easy and all she did in class was have us recite and practice the textbook dialogue. My Chinese 2 professor was fantastic since the pattern drills were more conversational and we looked at the text independently of the Q&A drills.

3. I agree with Take the language as it is. I've seen many of my classmates who have never had exposure to Chinese have a lot of difficulties adjusting to the grammar because they would be translating from English to Chinese.

4. Believe it or not, watching dramas in the language you're studying is really beneficial. I'm a native Cantonese speaker, so I could already pick up bits and pieces of Mandarin. On top of that, I love watching Taiwanese dramas so listening comprehension was no problem for me. Practice, practice, practice the writing.

About taking two languages at once, I guess it depends on the person, but I know two of my classmates were taking Chinese and Japanese at the same time and sometimes they would say something in Japanese in class because they got confused. LOL. It wasn't that bad, but it was pretty funny for the rest of us. And I think they did well in both classes.

[psychosnowman]

Hey, i would not worry too much. You mentioned having trouble learning hiragana and katakana, but you are just starting learning languages.

Like anything, learning languages takes a certain knack. That is to say, it necessitates that you get into the swing of things. The most important advice i think in a language is to understand that in order to learn a language, you realy do need to memorize hundreds of vocabulary words, and eventually two thousand or so in any language to be able to speak it pretty decently. When you study a few languages, you will understand how they work in general as an algorithm. In order to learn a language, it hleps to understand language in general, but most people just figure it out along the way. If you know what you want to say, you just need to learn how to say it in a different language, from my experience there are really only a few different types of grammar out there, and none of them are difficult to grasp with time.

College language courses are stellar, they move quicker than high school, you are given adequate homework, you practice being conversational, etc. etc.

Taking more than one language is very possible. It may be confusing, but with practice you can isolate them in your head. For reference, i have studied in school, or on my own, six languages and know about 500-2500 words in each of them. I am doing fine, and i am sure you will too. The writing systems become unforgettable with more practice really.

For which language i recommend you take, it depends on what you wish to do with it. For engineering, i recommend japanese, german, etc. Chinese is also fun.

[felinius]

Some suggestions:
1) What language course did you take?
2.i) How was the class taught? Similar to high-school language courses?
2.ii) What makes a good (or bad) language professor?
3) Any tips or stories that you could provide?
4) Any good study habits?
5) Anything else you feel like sharing

[Specific to me: Has anyone taken dual language courses (two different languages at the same time)? Do you think it is a good idea to given your experience?]

1. Japanese 102/103
2. Not at all similar to middle school or high school ... I took middle school Japanese and high school Japanese as well as French. What made it different was the focus: college was grammar and speaking, grade school was vocab.
2. Good professors are funny, but not too strict at the same time. They urge you to do your best.
3. At some points in Japanese class I felt uncomfortable because there were a few number of Japanese-wannabees and people who were over excited about taking the class ... it's good to like something but being over-excited makes you look really weird.
Then again, I was used to high school class having more than half Koreans / Chinese / Japanese rather than non-CJK ppl.
4. Good study habits would be to constantly review ... constantly make sentences ... constantly write journals. A good teacher would have you write sentences and study a lot.
5. I liked my teacher because she didn't force us to learn Kata/Hira/Kanji. She assumed that we would already know Kata/Hira/Kanji or learn it as we went on in the course -- so we didn't waste valuable time trying to learn the alphabet.

Because college is more indepth, I would suggest against taking two languages at once unless it was like ASL and a foreign language.

[Joanna]

1) What language course did you take? Japanese 111/112 (currently)
2.i) How was the class taught? Similar to high-school language courses?
not really.. in university they teach ALOT faster.. like what you learn in highschool for 5 years is basically fit into 1 whole year course.
2.ii) What makes a good (or bad) language professor?
a good one is one that explains carefully especially when it comes to sentence structures and such when it becomes a bit confusing and also need to have clear pronounciation and explaination. one of my tutors at the moment have heavy Japanese accent and don't really explain stuff in order ><
3) Any tips or stories that you could provide?
keep practising.. it's really easy to forgot what you learn unless you keep repeating and practising. sometimes i even forget how to write some characters but know how to read, which means i need to practise writing ><
4) Any good study habits?
revise straight away what you have learnt while it is fresh in your mind and revise often
5) Anything else you feel like sharing smile.gif
if you want to take Japanese and you know Chinese.. it is very useful xD

[Specific to me: Has anyone taken dual language courses (two different languages at the same time)? Do you think it is a good idea to given your experience?]
no not at the same time though i am currently trying to improve my Chinese while im studying Japanese xD

[darkjizzle806]

The first bit of advice is to pick something you are going to want to learn. This way it is not just another requirement you must fill. I choose Japanese and I'm thinking of minoring in it. Not sure if "minoring" is even a word. But study, really study and talk to people that speak that language, if it is possible. Get a tutor, if the school offers it or if you can afford one because that really drives you to want to do well, if you are a person who wants to succeed in the things they do. Not trying to be perfect, but apply the effort. Listen to the music of that language, as well as, watching broadcast like TV and movies if you feel that will help you. For example, the easiest way of interacting for me when it came to learning Japanese is watching Anime, which is fun and listening to music. Hopefully, you really enjoy it and continue to learn it throughout school and on you personal time.

[semi-fly]

Some suggestions:
1) What language course did you take? - Spanish (1-4), French (1-4)

2.i) How was the class taught? Similar to high-school language courses? - Didn't take a foreign language in HS.

First semester (1) was focusing on present tense, rather simple stuff. A lot of vocabulary words, simple sentence structure, etc. 1-2 class demos.
Second semester (2) Past tense, direct, indirect object pronouns, 1-2 class demos, more vocabulary, advanced sentence structure
Third semester (3) gerunds, etc, more review of (1) and (2)
Fourth Semester (4) Review of (1 - 3)

2.ii) What makes a good (or bad) language professor? - One that understands that many people in the states have only one language under their belt and treats the students more like children (as with anything new you need to crawl first before you run)

3) Any tips or stories that you could provide? - You're going to make mistakes in writing, pronunciation, etc. everyone does this ... even in later classes. Enjoy yourself.

4) Any good study habits? - Get a study buddy. Most universities have tutoring programs setup for lower level classes use them. Watch programming/listen to music in the language you are learning it helps. Make flash cards, it may be time consuming but you'll be thanking yourself later on.

5) Anything else you feel like sharing? - May sound silly, but don't overload yourself with classes when you're taking a language course (especially the lower level classes) studying any foreign language takes a lot of your time if you want to learn it properly.

[MEMENTO]

1) What language course did you take? Japanese. 8)

2.i) How was the class taught? Similar to high-school language courses? Not similar to high school at all. For one thing, you have to learn your hiragana and katakana within one or two weeks. Another thing, in high school they focus a lot on the order of strokes for writing but in college, they focus a lot on 'good' handwriting. It has to be neat. I'm not sure about the other languages but at my school, Japanese is 6 credits (which is A LOT) and there's class every weekday for Japanese (though second-year JPN isn't like that). A lot of it is focused on speaking and grammar and things of the sort. Vocab is something that you should just instantly memorize when they flash you the words (study it in the books). And yeah, there's a lot of role-playing in first-year Japanese...I'm not sure about second. xP

2.ii) What makes a good (or bad) language professor? A good language professor can SPEAK ENGLISH. Our professor had an accent but he was still comprehendable. He was witty and funny and good professors will generally be like that. Though...he should make an effort to try and remember your name...he never remembered me...despite how ever many times I told him...xDDDD But I'll be honest, I learned more from the teaching graduates from our recitation classes than from our professor during lecture.

3) Any tips or stories that you could provide? Well, my JPN class went about teaching the language through the book and they provided a syllabus on everything we were going to do for the day. So basically, I just went through our activities from the books, wrote the answers down, etc so that I wouldn't look like a dumb idiot when our instructors called on us. Oh, and don't be afraid of anything when you have to talk in front of the class, etc. You'll be with them for a while so get used to it. They're generally very nice and you'll probably make some cool friends. 8)

4) Any good study habits? o___o;;; Just study everyday...xD Buuttt, let's see, we had some study groups before. At class, we had oral interviews to do and so studying with groups is really helpful (and even more helpful if one of your buddies has gone to the interview already and knows everything that went on).

5) Anything else you feel like sharing Personally, I think JPN class is fun. xD Why? I suppose it's because by the time you're used to your classmates, you'll all be like family. Don't be stingy and make some friends, no matter who they are.

[Specific to me: Has anyone taken dual language courses (two different languages at the same time)? Do you think it is a good idea to given your experience?]

It depends on your motivation. If you reeeaaallly rreeaaalllyyy rreeaaalllyyyyyyyyyyyyy want to take it, then DEFINITELY DO IT because later, you'll probably want to really do it but realize you don't have the time for it. ToT;;; And even if your adviser 'advises' you not to do it, DO IT. I seriously regret not taking two languages my first year. My adviser told me it was better just to learn one language and then learn the next language next year. Gawwdd, she wasn't right at all. >.>;;; Now I don't have time to learn it (my current adviser won't let me take it either because i need to 'finish all of my needed credits' when I can't even find anymore classes that fit my schedule that are 'needed credits'...might as well take it, right?!)...jeez. Anyway, I met a girl who was taking Japanese and Korean. And y'know what? She's the smartest girl in our JPN class and she's so dedicated and she did really well in her other classes too. I mean, maybe she's just smart in general but she was pretty determined and managed to do it successfully!

[Kyohei]

All of this information is very helpful. It is strange that almost everyone here has taken Japanese, but not so strange because I want to take Japanese anyway!


-- A lot of what was said is about the same from every reply. This gives a pretty accurate picture of what to expect. Thanks!

---Two weeks to learn hiragana and katakana? I better start now, but I have no self-motivation right now >.<

[SouthernBelle82]

I am sure many of us SOOMPI-ans are planning on taking some type of language course during college (Perhaps it is a mandatory course). I wanted to ask how is it like and if there are any suggestions you might want to share!


Some suggestions:
1) What language course did you take?
2.i) How was the class taught? Similar to high-school language courses?
2.ii) What makes a good (or bad) language professor?
3) Any tips or stories that you could provide?
4) Any good study habits?
5) Anything else you feel like sharing

[Specific to me: Has anyone taken dual language courses (two different languages at the same time)? Do you think it is a good idea to given your experience?]

1) Well when I was in high school (graduated in 2001) I didn't have to take any language class in high school because it wasn't mandatory (it was for the 2002 class). I wish I did but oh well so I'm having to take two credits. I at first took Spanish but in the summer the school I attend has different language courses that aren't there in the spring and fall and I'm going to see if those count and if they do I'm going to try to take Japanese.

2) Well I did take Latin in high school but failed it by a good number of points. I just needed twenty more darn it. But anyways the class I took with Spanish was sorta. In my college Spanish class we had to do homework, exams, an oral exam at the end of the term and a presentation on someone or some place etc. dealing with the Spanish culture. In my Latin class in high school we just had exams. As far as a good/bad language professor I guess if they don't work with you and just skim through the class and expect you to do most of the work outside. I've yet to have a professor like that though.

3) Well I've decided to wait to do my language courses at the end when I'm not so busy with other classes. If you have trouble with foreign languages don't take a lot of harder classes and/or classes where you have a lot of work to do outside of class and other exams to study for. If you can I would wait till the end as well. But that's just me.

4) Just make sure you have enough time to study and don't just memorize but comprehend what you're studying. Don't cheat to get the answers for homework assignments. Doing the assignments really does help. Also if you go to book stores like Books-A-Million they have other language books there too. I got another Spanish work book for extra practice. In my class we got a work book for you to turn in with assignments to be graded but it's nice to have other books for practice too. Also check and see if your university has a language lab. Mine does and they have the Rosetta Stone cd there. Anyone can go in when there is not a class using the room and study as well. Sometimes students can even when there is a class just depending on the professor I guess. My professor also had extra work sheets if you didn't want to go and buy them at Books-A-Million and they had their office hours to where you can stop by if you needed to for some reason.

5) Not really. Just really make sure you dedicate time to the language. Music also helps too I think. FYE or Best Buy would be good places to go. Oh and also watching tv shows/movies from that language too helps! That's how I got into Korean and Japanese is by liking their music and tv shows. I also wanted to add with the professor having a nice one goes a long way. Student participation helps too because than you can learn from others and how they do things for those who learn by sound and not so much visualization. I even see my professor in the hall sometimes and she always said hi so being relaxed in class helps a lot too with being able to remember things.

[strawberrygirl]

1) What language course did you take?
French.. just finishing up my last part of it this summer session.

2.i) How was the class taught? Similar to high-school language courses?
Not really. My high school wasn't too smart on how they structured language courses, and because there were only two teachers teaching French there, a lot of the classes had people from all different levels taking them at the same time. Because of that, we did almost two years of the same things over and over again.. I can tell time realllllllly well, but that's about all I learned or really remember from high school, haha.

2.ii) What makes a good (or bad) language professor?
They need to be keen to the fact that not everyone catches on quickly, and as much as it sucks, that means they might have to use English in their classes from time to time. This summer session, my teacher does her best to explain new tenses and vocab in English two or three times, and that helps when you come across things later down the road. They also need to be open to talk to you. You can't always assume you'll get someone who's going to help you along, so what I found when choosing my language courses was to talk to other people who have already had a class from that professor.. they are your best resource for choosing.

3) Any tips or stories that you could provide?
Stay on top of things and don't just wait for the days before the test to cram. A lot of what you learn in the first few semesters of a language are what keep coming back to haunt you if you don't learn them correctly the first time. Try your best to immerse yourself in classes, and stay away from using English if you can.

4) Any good study habits?
Like I said before, don't cram. Make flashcards, especially for vocab/big main ideas, because knowing a lot of different words and how to use them correctly helps you become fluent a lot faster. And study groups help so much!!!!!! I've been lucky to have some of the same people in my classes for the two years I've taken French, and we usually get together and study.. it's fun, you learn a lot, and it makes the language a lot easier if you know you're not alone in taking it.

[jinjin<3]

1) What language course did you take?
China 401/402. I had previous knowledge in Chinese so I had to start off at a high-level course.

2.i) How was the class taught? Similar to high-school language courses?
Similarities:
-In these two classes, speaking Chinese during class is mandatory. I've heard that you are allowed to use English in the lower levels and even some of the other higher level courses. There are very few classes in the upper levels that allow you to speak English.
-The instructor picks you to answer questions.
-You have to read aloud.

Differences:
-There are hardly group projects in university. Most of the work is graded solely on your own individual projects.
-You need to do your readings ahead of time. Even though you read the text together in class to make sure everyone knows the characters and understands the story, it's hard to see where you need help, how to interpret the story or answer your prof's questions in class when you don't know what's going on ahead of time.
-You need to know the political history of the country(ies) the language you're studying originates from.

2.ii) What makes a good (or bad) language professor?
-What makes a good professor is someone who lets you ask questions and lets you interpret the text in your own way.
-Recognize that not everyone learns at the same pace.

4) Any good study habits?
-Make time to understand the text. Don't just read it.
-If you have time, read the text orally at least twice before class. There usually is a heavy emphasis on fluency in post-secondary language courses. If you don't have time, read it once orally.
-Write down any questions you have regarding the text and ask them.
-Learn to write the words.

[apple_]

im having trouble deciding between taking chinese or japanese my freshman year. I already speak cantonese and can understand a bit mandarin, although i cant read or write in chinese.

I know im going to learn both eventually, but the question is whether it would be better/wiser to take chinese or japanese first? im a bit more excited about learning japanese though.... thanks =)