Best intl. universities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those who know Canada, what can you tell me about Queen’s?

My DD was looking at their technical-track art history program, but I don’t know much about the school or the city. It has one of the few North American graduate programs in art conservation, but from what people have said here, I’m not seeing much about the school’s general reputation in the humanities. And it’s hard to get a read on what Kingston is like.

She’s doing an IB diploma with French as one of her HLs, and thinks she should be able to get up to speed with French fairly easily. Probably not enough to take classes in French yet, but at least enough to live in a bilingual city.

Love Queen's and like Kingston a lot. The vibe is kinda mini-Wisconsin, but prettier and not as sports-crazed (but still extremely spirited by Canadian standards). Very little French actually spoken in either the school or the town. The business ("commerce") school is the university's strongest, but nothing's weak there; the university is in the tier right below McGill/Toronto/UBC. I'm pretty sure Fiske has a write-up on Queen's.

Thanks—this is helpful! I wasn’t sure where to look for stuff on Canadian schools, but I’ll suggest she check Fiske.

We knew the instruction would be in English, but weren’t sure how bilingual the city was. That might actually be a negative for her, as she was hoping to be forced to practice her French in real-world settings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those who know Canada, what can you tell me about Queen’s?

My DD was looking at their technical-track art history program, but I don’t know much about the school or the city. It has one of the few North American graduate programs in art conservation, but from what people have said here, I’m not seeing much about the school’s general reputation in the humanities. And it’s hard to get a read on what Kingston is like.

She’s doing an IB diploma with French as one of her HLs, and thinks she should be able to get up to speed with French fairly easily. Probably not enough to take classes in French yet, but at least enough to live in a bilingual city.

Love Queen's and like Kingston a lot. The vibe is kinda mini-Wisconsin, but prettier and not as sports-crazed (but still extremely spirited by Canadian standards). Very little French actually spoken in either the school or the town. The business ("commerce") school is the university's strongest, but nothing's weak there; the university is in the tier right below McGill/Toronto/UBC. I'm pretty sure Fiske has a write-up on Queen's.

Thanks—this is helpful! I wasn’t sure where to look for stuff on Canadian schools, but I’ll suggest she check Fiske.

We knew the instruction would be in English, but weren’t sure how bilingual the city was. That might actually be a negative for her, as she was hoping to be forced to practice her French in real-world settings.

You pretty much need to be in Quebec for French really to be a thing. There are three English language universities in the province: McGill and Concordia in Montreal (where you can get by fine with English but probably will have more fun with decent French) and Bishop's in Sherbrooke (where having passable French is more important). There's also the University of Ottawa, which is an English school in an English town--but the kids often cross the river (especially before they turn 19) to party Quebec-style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with a kid learning a language and then studying in it? My kid loves language and would like to move somewhere, learn the language and then attend university there. Does anyone have an estimate for how long it might take to get fluent enough for university?

Depends on both the kid and the language.

I don’t think it’s realistic for most American kids from monolingual homes to try to do that.

Maybe some kids who’ve been in dual-language Spanish programs since kindergarten and have part-time jobs that require them to speak Spanish could handle it.

But the problem is that few American kids have much reason to use any second language other than Spanish.

Kids from non-English-speaking countries tend to have many more chances to use English, because music, games and movies are often English. And even a lot of those kids don’t really know English well enough to study history or physics at Tufts in English, even if they have high TOEFL scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with a kid learning a language and then studying in it? My kid loves language and would like to move somewhere, learn the language and then attend university there. Does anyone have an estimate for how long it might take to get fluent enough for university?

Depends on both the kid and the language.

Kid seems to pick up languages easily. His current plan is to go to Norwegian folkehogskole. He seems to think that in a year he'd be ready to go to Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which is ranked highly in his desired major.

That seems unrealistic to me, but maybe I am wrong?

Norwegian is a lot more difficult for an English speaker than Spanish.

If your son has studied Spanish, how does he do on a sample Spanish-language standardized high school math or physics test?

If he can do well on Spanish high school tests, maybe it’s reasonable for him to think he can handle Norwegian classes, but, if he’s studied Spanish and has trouble with Spanish math and science tests, that would be a bad sign.

Also, could he try studying Norwegian on his own, find some Norwegian math and science tests online and see what happens?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those who know Canada, what can you tell me about Queen’s?

My DD was looking at their technical-track art history program, but I don’t know much about the school or the city. It has one of the few North American graduate programs in art conservation, but from what people have said here, I’m not seeing much about the school’s general reputation in the humanities. And it’s hard to get a read on what Kingston is like.

She’s doing an IB diploma with French as one of her HLs, and thinks she should be able to get up to speed with French fairly easily. Probably not enough to take classes in French yet, but at least enough to live in a bilingual city.

Queen's grad checking in. Lovely town with view on great lake. Scottish feel and traditions. Lovely limestone buildings and some modern architecture too. Since drinking age in Ontario is 19, most students drink legally and frequent on campus university pubs (Alfies, QP, etc.) which feels safer than drinking illegally. There is no greek life as frats were outlawed.

I don't have experience with history program as I did economics/theater/politics. The classes are seminar style towards the end of the program which I enjoyed. Housing is cheap.

[Anonymous]

DW went to U. of Heidelberg. It is an excellent university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with a kid learning a language and then studying in it? My kid loves language and would like to move somewhere, learn the language and then attend university there. Does anyone have an estimate for how long it might take to get fluent enough for university?

Depends on both the kid and the language.

Kid seems to pick up languages easily. His current plan is to go to Norwegian folkehogskole. He seems to think that in a year he'd be ready to go to Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which is ranked highly in his desired major.

That seems unrealistic to me, but maybe I am wrong?

Is he fluent (ie close to native speaker level) in any language? I imagine that is what you would need at university level. It's amazing if he can get to that level in one year but that would be pretty extraordinary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid wants international, go for real and forget Canada. Canada has the cold, the dark, the dreary weather and no cache internationally. Russell Group schools in the UK are excellent. Add in the University of Bath. If Business, look at Bocconi in Milan IE, and Esade in Spain which teaches courses in English while being able to also immerse and get fluent in another language. Also look at University of Sydney, Singapore.

Way too harsh on Canada. And I would not add University of Bath to the Russell Group.

The Russel Group was a self selecting group in 1993. Since then Bath has become #1 for many STEM subjects and other universities have higher ranking depts in various subjects than many in the original RG. For instance Newcastle and Cardiff are on it, but only by a hair and the universities of Bath, Lancaster, East Anglia and others are more prestigious than either of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with a kid learning a language and then studying in it? My kid loves language and would like to move somewhere, learn the language and then attend university there. Does anyone have an estimate for how long it might take to get fluent enough for university?

Depends on both the kid and the language.

Kid seems to pick up languages easily. His current plan is to go to Norwegian folkehogskole. He seems to think that in a year he'd be ready to go to Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which is ranked highly in his desired major.

That seems unrealistic to me, but maybe I am wrong?

Is he fluent (ie close to native speaker level) in any language? I imagine that is what you would need at university level. It's amazing if he can get to that level in one year but that would be pretty extraordinary.

He's pretty close to fluent in a second language that neither parent speaks, and that he didn't study much at school. He has studied another language for a couple years, and I am told speaks it well for the amount he has studied it but is far from fluent. I think the only word he knows in Norwegian is folkehogskole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with a kid learning a language and then studying in it? My kid loves language and would like to move somewhere, learn the language and then attend university there. Does anyone have an estimate for how long it might take to get fluent enough for university?

Depends on both the kid and the language.

Kid seems to pick up languages easily. His current plan is to go to Norwegian folkehogskole. He seems to think that in a year he'd be ready to go to Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which is ranked highly in his desired major.

That seems unrealistic to me, but maybe I am wrong?

Norwegian is a lot more difficult for an English speaker than Spanish.

If your son has studied Spanish, how does he do on a sample Spanish-language standardized high school math or physics test?

If he can do well on Spanish high school tests, maybe it’s reasonable for him to think he can handle Norwegian classes, but, if he’s studied Spanish and has trouble with Spanish math and science tests, that would be a bad sign.

Also, could he try studying Norwegian on his own, find some Norwegian math and science tests online and see what happens?

Having him take tests in subjects he knows in English is a great idea to test his current language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with a kid learning a language and then studying in it? My kid loves language and would like to move somewhere, learn the language and then attend university there. Does anyone have an estimate for how long it might take to get fluent enough for university?

Depends on both the kid and the language.

Kid seems to pick up languages easily. His current plan is to go to Norwegian folkehogskole. He seems to think that in a year he'd be ready to go to Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which is ranked highly in his desired major.

That seems unrealistic to me, but maybe I am wrong?

Is he fluent (ie close to native speaker level) in any language? I imagine that is what you would need at university level. It's amazing if he can get to that level in one year but that would be pretty extraordinary.

He's pretty close to fluent in a second language that neither parent speaks, and that he didn't study much at school. He has studied another language for a couple years, and I am told speaks it well for the amount he has studied it but is far from fluent. I think the only word he knows in Norwegian is folkehogskole.

How do you judge this, exactly? Especially when you're not a speaker of the language yourself. I am not being snarky. I have a DD who is a multi linguist and its been asked of me when I describe her abilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with a kid learning a language and then studying in it? My kid loves language and would like to move somewhere, learn the language and then attend university there. Does anyone have an estimate for how long it might take to get fluent enough for university?

Depends on both the kid and the language.

Kid seems to pick up languages easily. His current plan is to go to Norwegian folkehogskole. He seems to think that in a year he'd be ready to go to Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which is ranked highly in his desired major.

That seems unrealistic to me, but maybe I am wrong?

Is he fluent (ie close to native speaker level) in any language? I imagine that is what you would need at university level. It's amazing if he can get to that level in one year but that would be pretty extraordinary.

He's pretty close to fluent in a second language that neither parent speaks, and that he didn't study much at school. He has studied another language for a couple years, and I am told speaks it well for the amount he has studied it but is far from fluent. I think the only word he knows in Norwegian is folkehogskole.

How do you judge this, exactly? Especially when you're not a speaker of the language yourself. I am not being snarky. I have a DD who is a multi linguist and its been asked of me when I describe her abilities.

There are assessment tests. For example, my DC is rated C2 in French and C1 in Spanish on the CEFR.

Description:
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is an international standard for describing language ability. It describes language ability on a six-point scale, from A1 for beginners, up to C2 for those who have mastered a language. This makes it easy for anyone involved in language teaching and testing, such as teachers or learners, to see the level of different qualifications.

https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/level-descriptions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with a kid learning a language and then studying in it? My kid loves language and would like to move somewhere, learn the language and then attend university there. Does anyone have an estimate for how long it might take to get fluent enough for university?

Depends on both the kid and the language.

Kid seems to pick up languages easily. His current plan is to go to Norwegian folkehogskole. He seems to think that in a year he'd be ready to go to Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which is ranked highly in his desired major.

That seems unrealistic to me, but maybe I am wrong?

Is he fluent (ie close to native speaker level) in any language? I imagine that is what you would need at university level. It's amazing if he can get to that level in one year but that would be pretty extraordinary.

He's pretty close to fluent in a second language that neither parent speaks, and that he didn't study much at school. He has studied another language for a couple years, and I am told speaks it well for the amount he has studied it but is far from fluent. I think the only word he knows in Norwegian is folkehogskole.

How do you judge this, exactly? Especially when you're not a speaker of the language yourself. I am not being snarky. I have a DD who is a multi linguist and its been asked of me when I describe her abilities.

While he doesn't take the second language at school, they teach it at his school, and that teacher has commented to me, as have family friends who speak the language. He is a little obsessive about the language, so he seeks out opportunities to use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with a kid learning a language and then studying in it? My kid loves language and would like to move somewhere, learn the language and then attend university there. Does anyone have an estimate for how long it might take to get fluent enough for university?

Depends on both the kid and the language.

Kid seems to pick up languages easily. His current plan is to go to Norwegian folkehogskole. He seems to think that in a year he'd be ready to go to Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which is ranked highly in his desired major.

That seems unrealistic to me, but maybe I am wrong?

Is he fluent (ie close to native speaker level) in any language? I imagine that is what you would need at university level. It's amazing if he can get to that level in one year but that would be pretty extraordinary.

He's pretty close to fluent in a second language that neither parent speaks, and that he didn't study much at school. He has studied another language for a couple years, and I am told speaks it well for the amount he has studied it but is far from fluent. I think the only word he knows in Norwegian is folkehogskole.

How do you judge this, exactly? Especially when you're not a speaker of the language yourself. I am not being snarky. I have a DD who is a multi linguist and its been asked of me when I describe her abilities.

While he doesn't take the second language at school, they teach it at his school, and that teacher has commented to me, as have family friends who speak the language. He is a little obsessive about the language, so he seeks out opportunities to use it.

Has he taken the assessments as described in the post above yours? Because your answer is about as wishy washy as it gets. My DD took Arabic and was told she was her tutor's best student, better than the adults she taught. She also took Chinese and her Chinese born teacher asked her where she'd learned it (at Pyle middle school, not in Shanghai). But these are all just anecdotes, they're not concrete.