Read knowledge/ foreign languages

[harpyemma]

So, i'm already thinking about next year's round of applications to help soften the blow of my eventual rejections.

One aspect i know was lacking in my application was foreign languages. Whilst i have studied both French and Spanish, i don't have any formal qualifications in either, besides GCSEs (which, if you don't know, are qualifications you earn in the UK at the age of 16). Even so, these qualifications don't accurately reflect my ability in the languages (at least not my reading ability, which is much stronger than my speaking, listening and writing). And, even if they did, my skills aren't where they should be--i can read news articles but i can't really read fiction and i certainly can't read critical theory.

(This is why i lament parts of the UK education system... languages really ought to be a degree requirement for the humanities.)

Do you know of any qualifications that would be recognised in the US but available internationally (or at least in the UK) and that aren't ridiculously expensive? Or, failing that, any other ways i can improve my language (reading) abilities? Obviously it would be nice to improve every aspect of my foreign language capabilities, but my primary concern is getting my reading up to where it needs to be. Formal qualifications would help (i remember the horror i felt at not having anything to put on my parts of the applications that addressed language qualifications!), but i really have no money left after the $1000-some i blew on apps this year...

What are the things you found most helpful at improving your language-reading abilities?

[Zouzax]

When I first moved to Turkey, I had almost no knowledge of Turkish. I knew some grammar but that was it. So, the first day I went to a local bookstore. I went to the kids section and bought a book for 5 year olds. I started from the very beginning. I studied the grammar structure and the vocabulary. Then, when I felt the books for 5 year olds were too easy (2 or 3 books later), I moved up to books for 8 & 9 year olds. That's right, I upgraded to 'Captain Underpants'. Soon I moved on to books for teenagers, then to mainstream, easy-to-read books for adults (this is also when I started reading research papers), then to regular books.

In the beginning, I would take notes on new words and grammar structures in the margins. It was a painstaking process but I learned a lot. Every night, I would try to recall the words I had learned that day. I never did memorization, though. I let myself learn the words through exposure. Once I upgraded to 'normal' books I stopped doing that. Now I read books normally and try to learn words through context. Only if I really can't figure out a word & it is important to a story, do I look it up in the dictionary.

Because of this, my reading and grammar skills increased dramatically in a short amount of time. When I signed up for my first language course, I tested Advanced for Reading/Grammar and Beginner for Speaking/Listening. The language school had no idea what to do with me lol. So that IS the pitfall of only studying reading. But it did work. And if you only want to learn reading I highly suggest it.

Edited February 12, 2011 by Zouzax

[swilson]

I used very elementary language textbooks to help me gain a basic foundation. Because I didn't have tons of money to spend, I bought older books that hadn't been used in a classroom in 5-10 years at used bookstores, usually for less than $10. Once I developed a foundation, I began finding magazine and newspaper websites in the foreign language and read simple articles, writing down words and their definitions I didn't know. I also go on wikipedia and read an article in a foreign language first than cross-reference the English version, the language tabs on the side make switching between pages easy. I think the above poster's recommendation to find novels for kids and teenagers is an excellent idea, as well.

Studying a language independently takes quite a bit of dedication, though, obviously. I would try and find a cheap course, or, if you don't mind the illegality, finding a free download of Rosetta Stone. I had a computer whiz friend give me a copy of Rosetta Stone's Latin, Spanish, German, and French and show me how to mount the disk image and all that crap on my computer. I worked best by using a variety of the methods I've mentioned above; when I was just plowing through Wheelock's Latin over the summer, I got incredibly bored really quickly, and easily found myself making up excuses to read a chapter or go through the workbook another day, another week, another month, until I forgot half of the stuff I studied.

Watching movies or TV shows in foreign languages is really helpful too; if you don't mind the repetition, watch it with the subtitles a couple times and then without, to learn how to hear the language and associate it with the context you're familiar with from watching it before. This was really helpful for my German, though I can read with a dictionary alongside without trouble, hearing it spoken by a native speaker and keeping up has always been an issue for me.

Good luck!

[harpyemma]

Thanks for the replies; i definitely will check out books for children and parallel texts etc.. I was also thinking of watching films in English but with foreign subtitles, so that i can associate what's going on with the text below--which i think will be particularly helpful with films i know very well.

I'm really annoyed by my typo in the topic title. That's supposed to be reading knowledge, of course. Argh!

The thing i'm most worried about is that even if i do all of this and get my reading ability up to scratch, i'll have no way to prove it--it would literally just be my word.

[Zouzax]

Thanks for the replies; i definitely will check out books for children and parallel texts etc.. I was also thinking of watching films in English but with foreign subtitles, so that i can associate what's going on with the text below--which i think will be particularly helpful with films i know very well.

I'm really annoyed by my typo in the topic title. That's supposed to be reading knowledge, of course. Argh!

The thing i'm most worried about is that even if i do all of this and get my reading ability up to scratch, i'll have no way to prove it--it would literally just be my word.

If you're interested in taking a test to prove your level, many certified language schools offer this. you can study on your own, then pay to take just the certification test at the language school. for example, at the Turkish school i was attending, you could pay around 30$ to take the Ministry of Education certification exam. If you pass, you get a certificate from the Ministry in Advanced Turkish. I know that Alliance Francaise offers this as well (they have French schools throughout the States). I would look into local, certified language schools in your area to see if they offer certification exams in the languages you're interested in. This way, you could study for it on your own and pay WAY less to just get the proof of level.

[fall-11]

The thing i'm most worried about is that even if i do all of this and get my reading ability up to scratch, i'll have no way to prove it--it would literally just be my word.

You might not even need a formal certification if it's just for grad school purposes. Once you get into the program, you'll need to take their language exam (usually translation of a passage, with the help of a dictionary). If your reading knowledge of the language is pretty good, you should be able to pass the translation exam. I had to take one in French for my MA program, and basically it was a passage of about 600 or 700 words taken out of a 19th century French novel. We were allowed to bring a dictionary, and we had 2 hours to do it. It did take the whole 2 hours for me, but it was doable. Whether you have a certification might not really matter -- you just need to have enough reading skills to be able to pass this kind of translation exam.

[harpyemma]

You might not even need a formal certification if it's just for grad school purposes. Once you get into the program, you'll need to take their language exam (usually translation of a passage, with the help of a dictionary). If your reading knowledge of the language is pretty good, you should be able to pass the translation exam. I had to take one in French for my MA program, and basically it was a passage of about 600 or 700 words taken out of a 19th century French novel. We were allowed to bring a dictionary, and we had 2 hours to do it. It did take the whole 2 hours for me, but it was doable. Whether you have a certification might not really matter -- you just need to have enough reading skills to be able to pass this kind of translation exam.

This is very helpful to know, thank you. It's not so much the actual work at grad level that i'm concerned about--i feel like once i get in, you know, everything will fall into place and it will be quite manageable to complete the language requirement even if i'm a little rusty: after investing so much in students (tuition, stipends, etc.), what grad school isn't going to give candidates the best opportunity--summer classes, for example--to pass their language requirements and continue on to be testaments to the school and programme? It doesn't make financial sense, right?

What i'm more worried about, though, is how it appears from an admissions perspective: i could be perfectly good at reading in French and Spanish, but without any qualifications (or college-level classes, even) to attest to the fact, surely my application wouldn't be as competitive, everything else being equal, as someone who does have something to show for it?

Who would an adcomm pick, Joe Shmoe who has completed 200-level French classes with straight As and says they have a good reading knowledge of the language, or me, self-taught and "just" reporting a good reading knowledge?

[fall-11]

What i'm more worried about, though, is how it appears from an admissions perspective: i could be perfectly good at reading in French and Spanish, but without any qualifications (or college-level classes, even) to attest to the fact, surely my application wouldn't be as competitive, everything else being equal, as someone who does have something to show for it?

Who would an adcomm pick, Joe Shmoe who has completed 200-level French classes with straight As and says they have a good reading knowledge of the language, or me, self-taught and "just" reporting a good reading knowledge?

Well, I learned French at the Alliance Francaise in my home country (I'm an international student), so I do have certificates for the exams I took, but I didn't include copies of them or anything in my application. I simply wrote "Fluent in <native language>, and proficient in French" on the resume that I included with my app, without including any official documentation for either one. (Well, for my native language, I don't *have* any documentation to prove it anyway.) And if the application asked about foreign language skills, I wrote the same thing there.

In the three US schools I've attended so far (one for undergrad, one for an MA in creative writing, and currently the one where I'm doing my MA in English), nobody ever asked to see any kind of certification for language learning. However, at each place, I did have to take and pass a translation exam (I used my native language in the first two schools, and French for the third one). Of course, if you really want the certification, you can take a test someplace, as the others have suggested, but nobody's ever asked to see mine in the three schools I've been to, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[ElectedSilence]

I wanted to get one of my languages back into fighting shape in preparation for the fall, and asked to audit a grammar review at a nearby university. The graduate instructor was completely willing once he knew he had an interested student, and is even grading my quizzes and tests. Probly won't work everywhere, but worth a shot.

[cquin]

I was under the impression that (and someone please correct me if I'm mistaken) 1. schools do not require official proof, they only look at what you list on your CV, and 2. they will be lax about your knowledge upon admission, with the expectation that you will rigorously study the language as a grad student and pass their exams.

[enggrad]

As an undergrad I was in a similar situation. I had both Spanish and Latin, but my ability in both was rather poor. As an MA student in the states I had to complete a reading proficiency requirement which I chose to do in German. I had no formal classes in German to speak of just independent study and some time spent in Berlin, but in one semester I was able to read academic German fairly well. (with the aid of a dictionary of course.) For German I really found Jannach's German for Reading Knowledge extremely helpful. You can also find books that teach you principles of other languages via principles in that language, which I think helps because you make that connection. That said, I don't think I could have progressed as quickly as a I did without a classroom setting. My instructor really pushed us and I do so much more German than anything else, but it paid off. I'm not sure how the system works in the UK, but perhaps you could look into taking a certification course offered to MAs at a nearby university or college. You may not get credit for this course as you wouldnt be an enrolled, degree-seeking student but you could get your reading ability up to a good level. Good luck!

[Manservant_Hecubus]

Just wanted to add a link to a site I just discovered for European languages: http://www.presseurop.eu/en. I'm always trying to improve my French and I find the articles here more interesting than just reading a newspaper. And the best part is that each article is available in 12 or so languages. Hopefully someday I'll be able to read in more than two of them!

I'll also echo the votes for Rosetta Stone, if you can get your hands on a copy of it. I preferred gaining a basic knowledge of the grammar and script for Hindi (reading the first chapter of an introductory text was enough) and found that it really reinforced my existing knowledge. On the other hand, I'm the kind of language learner who likes to know the rules upfront; I think RS has the advantage of appealing to different kinds of learners but some modification may be needed. You used to be able to sign up online and try the first module of any language for free - worth a shot to see if their approach appeals to you before buying it, since it's pretty damn expensive.