Comments | applyingtograd: grad school and learning a language

arisha in applyingtograd

grad school and learning a language

Aug 26, 2010 23:59

So I have a total newbie question for you guys. Say I have a BA in a foreign language, and my main goal is to become fluent in that language (or at least a lot closer to fluent than I am now). Would going to grad school for that language help at all with this? Or am I better off just spending time in a country where the language is spoken?

Thank

foreign language

Comments 10

speakwrite_ August 27 2010, 07:16:04 UTC

speakwrite_ August 27 2010, 07:17:36 UTC

arisha September 3 2010, 07:37:03 UTC

it would probably be at least $10,000 cheaper.

I did not even realize this! Wow.

Thanks for the advice! :)

tisiphone August 27 2010, 09:49:44 UTC

Going to grad school is a very expensive and inefficient way to become fluent in a language. The only way you can really gain true fluency is to use a language a lot. If you already have a BA in the language, then you have the grammar and vocabulary foundation for fluency - you just need to go speak it.

lissiehoya August 27 2010, 14:09:40 UTC

What everyone else said. You're better off spending time in a country that speaks the language, taking classes in the language abroad if necessary, than going to graduate school for the language.

How good is your language? There are opportunities for teaching English in foreign countries--I had wanted to do this in France after I finished school, but ended up changing my plans.

arisha September 3 2010, 07:35:50 UTC

There are opportunities for teaching English in foreign countries

I'm definitely looking into this right now. I'd been wondering if I should apply to grad schools as well, just in case, but it seems like immersion would be the better route. Thank you for the advice! :)

cheez_ball August 27 2010, 17:36:43 UTC

For the sake of example I googled PhD and French to see what a grad program in a foreign language looks like. Here's one of the top results: http://web.gc.cuny.edu/French/program/index.html. From the description of the program it looks like not just a study of the language, but the literature and culture as well. For someone whose goal is to become fluent in French I would say that the grad program is overkill. I'd recommend moving to a French speaking part of the world, like Canada or France, and refusing to speak English (I say this because when I went to Italy to practice my Italian I had to explain to most of the locals that I didn't want to speak English - they automatically assumed because I'm American ( ... )

tisiphone August 27 2010, 21:14:49 UTC

I agree re the content - one of my friends is a grad student in German, and while learning the grammar and syntax of Middle High German is certainly increasing her depth of knowledge it's not doing much for her ability to actually speak it. (Not a concern for her, as she's a bilingual native speaker, but should be for the OP.)

arisha September 3 2010, 07:34:26 UTC

From the description of the program it looks like not just a study of the language, but the literature and culture as well.

Thank you for looking into that for me! I'd gotten the same impression from my Googling as well, it's nice to know I wasn't totally wrong. My undergrad was the same sort of thing, and while I enjoyed the literature and culture classes, I did sometimes feel they were taking away from my learning the language!

Thank you for the advice. :)

mooglepower August 27 2010, 18:51:40 UTC

You're definitely best off going to a country in which the language is spoken and spending a significant amount of time removed from anything involving your native language (English, I'm assuming).