How to balance language

[Seatbelt Blue]

My program requires a working written knowledge of German or French before they'll award you your masters. I've been debating how to go about this.

 

My fiancee and I have been planning on moving to Germany for a spell after I graduate so she can audition for some German opera fests, so German would be *very* useful in that regard. But my academic interests hover in large part around French theologians, particularly Yves Congar and Henri de Lubac, so French would be quite helpful there, too.

 

Further complicating things, I have a good background in Italian, and would like to get that back up to snuff because some of the doctoral programs I'm vaguely considering long-term are in Italy.

 

What do you guys suggest?

[EndlessAshley]

I can't speak for Italian universities, but I know that all of the U.S. PhD programs I've looked into require both French and German - so ultimately, all of your bases will be covered.  

 

There are also summer language institutes in German and French if you can work it out financially. You may actually be able to secure funding to attend one of these programs from your university. 

 

I know that, at my school, semester-long reading knowledge courses are taught for both French and German after which most students are able to pass proficiency tests. It's a good start, if your school offers something similar. 

 

If I were in your shoes, my instinct would be to take an intensive summer course in German (these usually emphasize oral communication, which would be relevant for your post-grad year but which would also be useful for reading) and work on French throughout the school year. Even if you can only fit in a French reading proficiency course, your skills would become more sophisticated as you continue to work with your primary sources. If you've already got a decent background in Italian, I'll bet you could bone up independently. 

 

Hope this is helpful!

[Kuriakos]

Take French. If you move to Germany, you'll learn German very rapidly via immersion.

[ἠφανισμένος]

A good background in Italian means that French shouldn't be that difficult to pick up. I would tag-team some oral-aural material (like Assimil) with Sandberg's French for Reading, which is simply excellent. I don't think you'd need to take a course. I've barely started German myself, so I can't really speak to that.

[Seatbelt Blue]

Sandberg's looks really good. I might give that a go. At least one Amazon reviewer used it to pass their language exam for their doctorate. I'm simply worried without the demands of a course, I'd simply never pick it up and work on it. :/

 

As far as German goes, my fiancee and I are considering hiring a German tutor for weekends, because she needs to get a lot of her German back, too. 

[NTstudent]

If your thinking about German, pick up April Wilson's "German Quickly." I worked through it at a rapid pace and feel pretty strong. I'm now going through my second German grammar and feel like Wilson prepared me very well. If you google "Theological German" and "Andy Rowell" you will find a website that provides some helpful resources on summer langauge courses (including some online options), reviews of grammars and some very helpful general tips. Rowell is finishing his ThD at Duke and the website is very helpful. For the money Wilson's grammar will teach you what you need to know to get reading. I'm glad to have the recommendation for Sandberg's French for Reading.

[Therewillbeluke]

Helmut Ziefle's "Modern Theological German" is indispensable for anyone in your situation, you'll actually be interested in studying.

[PeanutButterJellyTime]

Your personal interests should have no bearing on the language you learn for your work. You can learn German, like another poster said, while you're there or on your own time later. If you are doing work with French theologians, you need to know French. It's pretty simple.

[Seatbelt Blue]

After reading all your advice, and discussing it with my fiancee (because this does concern her, and she's been pretty vociferous about *both* of us getting German down for our eventual move), I've decided I'm going to focus on French in the classroom, and worry about German on my own time. I'll be going in for advisement soon, so hopefully I can work something out with language classes at SHU; the bulletin only says I need to have one of the two down before comprehensives, and says nothing about electives being used to fill this need. We'll see how it goes. If push comes to shove, I might just spend the next three semesters auditing French.

 

I studied French and Spanish in high school, and did Italian extensively in college -- I wasn't fluent, but I was steady enough to hold extended conversations in Italian with limited stuttering and circumlocution, even if now I'm severely out of practice -- so French, as another Romance language, would certainly be considerably easier, too.

Edited March 22, 2013 by Seatbelt Blue