Language Requirement: Which Language First?

[blin811]

Hi all,

I will be starting a MA in the Fall 2010 and I was wondering which of the two languages (German vs. French) that I should learn first if I was interested in continuing on to completing a PhD program.

I have a bit more of background in German and it is definitely more fresh in my mind since I just finished a semester of German 101 at a local community college. I took a semester of French years ago, but I am more interested in French thought and literatures.

With this in mind, should I take German first during my M.A. and then focus on the French later on (while hopefully retaining enough to pass the language examination for a second time)? Or should I focus on French now, so when in a PhD program I would have more time to refine one language and then revisit German?

Thanks in advance!

Edited June 15, 2010 by blin811

[Branwen daughter of Llyr]

Hi all,

I will be starting a MA in the Fall 2010 and I was wondering which of the two languages (German vs. French) that I should learn first if I was interested in continuing on to completing a PhD program.

I have a bit more of background in German and it is definitely more fresh in my mind since I just finished a semester of German 101 at a local community college. I took a semester of French years ago, but I am more interested in French thought and literatures.

With this in mind, should I take German first during my M.A. and then focus on the French later on (while hopefully retaining enough to pass the language examination for a second time)? Or should I focus on French now, so when in a PhD program I would have more time to refine one language and then revisit German?

Thanks in advance!

I think it depends which language you want to be stronger in by the time you finish your PhD. Since you are more interested in French literature than in German, I'd say start with French, so that by the time you're in your PhD you can take advanced French literature classes. Since you only have to demonstrate reading proficiency for the languages, two semesters of German during your PhD should be fine as a second language, while meanwhile, advancing your French as much as possible.

That said, unless you want to move beyond proficiency on either language, or you want one language to be stronger than the other for your research purposes, the order in which you learn the languages doesn't really matter since French and German have very little in common structurally and in vocabulary (for example, if you were considering French and Spanish - I'd say start with French, the more complex romance language, before moving to Spanish, the simpler romance language).