Learning the Language

[JKL]

Hello, everyone.

 

I've begun looking into various MA programs and have noticed that most schools require candidates to document reading proficiency in at least one foreign language, preferably French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Greek, or Latin. Do schools expect candidates to already know one of these languages, or do they generally let students take classes in the chosen language upon acceptance into the program? Surprisingly, there isn't much information online regarding the foreign language aspect of graduate school, but maybe the fine folks at thegradcafe.com can help me out.

Edited March 12, 2013 by joelackey92

[AurantiacaStella]

Those language requirements are something that you have to achieve once you are in the program. But it can be a plus if you show that you are already working on your research language(s) in your application. I think it depends a lot on the field, but, for example, for medieval studies you really must have a start on Latin and probably a few others for it to be feasible for you to finish your PhD in a reasonable amount of time.

 

Languages are one of the major things that slow people down in PhD programs, so I think for those programs that are trying to speed up their students' time-to-graduation, they will probably be particularly glad to see that you have a language up to snuff before starting the PhD.

 

Also, as for how you learn the languages -- that depends on whether you need to know it for reading, speaking, or both. If just for reading, many universities have reading-only language classes for grad students, in which you'll learn, say, all of French or German in one or two semesters. For speaking, you'd really need a class. And, also, if you can demonstrate reading knowledge through a language exam, then you could realistically just study it on your own for a few months and then try to pass the language exam with no classes at all.

 

This is *the* book for learning to read French: http://www.amazon.com/French-Reading-Karl-C-Sandberg/dp/0133316033/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363119844&sr=8-1&keywords=reading+french

And I found this one pretty good for German: http://www.amazon.com/Jannachs-German-Reading-Knowledge-Richard/dp/1413033490/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363119876&sr=1-3&keywords=reading+german

[JKL]

Thanks for the quick response.

 

It seems as if learning another language while in a PhD program could very well slow a student down, so getting started on the language while completing an MA seems to be the way to go. Do candidates choose which language they want to study, or do professors choose it, depending on the area of focus the candidate has chosen?

Edited March 12, 2013 by joelackey92

[Drol Noryb]

Has anyone worked on languages outside of the normally-approved French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.? For instance, something like a less common Romance language (ie. Portuguese) or a non-western language. I'm not aware of anywhere offering reading-intensive classes of the sort. I'd be interested to hear how anyone working on languages outside of the "norm" did it.

[ghijklmn]

Has anyone worked on languages outside of the normally-approved French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.? For instance, something like a less common Romance language (ie. Portuguese) or a non-western language. I'm not aware of anywhere offering reading-intensive classes of the sort. I'd be interested to hear how anyone working on languages outside of the "norm" did it.

 

My more obscure language is still "Western," but a little unusual I guess: Dutch. I basically taught myself online and by speaking with native Dutch speakers. If you know German and English, it's pretty easy to pick up! I haven't heard of reading only classes for languages like Norwegian or Polish or anything less "mainstream," unless you count old languages like Old French, Old German, etc.

[AurantiacaStella]

Thanks for the quick response.

 

It seems as if learning another language while in a PhD program could very well slow a student down, so getting started on the language while completing an MA seems to be the way to go. Do candidates choose which language they want to study, or do professors choose it, depending on the area of focus the candidate has chosen?

 

 

I think you choose it, but with the approval of a professor. For some, it is obvious what language to learn: i.e. someone who studies modern Irish literature but right now I can only read it in translation would definitely benefit from learning modern Irish.

 

As far as French/German/other modern reading languages, generally you would choose the one in which most scholarship is written in your subfield. I hope that makes sense.

[AurantiacaStella]

Has anyone worked on languages outside of the normally-approved French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.? For instance, something like a less common Romance language (ie. Portuguese) or a non-western language. I'm not aware of anywhere offering reading-intensive classes of the sort. I'd be interested to hear how anyone working on languages outside of the "norm" did it.

 

Sometimes professors will offer independent study courses in obscure languages, at least this is the case with medieval ones.

[GuateAmfeminist]

You could also look into FLAS - which is a wonderful fellowship available in many universities to help increase langauge study.

 

http://www2.ed.gov/programs/iegpsflasf/index.html

[AurantiacaStella]

There's also a summer language prgogram at Middlebury, which is supposed to be pretty intensive and immersive: http://www.middlebury.edu/ls

[aGiRlCalLeDApPlE]

I was just about sending a post about languages. So fortunate. Anyway, I'm planning to apply to comp. lit PhD and my native language is Arabic. I know that it's silly to count this as an "extra" language that I know other than English. I noticed that most programs require at least 2 languages other than English. I'll start learning Persian soon (private tutor) and I need to know how "good" they expect an applicant to be in a 3rd lang.? I mean, does it still count as an additional  lang. on my Cv if I only learn the grammar and how to read a simple text? 

[ProfLorax]

Has anyone worked on languages outside of the normally-approved French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.? For instance, something like a less common Romance language (ie. Portuguese) or a non-western language. I'm not aware of anywhere offering reading-intensive classes of the sort. I'd be interested to hear how anyone working on languages outside of the "norm" did it.

I have already contacted the DGS's at a few of the schools to ask if I could study American Sign Language as my second language. Given my interest in disability studies, it seems like the best fit! So far, the schools have been supportive. I imagine you'll just need DGS approval once you're in, and if you can show that it relates to your interest, you'll  most likely have faculty support in many programs.

[yellow.wallpaper]

Has anyone worked on languages outside of the normally-approved French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.? For instance, something like a less common Romance language (ie. Portuguese) or a non-western language. I'm not aware of anywhere offering reading-intensive classes of the sort. I'd be interested to hear how anyone working on languages outside of the "norm" did it.

 

There's a Masters Program of Viking and Medieval Norse within the University of Iceland, U of Copenhagen and U of Oslo. I've been taking a workshop on Old Icelandic, which is really amazing because there are plenty of sagas, mythologies and stories conserved in Old Icelandic. We're actually reading a saga on Loki right now. [beyond awesome!]

 

This is way beyond any of my Research interests, but I'm always up for learning new things.

 

I also know pretty basic Portuguese, but that's only because Spanish is my first language.

[Drol Noryb]

There's also a summer language prgogram at Middlebury, which is supposed to be pretty intensive and immersive: http://www.middlebury.edu/ls

 

Wow, that looks great and possibly more intensive than when I actually went to Lisbon (where English was so widely spoken that it was actually hard for someone obviously American like me to strike up a conversation in Portuguese).

[Drol Noryb]

I have already contacted the DGS's at a few of the schools to ask if I could study American Sign Language as my second language. Given my interest in disability studies, it seems like the best fit! So far, the schools have been supportive. I imagine you'll just need DGS approval once you're in, and if you can show that it relates to your interest, you'll  most likely have faculty support in many programs.

 

A comp/rhet professor whom I knew as an undergrad went this route with lots of success (and actually ended up signing for a Pres. Obama visit).

[ProfLorax]

A comp/rhet professor whom I knew as an undergrad went this route with lots of success (and actually ended up signing for a Pres. Obama visit).

So, what I hear you saying is that you are from the future, and this comp/rhet professor who is also an ASL translator for Obama is actually me in six years. Cool. Very cool.

 

(No, seriously. That professor is living the dream! The Dream, I tell you!)

[Drol Noryb]

So, what I hear you saying is that you are from the future, and this comp/rhet professor who is also an ASL translator for Obama is actually me in six years. Cool. Very cool.

 

(No, seriously. That professor is living the dream! The Dream, I tell you!)

 

That's basically the gist of it.

[AurantiacaStella]

 I mean, does it still count as an additional  lang. on my Cv if I only learn the grammar and how to read a simple text? 

 

Yes! On my CV I specify the proficiency level for each language.

[asleepawake]

There's a Masters Program of Viking and Medieval Norse within the University of Iceland, U of Copenhagen and U of Oslo. I've been taking a workshop on Old Icelandic, which is really amazing because there are plenty of sagas, mythologies and stories conserved in Old Icelandic. We're actually reading a saga on Loki right now. [beyond awesome!]

 

Sounds amazing! Isn't it that case that Old Icelandic is very similar to modern Icelandic, yes?

[yellow.wallpaper]

Sounds amazing! Isn't it that case that Old Icelandic is very similar to modern Icelandic, yes?

It completely is! Only a few endings or suffixes were lost. It's basically pronounced the same.

 

I seriously encourage anyone who wants to delve into medieval literature to study Icelandic.

[Grev]

Has anyone worked on languages outside of the normally-approved French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.? For instance, something like a less common Romance language (ie. Portuguese) or a non-western language. I'm not aware of anywhere offering reading-intensive classes of the sort. I'd be interested to hear how anyone working on languages outside of the "norm" did it.

 

I picked up Catalan living in Barcelona for 3 years, which is an AWESOME way to get a language but not viable for everyone.  Once you've got two Romance languages (say Spanish and Italian) reading the others comes pretty easy.  I can understand written or spoken Portuguese without much trouble.  French is the least phonetic one I've found, and IMO the hardest if you need more than just reading knowledge.

 

The "fastest" way to pick a language up, if you can swing it, is really an immersion experience.  Talk to your program about doing a summer of intensive language study in an appropriate country.  Generally speaking, passing 2nd year with a B or better seems to fulfill the requirement at most schools.

 

In general, certain Asian languages are considered to take longer to master, and may require you to take up to four years to achieve reading mastery.  Japanese, for example, isn't much worse than Latin or Hebrew grammatically, and isn't hard to pronounce (from English or Spanish), but the way it's written requires you to memorize thousands of symbols and that takes time.

[Magical Realist]

Has anyone worked on languages outside of the normally-approved French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.? For instance, something like a less common Romance language (ie. Portuguese) or a non-western language. I'm not aware of anywhere offering reading-intensive classes of the sort. I'd be interested to hear how anyone working on languages outside of the "norm" did it.

 

 

I've been studying Japanese for about a year now, and I've been doing it largely via private lessons on Skype. If you have difficulty finding a tutor in your area that fits into your schedule, I'd say skype tutoring is the way to go. It's been awesome for me in a lot of ways.

[AurantiacaStella]

I've been studying Japanese for about a year now, and I've been doing it largely via private lessons on Skype. If you have difficulty finding a tutor in your area that fits into your schedule, I'd say skype tutoring is the way to go. It's been awesome for me in a lot of ways.

How much do you have to pay for this sort of tutoring?

[ghijklmn]

How much do you have to pay for this sort of tutoring?

 

It depends! I did some Skype tutoring for $15/hr. There are sites where people advertise their qualifications and prices.

[ComeBackZinc]

I just want to say that, as far as languages slowing you down in a PhD program, I know that feel.

[Magical Realist]

It depends! I did some Skype tutoring for $15/hr. There are sites where people advertise their qualifications and prices.

That's exactly my tutor's rate. 

 

She's a native speaker with teaching credentials in both English and Japan, and also a medical translator. There's definitely a lot out there, though I would caution you to find someone who's been doing Skye tutoring for a little while. There are certain strategies that work well in-person, but not so well over Skype, and vice versa. 

 

Good luck!