How important is it to have 3-4 years of language?

[Anonymous]

My good friend's son got into Hopkins. Had two years of Spanish and one year of ASL. A few schools do care, like UVA, but many great schools do not. And I can say with 100% certainty (as my kid got into UMD) that UMD does NOT require 4 years of language. Another coworkers kid is attending Dartmouth but as athlete (not scholarship) was private school kid and very smart but only 3 years of language and school offered up to 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This topic irritates me whenever it comes up. I double majored in two different languages so I love language. I have a kid that hates it though and the idea of forcing him to take another few years of it just so he can get into a top school is so aggravating. He’d rather take a second science. I just can’t believe colleges are so mechanistic about this. Also, you know how often I use that foreign languages I spent 7 and 11 years studying? Never unless I watch a show on Netflix from that country (and one of the languages only has on Netflix show in that language….). Foreign language is great for people who like it but it’s not nearly as important as math, science and good writing in your native language. For more kids, these classes are just wasted time — they will not remember any of it in 10 years and will just be the embarrassing America trying to bargain for better prices in terrible Spanish in Cancun.

+1000. FL is some requirement that I guess was part of the definition of a classics education (??? did schools ask about this 100 years ago) and needs to go away. If you want to study a FL…great for you…but a requirement? Why? Within 5 years (if not sooner) AI and Google translate will allow two people to converse with each other in their native tongue with instantaneous translation.

My kid (not alone) made sure to get a 5 on their FL AP not because of their love of the language…but to make sure they could skip the language in college. That is a powerful, but horribly misguided, motivator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This topic irritates me whenever it comes up. I double majored in two different languages so I love language. I have a kid that hates it though and the idea of forcing him to take another few years of it just so he can get into a top school is so aggravating. He’d rather take a second science. I just can’t believe colleges are so mechanistic about this. Also, you know how often I use that foreign languages I spent 7 and 11 years studying? Never unless I watch a show on Netflix from that country (and one of the languages only has on Netflix show in that language….). Foreign language is great for people who like it but it’s not nearly as important as math, science and good writing in your native language. For more kids, these classes are just wasted time — they will not remember any of it in 10 years and will just be the embarrassing America trying to bargain for better prices in terrible Spanish in Cancun.

+1000. FL is some requirement that I guess was part of the definition of a classics education (??? did schools ask about this 100 years ago) and needs to go away. If you want to study a FL…great for you…but a requirement? Why? Within 5 years (if not sooner) AI and Google translate will allow two people to converse with each other in their native tongue with instantaneous translation.

My kid (not alone) made sure to get a 5 on their FL AP not because of their love of the language…but to make sure they could skip the language in college. That is a powerful, but horribly misguided, motivator.

The reason most if the top colleges want to see it (and then have their own foreign language requirement) is that they think they are educating citizens of the world and that future jobs may turn in such expertise

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This topic irritates me whenever it comes up. I double majored in two different languages so I love language. I have a kid that hates it though and the idea of forcing him to take another few years of it just so he can get into a top school is so aggravating. He’d rather take a second science. I just can’t believe colleges are so mechanistic about this. Also, you know how often I use that foreign languages I spent 7 and 11 years studying? Never unless I watch a show on Netflix from that country (and one of the languages only has on Netflix show in that language….). Foreign language is great for people who like it but it’s not nearly as important as math, science and good writing in your native language. For more kids, these classes are just wasted time — they will not remember any of it in 10 years and will just be the embarrassing America trying to bargain for better prices in terrible Spanish in Cancun.

+1000. FL is some requirement that I guess was part of the definition of a classics education (??? did schools ask about this 100 years ago) and needs to go away. If you want to study a FL…great for you…but a requirement? Why? Within 5 years (if not sooner) AI and Google translate will allow two people to converse with each other in their native tongue with instantaneous translation.

My kid (not alone) made sure to get a 5 on their FL AP not because of their love of the language…but to make sure they could skip the language in college. That is a powerful, but horribly misguided, motivator.

The reason most if the top colleges want to see it (and then have their own foreign language requirement) is that they think they are educating citizens of the world and that future jobs may turn in such expertise

I seriously doubt that is the reason…and if even Top 10 schools will allow an AP test to suffice for language credit…then it completely blows up your argument.

If they actually believed the above they would require everyone to minor in a FL…not just fulfill a requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if you take AP Spanish in 11th grade but do not take AP Spanish Lit in 12th grade ? Our school only sometimes offers Spanish lit due to interest or teacher availability. It might also be possible to do some type of Spanish independent study in 12th but it probably wouldn’t be at the level of AP Spanish Lit

This was my kid. She did not take AP Spanish Lit senior year opting instead to take three science classes senior year. Junior year she had skipped social studies to double up on science. So all in all, she took 7 credits of science in high school including AP Chem and AP Physics. She did not take AP Bio. She was admitted to UVA, Case, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Colby, Hamilton and Vassar. Fwiw, she also had APs in English, Calculus, Govt and History.

[Anonymous]

My daughter took Honors Spanish 4 in 10th grade, and plans on taking no more foreign language. Will this count against her in college applications?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some colleges have language proficiency requirements. If you have only taken two or three years in college, you may have to take another year in college. My older DS DID NOT have to take a language at W&M because he took four years in high school, but several of his friends did. My younger DS is at a SLAC. I told him to take a fourth year of Spanish in high school but he thought it was "stupid." Well, he was the "stupid" one and ended up having to take a full year of Spanish once he got to college.

This! My kid is at UVA. Thankfully she tested out of WL by getting a 5 on her AP exam. Some of her current UVA peers are struggling with the Spanish requirements. Try to get this req out of the way in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter took Honors Spanish 4 in 10th grade, and plans on taking no more foreign language. Will this count against her in college applications?

Level 4 is fine.

Please note that the question of how many years and/or levels of foreign language is discussed in this forum about monthly. Plenty of other old threads to read through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10th grader hates her language class (says is not learning anything). Already has required credits for HS graduation for language from MS. Is it a bad idea to not take a language after 10th grade?

If you kid wants to be a liberal arts major, they probably have to take the that 4th year of language. But if they are going for engineering, swapping out that 4th year of language for linear algebra is fine is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10th grader hates her language class (says is not learning anything). Already has required credits for HS graduation for language from MS. Is it a bad idea to not take a language after 10th grade?

For any of competitive school, it’s absolutely critical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10th grader hates her language class (says is not learning anything). Already has required credits for HS graduation for language from MS. Is it a bad idea to not take a language after 10th grade?

For any of competitive school, it’s absolutely critical.

Depending on major

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:enough about UVA, not important to most people.

UVA is very particular about the language thing, so I think it's relevant to the conversation.

[Anonymous]

What if you take 4th year as an Honors course and not AP? Does that still look good?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:enough about UVA, not important to most people.

UVA is pretty important option for most people in Virginia, whether its a dream, a reach, a target or a safety, everyone is at least thinking about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:enough about UVA, not important to most people.

UVA is pretty important option for most people in Virginia, whether its a dream, a reach, a target or a safety, everyone is at least thinking about it.

It is a school. I wouldn’t say most people shoot for it. I also wouldn’t say it’s an important option. There are lots of schools in this state.