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German or a Classics-in-Translation course?


splendora

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I am debating whether to take introductory German or a classical historiography (in translation) course this fall. There is only one section for each, so it's not like I can shop around for different sections - hence, it's one or the other. I'm already taking Latin, Greek, Greek history (in translation) and French in the fall and I really would like to take German as well as I'd like to have reasonable proficiency in the two modern languages BEFORE I enter graduate school. That means taking these two languages for at least a few years (I will be here for three more) so I can read modern scholarship with ease. On the other hand:

1) I am worried about my ability to handle four languages at once (Latin at the intermediate level, French with some mostly-forgotten grade school background, German and Greek from complete scratch), though I found Latin at the introductory level very easy. Any experiences with this and how it went for you guys?

2) I think I would like to specialize in historiography.

3) I am worried that if I take four languages, I won't really be getting much practice writing papers (only in one class each semester).

4) German is full year, like the other languages, so I'd be taking only one Classics course in the Jan-April semester as well.

Advice? What would you guys do? If I don't take German this year, I'll be taking it next academic year, though there's no guarantee that it won't conflict with other courses again, especially the more important Latin or Greek higher-level ones. While French is offered in the summer (and I'll be taking it, so I plan to end up with 10 semesters of French), German isn't.

I asked two profs over here and one said take the historiography course, the other said take German and each cited pretty parallel reasons. Still confused.

Thanks.

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