Foreign Language for History graduate program help

[love2read]

Hello,

My first post, but probably one of many as I begin this journey into the graduate school application world!  I have a few questions concerning becoming reading proficient in a foreign language, and especially need advice with a current language situation I am encountering this semester.  I apologize for the long first post! Thank you for your patience.

In reading about what to do to prepare one's self and be a competitive applicant for some of the top grad history programs ( I am looking at Michigan and ND), I learned from this site and others that if a student could take foreign language classes in UG, it would not only look good on a transcript at application time, but may also help that student if they were accepted to the programs because they would be a bit ahead in terms of having a reading proficiency in a spoken language.

So, at the start of my junior year this year, I took French I as an elective.  I did well (earning an A) and now I am in French II.  While I am doing ok at the moment, my ability to understand the oral portions of class is becoming increasingly difficult.  I have a severe hearing disability (wear a hearing device) and use lip reading to help with my oral understanding.  I was able to understand my professor last semester fairly well, but this semester I am really struggling.  It is so frustrating because I am studying for this class A LOT.  It isn't that I am unprepared.  I have met with my professor and she has been very accommodating, but this may be an obstacle that I can't overcome, especially in a semester class type setting.  My problem is I don't want this class, which I am taking really as a way to make myself a better graduate school applicant, to hurt my graduate school chances because it hurts my GPA.  I have a 3.9 GPA right now.  I was told by my advisor to possibly investigate the Pass/Fail option.  I have never done that before and don't if it is a good option for me.

If the remaining grades in the course did not hinge so much on oral examinations, I would be fine and feel that I would be able to get an A or B, but with the difficulty I am having in the listening/oral sections, I don't know and it is causing great concern.  I have a week before the paperwork would need to be submitted for the change to Pass/Fail.  What do you all think? Is taking this semester's class P/F after taking last semester A-F going to look odd?  I thought I was going to take two years of French before going to grad school, but I think I may have really underestimated how hard it is to listen to this language.  If you have any advice for me, I would really appreciate it!

[rising_star]

It'll be fine. At the graduate level in history, the main concern is going to be about your reading ability, not about your oral comprehension skills. Also, taking it P/F is bette rthan taking it for a grade and earning a D, you know?

[victoriana]

As far as improving your French reading comprehension skills, Duolingo has a great "Immersion" section where you can read French articles of varying levels of difficulty and practice translating them.  The site has really helped my speaking/listening skills as well, but the articles are great for learning vocabulary and practicing the skills you will most likely need for language exams and research.  The articles are also generally fairly interesting--more so than most French textbooks, anyway!

[TMP]

I am PMing you.  I have been in your shoes!!!!  

 

And I agree about Duolingo-- I'm using it to learn some French to prepare for my (fun!) Paris trip!

Edited February 20, 2016 by TMP

[L13]

Take it as a pass/fail class. I can't pretend to know how graduate admissions committees think, but I'd be surprised if it was a problem.

[kotov]

You'll be fine doing it pass/fail.

A lot of the time in grad school you'll be doing language prep on your own or in classes that aren't going to count toward your credits/GPA so it's not a big deal for you to have a nice shiny A in French to point at. I made a B in German as an undergrad and did just fine with it in grad school when I lived/studied in Germany for a year.

Do you have a plan for a second language yet, or are you U.S. or something where you'll only need one?

[love2read]

Thanks so much for taking time to respond with your advice.  I really appreciate it!  I am going to use Duolingo asap!  I vaguely remember my first semester prof speaking of that site, but I didn't pay much mind to it...now I will!  At the moment I don't think I am going to need a second language; if I go the straight History graduate school route, I will concentrate on British and/or Colonial American history.  Do any of you know of schools in the US that have professors with either of those specialties AND an interest in architecture? My research interest is in the transatlantic influence of architectural/building practices from the UK to Colonial America and preservation/conservation of these properties. I have identified Notre Dame and possibly Michigan.  I realize that the selectivity of each one of those is incredibly hard, and it seems that the majority of their admits (I think I read like 80% on UM's website) already have a MA in hand.  If you have any other suggestions, I would love to hear about them.  I am looking at Architectural History programs, HP programs, possibly archaeology and of course, history, both here and in the UK.  Thanks everyone!

[kotov]

Architectural history of...Europe? The U.S.? Somewhere else?

I'm asking because in the U.S., if you do European history, most places will want you to have reading competency in two foreign languages, even if you're not necessarily doing research in both.

[knp]

Notre Dame is great for that—you may want to look at schools with strong design schools also, like UPenn (Raffaella Giannetto in Design) and Harvard (Joyce Chaplin in History, but also a strong design school, I think), since architectural research is found in art history maybe 60% of the time and in design departments during the rest. It's farther afield, but the University of Southampton has a couple figures of interest (Stephen Bending, Jonathan Conlin, and Stephen Bygrave–all of whom have at least some interest in architecture, even when it's less than obvious from their webpages).

PS Italian is probably the next language you should learn to read, after French—architects in early modern America and France/UK took a lot of cues from Italian designs and theories.

[AP]

On 2/20/2016 at 9:10 PM, rising_star said:

It'll be fine. At the graduate level in history, the main concern is going to be about your reading ability, not about your oral comprehension skills. Also, taking it P/F is bette rthan taking it for a grade and earning a D, you know?

I disagree. In many programs you are required to master the language because you do research there. 

EDIT after I read @love2read second post: I agree that taking pass/fail will be OK. @love2readIt seems you won't need French on a daily basis so you'll be fine!  

AP

 

Edited February 22, 2016 by AP

[rising_star]

40 minutes ago, AP said:

I disagree. In many programs you are required to master the language because you do research there. 

True that you should be able to speak it if you're doing research there. But, almost all language examinations administered to test your proficiency are focused on written comprehension (reading and writing), not oral comprehension. That's what my advice is based on.

[TMP]

46 minutes ago, AP said:

I disagree. In many programs you are required to master the language because you do research there. 

EDIT after I read @love2read second post: I agree that taking pass/fail will be OK. @love2readIt seems you won't need French on a daily basis so you'll be fine!  

AP

 

@AP Not every POI expects their incoming graduate students to be proficient --speaking wise-- unless the person has spent extensive time abroad or was a major in that language.  What POIs do hope is that the student knows enough to pass the reading exam required for the candidacy exams and get through some important secondary works.  Smart, sensible advisers know that 1) it's much easier to master the language once one lives in that setting for a while, not just a summer and 2) Student need to know *just* enough to get a solid language evaluations for major fellowships but fluency isn't necessary.  As younger people begin to fill the ranks of the archival staff in foreign archives, there will be more English in place.

To "master" the language for entry into the PhD program, not necessarily.